Following a 2-1 victory Friday night, Lake Superior completed a two-game sweep of Notre Dame with a 4-1 win Saturday at the Taffy Abel Arena.
“It’s a breath of fresh air. We played five-and-a-half very good periods. We were very physical,” said Lake Superior State coach Scott Borek.
“It was a much-needed win.”
Senior defenseman Matt Frick scored his first goal of the season, a power-play goal, to put the Lakers on the board at the halfway mark of the first period. Sophomore Chris Peterson added an assist.
Lake Superior State went up 2-0 in the second period when junior Yevgeniy Dubravin scored his fifth goal of the year from Justin Micek and Peterson.
Trevor Weisgerber increased the lead to 3-0 with a goal at 16:24, and Ryan Vince sent the final LSSU goal past Irish netminder Kyle Kolquist, who was replaced by junior Jeremiah Kimento at the start of the third period.
Friday, the Lakers came less than five minutes away from the shutout when senior Dan Carlson sent one past Platt to ruin it. This time, Michael Chin was able to spoil the shutout when he scored his first goal of the season from right in front of the Lake Superior net.
“It was really disappointing that we gave up the shutout, but we played a little loose in the last two minutes; we didn’t use the wall as well as we should have, we didn’t clear the puck, and then it got down to our net. It was unfortunate for us, but not an impact on the game,” said Borek.
The Lakers improved to 5-8-0 in the CCHA. They outshot Notre Dame 48-33 on Saturday and tallied a total of 75 shots during the series.
“We played smart, physically, today. Last night we played a little bit undisciplined, but tonight I think our physicality really changed the pace of the game to make it our kind of a hockey game,” said Borek.
On a down note for the Lakers, LSSU’s injury streak continued Saturday night as sophomore assistant captain Jason Nightingale joined younger brother Adam Nightingale on the sidelines. The elder Nightingale is expected to return to the lineup soon.
The Lakers will make the long trip to Alaska this weekend to take on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, while Notre Dame will play host to Miami in South Bend, Indiana.
