Senior defenseman Jim Hakewill tucked the puck between Lake Superior State sophomore goaltender Jeff Jakaitis and the post with 10:35 to play in the game to lift St. Lawrence to a 2-1 victory over the Lakers at Appleton Arena Saturday night.
Hakewill pinched in from the point and took a pass from freshman forward Jordan Hack, walking in on Jakaitis to score his second goal of the season from point-blank range. It turned into his second career game-winning goal as Saint senior goaltender Mike McKenna held off the Lakers with a 14-save third period en route a 27-save night.
“That was a good, solid effort by both clubs,” said Saints coach Joe Marsh. “Coming off exams all week long, I thought the guys showed good focus and energy, and I was very pleased with our defensive effort.”
The Saints improve to 8-9-1 on the season and are now 4-1-0 in games against CCHA teams. Lake Superior will take a 6-10-1 into a Sunday afternoon rematch.
Jakaitis had a busy first period, making 18 saves as the Saints outshot the Lakers 18-6 with the help of a quartet of power plays, but neither team could score.
The Lakers broke the scoring ice 5:41 into the second period when junior center finished off a two-on-one rush with a wrist shot which caught the upper corner of the net over McKenna’s shoulder.
The Saints came back just 1:31 later to tie it as senior Mike Zbriger scored his second of the season, putting his own rebound back past Jakaitis with Matt Macdonald and Andrzej Sandrzyk assisting on the goal at 7:12.
“Both goaltenders made some excellent saves, and we got a couple of goals from what might be considered unexpected sources to pull it out.”
Zbriger’s goal was just the third of his career in the 40th career game for the senior, who redshirted as a freshman. Hakewill’s was the sixth of his career.
The Lakers outshot the Saints 6-1 in the first eight minutes of the third period and had some great scoring chances, but McKenna kept them off the board.
Lake Superior pulled Jakaitis, who finished with 37 saves, for an extra attacker with 1:09 to go, but managed only one clean shot on net which McKenna was able to save.
