Lake Superior State held on to a 3-2 win over No. 16 Colgate on Saturday night in a game in which all five goals came in odd-man situations. The Lakers skated away with a 1-0-1 season-opening weekend against a ranked opponent, while the Raiders fell to 1-1-1 on the season.
Colgate was the first to get on the board 4:26 into the game. Senior Kyle Wilson and junior Marc Fulton passed the puck back and forth between the area behind the right side of the net and the right faceoff circle. Fulton eventually took one of Wilson’s passes and fired the puck over LSSU goaltender Jeff Jakaitis’ left shoulder for a power play tally.
LSSU tied it up midway through the opening period. After his team managed to cycle the puck effectively while on the power play, Mark Adamek passed to Derek A. Smith at the left point, who sent it over to Jeff Rainville at the right point, and Rainville fired a long shot past Raider netminder Mark Dekanich.
Lake Superior State capitalized on another power play opportunity 3:13 into the second period to gain its first lead. A shot by Marty Gurnoe created a scrum in front of Dekanich. Nathan Ward was parked on the right side of the net and banged home the loose puck to give the Lakers a 2-1 edge.
LSSU’s Dominic Osman appeared to put the game out of reach when he buried his own rebound at the 16:52 mark of the third period.
However, Colgate pulled Dekanich and took advantage of the extra skater to make the game close. Freshman defenseman Nick St. Pierre fired a long shot that was tipped by senior captain Jon Smyth as it went by Laker goalie Jeff Jakaitis with just over a minute remaining.
The Raiders pulled Dekanich again, looking for the equalizer, but a delay-of-game penalty by sophomore Tyler Burton served to neutralize the would-be advantage.
Dekanich finished with 23 saves, while Jakaitis made 16 to earn the win.
Next week Colgate travels to face Army, while LSSU will host Ferris State for its first taste of CCHA action.
