SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - Lake Superior State skated to its first sweep of the season by defeating Northern Michigan 3-1 Saturday at the Taffy Abel Arena. The Lakers moved into fifth place in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association with 21 points and trail fourth-place Ohio State by one point.

The Lakers (10-10-0 overall, 7-7-0 CCHA) finished the first half of the 2012-13 season with a .500 record and three straight wins. Northern Michigan (6-10-3 overall, 2-9-3-1 CCHA) is tied for 10th in the CCHA with 10 points.

LSSU opened the game with a power-play goal at 4:01 of the first period by sophomore forward Chris Ciotti (8-4--12). Junior defenseman Zach Sternberg (2-9--11) and senior forward Nick McParland (5-11--16) tallied the assists on Ciotti's goal.

The Wildcats tied the game 1-1 at 18:19 of the first period, scoring on a delayed penalty. Jake Baker netted NMU's extra-attacker goal from Kyle Follmer.

Junior defenseman Matt Bruneteau tallied his first collegiate goal and firstspoint of the season with a power-play game-winning goal at 9:40 of the second period. Sophomore forward Stephen Perfetto (4-6--10) and Senior forward Ben Power (3-3--6) assisted on Bruneteau's goal.

McParland netted the last goal of the game, a power-play goal, at 5:44 of the third period from senior forward Domenic Monardo (6-8--14) and junior forward Dan Radke (3-4--7).

The Lakers continued to successfully kill off penalties, holding the Wildcats to 0-for-7 on the power-play for the game and extending their kill streak to 24 straight penalties (covering more than four games).

The Lakers were 2-for-7 on the power-play.

Junior netminder Kevin Murdock (6-6-0) totaled 22 saves for the Lakers, while Jared Coreau talled 34 saves in the loss.

LSSU swept a series for the first time since its March 2-3, 2012, playoff series against Alaska. Th Lakers lead the Cappo Cup total-goals series, 6-1.

LSSU 3, NMU 1