MILWAUKEE, Wis. - The Lake Superior State hockey program (3-15-2, 2-8-1 CCHA) fell to the No. 15 Massachusetts Minutemen (8-7-3, 3-6-1 HEA) in the consolation game at the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off by a final score of 4-1 on Thursday.

Both teams battled throughout a scoreless opening period. However, the Minutemen were able to open up the scoring early in the second with power play goals from Michael Cameron and Aaron Bohlinger to take advantage of a pair of extra man opportunities to quickly give themselves a 2-0 advantage. The Lakers would dig in and respond to cut the lead in half with a goal from Brandon Puricelli (Ellisville, Mo.) with assists from Jared Westcott (Imperial, Mo.) and Grant Hindman (Oakland, Mich.), the first point of his career, at the 11:58 mark, but UMass wasted no time pushing their lead back to two goals with Bohlinger scoring his second goal of the afternoon less than a minute later. 

Despite multiple quality chances for the Lakers, Taylor Makar would score one final goal for the Minutemen late in the third period to ice the game away by a final score of 4-1. 

Despite the loss, Seth Eisele (Lake Elmo, Minn.) was still able to save 34 shots that he faced.

The Lakers will now turn their attention to the new year when they return to CCHA play at Bowling Green with the first of a two-game series on Friday, Jan. 6 with puck drop scheduled for 7:07 p.m.