ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The Lake Superior State (LSSU) hockey team skated to a 4-4 draw after an exciting back and forth affair against the Seawolves of Alaska-Anchorage (UAA) on Saturday.
Ryan Johnson opened up the scoring for the Seawolves at the 8:28 mark of the opening period for the first power play goal that the Lakers have allowed all season, but the Lakers would find themselves out in front by the time the period was over. Dawson Tritt (Spokane, Wash.) found Sasha Teleguine (North Attleborough, Mass.) for the redirect at the 12:25 mark, and in the final minute of the period, Johnny Druskinis (Plymouth, Mich.) pushed the puck ahead to Branden Piku (Harrison Twp., Mich.) who sniped the puck from the right side just past the goaltender to put LSSU ahead going into the intermission.
Both teams would battle throughout the second period with both sides applying plenty of pressure, but at the 16:53 mark, Dimitry Kebreau knotted up the score at 2-2.
Conor Cole put UAA back in front 39 seconds into the third period with the second power play goal of the night for the Seawolves, but the Lakers responded as Connor Milburn (Kamloops, B.C.) scored 16 seconds into a five minute major that was assessed to Tanner Edwards for charging the goaltender with Nate Schweitzer (Champlin, Minn.) and Druskinis picking up assists on the play. Timo Bakos (Augsburg, Germany) would then deflect in a rebound off of a shot from Schweitzer to give LSSU a 4-3 lead with just under 9 minutes remaining in regulation. However, Johnson was able to fire in his second of the night at the 14:09 mark to tie up the score at 4-4, and despite strong pressure from both sides, the game would ultimately go to overtime.
Neither side managed to find the back of the net during the extra five minutes of action, resulting in the game being officially declared as a tie, but a shootout was still played. Both goaltenders stepped up during the shootout, holding all attackers scoreless through four rounds, but it was ultimately Johnson that would end it in favor of the Seawolves to win the shootout.
The Lakers will be looking to add to the win column when they face the Seawolves again for game two of the series on Sunday, Nov. 24 with tipoff scheduled for 9:07 p.m.
