Lake Superior State battled against cross-river rivals Sault College this weekend in its first pair of home games at the newly renovated Taffy Abel Arena. The Lakers took the Cougars to a shootout on Friday night and concluded their series with a spicy crowd to follow on Saturday afternoon but dropped both games to Sault College, 5-4 and 3-2.
"It was a really good series," added Kaunisto. "We played really well as a team. They'll be top of the region, and we had some success. We were on the short end of the stick, but I was very happy with what we were able to do to build on the rest of the season."
Saturday's game saw nine penalties total between the two teams in the heated matchup. Luke Vega scored both goals in the match for LSSU. His first came with 5:26 left in the second period, with assists from Adam Trczinski and Nate Korowin. Vega's second came with 4:13 remaining in the third from Avery Timm.
"The line of Max Wright, Adam Trczinski and Blaine Dorion. They've really been gelling and working for us," noted Kaunisto. "They're a line that consistently gets chances. Whether they're able to score or not, they continue to push our team. Whenever we have a lull, I know I can put them out there, and they're going to spark something for us.
Friday, Seth Stock led with a goal and assist against the Cougars. Colin Lefebvre opened the series with the first goal for LSSU off of a Cooper Angelelli pass. Caleb Curto would add a goal of his own and Derrick Brown scored a power play goal with 33 seconds to go in the second period. A scoreless third and overtime saw both teams head to a shootout where Sault College took the result Friday night.
The weekend series saw Lake State compete on the renovated ice surface at Taffy Abel Arena for the first time. Kaunisto gave a rave to the work done on the facility.
"It was awesome," he said. "The guys loved it. The ice is amazing. We played Sault College, so they had some fans over here. We had some fans here. Being able to get on this ice and see how fast it is, it was amazing."
Next weekend, LSSU will compete in three games Friday through Sunday at home. The Lakers host Northern Michigan on Friday November 6th at 9:30 PM and on Saturday 7th at 3:00 PM. They'll round off their weekend against Schoolcraft on the 8th with puck drop set for 1:00 PM. Follow the Lakers throughout the season on the new Lake Superior State Lakers app, now available on the App Store and Google Play.
