After falling behind 2-0, the Forester men's hockey team hosted and defeated Northland College 5-3 Friday night. Lake Forest freshman forward Jack Lewis scored a pair of goals in the contest.
Lewis lit the lamp for the first time in his career with just 55 seconds to play in the opening period. Fellow freshman forward Anthony Annunziato and junior defenseman Andrew Stein assisted on the score, which trimmed the LumberJack lead to 2-1.
Lake Forest outshot the visitors 18-7 in the first 20 minutes but trailed 2-1 at intermission.
Stein tied the score a minute and 43 second into the second period. Senior forward Mike Violette and junior forward Bobby Barrett set up the second goal in as many games this year for Stein. Northland, however, regained the lead at 5:53 and held on to the 3-2 advantage until the end of the period.
Both teams put 13 shots on the goal in the second stanza.
The Foresters pulled even again at the 6:06 mark of the third period on the second goal of the contest for Lewis. Annunziato and freshman forward Zach Mudge assisted on the score. The home team then took its first lead of the contest with 3:59 on the clock. Barrett scored what proved to be the first official game-winning goal of his career with Violette and junior forward Luke Swardenski each credited with an assist. Northland pulled its goaltender while on the power play with 62 seconds remaining and Violette took advantage of the empty net with 8.9 seconds left. It was his first score of the season and his third career short-handed goal. He matched his career-high with three points in the contest.
Lake Forest had a 16-3 advantage in shots on goal in the final period and finished the game with 47 shots to the LumberJacks' 23.
Forester sophomore goaltender Leo Podolsky made 20 saves to earn the victory, his second in as many contests this season.
It was the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association opener for Lake Forest, which is 2-0-0 overall on the year. Northland fell to 0-3-0, both overall and in the league.
The same two teams will face off again Saturday afternoon at 2:00.