The Forester men's hockey team scored five unanswered goals to take a 5-4 lead before falling 6-5 in overtime at Adrian College, the second-ranked team in the nation, on Saturday. Sophomore forward Ian Pichel assisted on Lake Forest's third goal and scored the final two.
Pichel's first score of the afternoon tied the game at the 2:38 mark of the third period and his second gave the visitors a 5-4 lead at 7:57. They were his third and fourth goals of the season. Sophomore defenseman Will Seeber assisted on both scores and freshman forwards Jack Lewis and Justin Pelock helped set up the first and second, respectively.
Adrian, however, tied the game at five with 10:06 to play in regulation. Both teams had a power play opportunity in the final seven minutes of the third period but neither was able to take the lead.
The Bulldogs were also assessed a penalty 40 seconds into the overtime period but all four Forester shots on goal during the power play were turned away by the Adrian goaltender. The home team netted the game-winner 11 seconds after killing the penalty.
Lake Forest's comeback effort was made necessary by three Adrian goals in the opening period and another score by the Bulldogs at the 13:17 mark of the second.
Forester junior forward Bobby Barrett began the comeback with his team-high 18th goal of the year at 15:14. He was assisted by junior forward Luke Swardenski. Lake Forest freshman forward Jimmy Cusan scored just 32 seconds later, keeping momentum on the visitors' side. Junior forward Jordan Bruce and senior forward Chris Gard assisted on Cusan's second goal of the season. The visitors closed to within a goal with just 44 seconds to play in the period on junior forward Charlie Stein's first score of the year. He was assisted by Pichel, who turned in his first career three-point performance.
Adrian out-shot the visitors 17-12 in the opening period but the Foresters finished the game with 37 shots on goal to the Bulldogs' 35.
Lake Forest finiahed the regular season with a 14-10-1 overall record and an 11-7-0 mark in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play. Adrian is now 20-1-4 overall and 14-1-3 in the league.
The Foresters will be the #4 seed in the NCHA Playoffs and will host a quarterfinal series against Marian University next weekend. The teams will face off at 7:00 both Friday and Saturday night.
