The Lake Forest College men's hockey team defeated Marian University 3-2 in overtime in game two of their Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Harris Cup quarterfinal series and then posted a 1-0 overtime victory in the ensuing 20-minute mini-game Saturday night. Junior defenseman Ben Certo's goal sent the Foresters to the Harris Cup semifinals.
Certo blasted the puck past the Marian goaltender from the point at the 8:44 mark of overtime in the mini-game. He was assisted by junior defenseman Charlie Stein and junior forward Luke Swardenski.
The mini-game would not have occurred if not for Forester junior forward Jason McAloon's power play goal at the 3:41 mark of overtime in game two of the series. After falling 3-2 the night before, Lake Forest was less than a minute-and-a-half from elimination and had pulled sophomore goaltender Leo Podolsky for an extra attacker, despite the tie score. McAloon's ninth goal of the year extended the season at least 20 minutes.
Marian scored the first goal of the night at the 1:42 mark of the second period but junior defenseman Andrew Stein tied the score just 86 seconds later. His seventh goal of the year was assisted by Swardenski and Certo.
Lake Forest then took a 2-1 lead on the first goal of the season by junior forward Jordan Bruce, who was assisted by senior forwards Chris Gard and Pat Charron at 8:52 in the third period. The Sabres tied the game at 15:06 and was poised to advance in the tournament until McAloon's overtime score.
Forester sophomore goaltender Leo Podolsky stopped 18 of 20 shots on goal in game two of the series and all eight he faced in the mini-game. He is now 13-3-1 with a 2.39 goals against average on the season.
The game two victory raised the Foresters' record on the year to 15-11-2 and dropped Marian's to 12-13-2. The mini-game result does not count toward either team's record nor do the statistics add to the players' season totals.
Lake Forest will travel to St. Norbert College next Saturday and take on the Green Knights at 7:00 p.m. for the chance to play in the following weekend's Harris Cup Final. St Norbert, the top-ranked team in the nation, defeated visiting Lawrence University 5-0 Friday night and 3-1 on Saturday in its quarterfinal series and is now 23-3-1 on the season.