In its first outdoor home game since 1969, the Lake Forest College men's hockey team defeated visiting Aurora University 6-1 Wednesday night. The contest between the only NCAA men's hockey teams in Illinois was played at the Winter Club in Lake Forest, the home of the Foresters in the 1960s.
As they did in the 1960s, fans lined up along the boards on the east side and south end of the rink to get a great view of the action on the ice. With temperatures in the 40s, the event was well-attended by an audience that included friends and families of the players, Lake Forest College alumni, Winter Club members, and other local residents.
The home team got off to a good start, scoring the game's initial goal at the 12:57 mark of the opening period. It was the second score of the season for freshman forward Cody Guidorzi, who was assisted by freshman defenseman Dan Kuter. Sophomore forward Billy Kent doubled the Foresters' lead four minutes later with junior forward Anthony Annunziato assisting and the score was 2-0 after 20 minutes of play.
Kent scored for the second time on the night just 78 seconds into the second period. His team-high seventh goal of the year was set up by freshman forward Drew Cleereman and senior defenseman Robert Wiener. Junior forward Jack Lewis made it a four-goal lead at the 13:55 mark and Cleereman added a fifth score just 34 seconds later. The fifth goal of the year for Lewis was assisted by sophomore forward Charlie Izaguirre and Kent and junior forward Jimmy Cusan set up Cleereman's second of the season.
A third period penalty on the Foresters led to a power play goal by Aurora at 13:09 in the third period. Lake Forest regained its five-goal advantage with 4:03 to play on the second score of the season for senior forward Alec DeAngelo, who was assisted by sophomore forward Davis DeKorte.
Forester senior goaltender Leo Podolsky made eight saves in the first period and seven in the second and third to even his record on the season at 4-4-0.
Lake Forest will go into winter break at 5-6-0 while Aurora fell to 1-9-1.
The Foresters' next contest also has some history tied to it. Lake Forest will host the front end of a home-and-home series with Milwaukee School of Engineering on Friday, January 8, the 50th anniversary of the team's first game as a varsity program, played at The Winter Club in 1966.