Freshman forward Vito Aluia scored the first two goals of his career and senior goaltender stopped all 23 shots on goal he faced as the Lake Forest College men's hockey team blanked visiting Milwaukee School of Engineering, the 15th-ranked team in the nation, 4-0 Friday night.
The contest was played exactly 50 years after Lake Forest's first game as a varsity program, a 6-3 triumph over visiting Northern Illinois University on January 8, 1966, at the Winter Club of Lake Forest. The Foresters hosted games at the Winter Club home until the conversion of Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, their current home, to a hockey facility prior to the 1969-70 season.
Aluia started the scoring at the 5:58 mark of Friday's opening period. Junior forward Justin Pelock and sophomore forward George Gerasimou assisted on what proved to be the official game-winning goal.
After waiting until his 11th game to score for the first time as a Forester, just 10 minutes of game time passed before Aluia's second goal. He lit the lamp for the second time at the 14:34 mark with Pelock and junior defenseman Mark Esshaki assisting.
The last of Lake Forest's three first-period goal was scored by senior defenseman Robert Wiener with 2:40 on the clock. Gerasimou and Pelock set up Wiener's second score of the season.
The Foresters out-shot the Raiders 14-4 in the game's first 20 minutes.
Lake Forest netted the only power play goal of the night at the 6:44 mark of the second period. It was the second score of the year for senior forward Ian Pichel, who was assisted by Gerasimou and sophomore forward Charlie Izaguirre.
M.S.O.E. had a 13-9 advantage in shots on goal in the second period but were unable to score against Podolsky.
The Foresters put 10 shots on goal to the Raiders' six in a scoreless third period.
Podolsky earned his first shutout of the season and the sixth of his career, tying Dan Vacco 1988-92 for the most in recorded program history. He is now 5-4-0 with a .902 save percentage on the year.
The victory evened the Foresters' overall record at 6-6-0 and the team improved to 4-5-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play. The Raiders fell to 8-4-0 overall and 3-4-0 in the league.
The same two teams will face off again Saturday evening in Milwaukee. The puck will drop at 5:00 p.m.
