Junior goaltender Louis DeCourcy earned his second shutout of the season in the Foresters' 5-0 victory over Milwaukee School of Engineering, the 11th-ranked team in the nation in this week's USCHO.com poll.
When asked about the victory, De Courcy said, "I think we played our best game of the year. We dominated the whole game and truly played a full 60."
The scoring started on the power play when junior forward Cody Guidorzi put home a rebound at 8:07 off the point shot of junior defenseman Ryan Kruss. It was Guidorzi's fourth goal of the season and Kruss picked up his third helper of the year. Lake Forest outshot the Raiders 11-8 in the opening period and headed into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.
The second tally of the evening also came on the power play at 9:18 in the second period, courtesy of sophomore forward Austin Aksoy. Senior forward Billy Kent worked it down low to fellow senior forward George Gerasimou, who then put the puck right on the tape of Aksoy in the high slot. Aksoy wasted no time and beat the goalie far side for his second score of the season.
Just a few minutes later, on a 3-on-2 rush, sophomore defenseman Connor Duncan used a wicked wrister to beat the goalie far side post and in. Junior forward Drew Cleereman had the beautiful cross-zone pass to find Duncan at the top of the circle. When asked about the development of the play Duncan said, "When I recognized the 3-on-2 I saw Charlie (Izaguirre) in the middle and he was telling me to open up that passing lane for Drew. As soon as it opened up Drew did not hesitate and put it right on my tape."
The Foresters held the Raiders to just three shots in the second period and finished it with a 3-0 advantage.
Cleereman added a goal of his own in the third period on a 2-on-1 break with sophomore forward Joey Sardina. He explained, "2-on-1 is something we work on a lot in practice for that exact situation. As soon as Joey made the pass, I saw the goalie sliding over and taking the bottom of the net so I elevated the puck above his glove and was fortunate it went in."
Perhaps the prettiest goal of the night came at the 16:21 mark of the third period when senior forward Billy Kent threw an absolute cannon that beat the goalie short side and popped the water bottle off the twine. The goal was Kent's third of the season and he now has 10 points in 10 games. Senior forward George Gerasimou earned his second assist of the night and leads the team with 11 points.
Cleereman, Duncan, and Kent finished the night with a goal and an assist each.
Lake Forest, which got off to a slow start on the power play this season, has now scored at least one power play goal in the last five games and finished the night 3-for-9 on the man advantage.
The Foresters improved their record to 7-3-0 overall and 4-1-0 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play. MSOE fell to 6-2-1 overall and 3-2-0 in the league.
Lake Forest will be back at home Saturday night welcoming Concordia University Wisconsin for a 7:00 puck drop.
by Cam McGuire