Junior forward Bron Loiselle scored a power play goal to give the Foresters the lead in the second period but the Lake Forest College men's hockey team played to a 1-1 tie with visiting Milwaukee School of Engineering Friday night.
There was a lot of back-and-forth play and chances for both teams to score in the opening period. MSOE headed into the dressing room after one with an 11-6 advantage in shots on goal in a scoreless game. The home team was assessed the only penalty of the frame but the Raiders were unable to convert.
The first score of the game came with just 2:55 left in the second when Loiselle buried a rebound at the doorstep. Freshman forward Joey Sardina walked in from the top of the left circle and threw a wrister on net that caught the blocker of the MSOE goaltender. The rebound went to Loiselle, who wasted no time putting his fourth goal of the season away. Sardina picked up his seventh assist and sophomore defenseman Connor Duncan his 10th of the year. The visitors peppered Lake Forest junior goaltender Louis-Philippe De Courcy with 14 shots to the Foresters' nine in the period.
A major penalty on the Foresters and a minor on MSOE occurred at the 13:32 mark of the third period and the Raiders tied the game during the resulting 4-on-4 at 14:48. Lake Forest killed the visitors' three-minute power play, their fourth opportunity of the contest, and climbed into third place in the nation with a penalty kill percentage of .916.
After putting eight shots on goal to the Raiders' six in the third period, the Foresters who were outshot 6-2 in overtime and left Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse with a 1-1 tie.
De Courcy finished the night with 36 saves and is now 8-5-1 with a 2.03 goals against average and save percentage of .932 on the year.
Lake Forest is now 11-8-1 overall and 8-4-1 in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association. MSOE is 9-9-3 overall and 5-7-2 in league play.
The Foresters will travel north on Saturday to take on Concordia University Wisconsin for a 7:00 p.m. puck drop in Mequon, Wisconsin.
by Cam McGuire