Foresters Score Overtime Victory at Finlandia

Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com
Photo by Steve Frommell, d3photography.com

A goal by sophomore forward Kyler Magus 56 seconds into overtime gave the Lake Forest College men's hockey team a 3-2 victory at Finlandia University on Saturday.

It was the second game-winner of the year and third goal overall for Magus, who was assisted on the play by freshman forward Josh Giacomin and junior forward Austin Aksoy.

Lake Forest never trailed in the game and had a 1-0 lead at the first intermission after freshman forward Will Lebel's second score of the season at the 19:11 mark. Senior forwards John Nugent and Drew Cleereman set up the score.

Finlandia converted a power play opportunity at the 6:32 mark for the only goal of the second period. The home team had a 22-13 edge in shots on goal in the game's first 40 minutes.

Lake Forest outshot the home team 14-8 in the third period, which included a goal for each team. The Foresters regained the lead at the 2:44 mark on Cleereman's second goal of 2018-19. Nugent and sophomore defenseman Nolan Carothers were credited with assists on the score, which was answered by the Lions at 4:56. The Foresters had a pair of power play chances later in the period but were unable to convert.

The goal by Magus came on the first shot for either team in overtime.

Forester senior goaltender George Argiropoulos stopped 28 of 30 shots on goal on the afternoon and 57 of 60 on the weekend. He improved to 2-1-2 with a 2.14 goals against average and .934 save percentage this year.

Lake Forest is now 6-5-4 overall and 4-2-2 in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play while Finlandia fell to 4-10-1 overall and 2-5-1 in the league.

The Foresters will host a pair of conference games next weekend, hosting Adrian College at 3:30 Friday afternoon and Trine University Saturday at 6:00 p.m.