Senior defenseman Connor Duncan assisted on both of the Foresters' goals Saturday night in a 2-2 tie at Aurora University.
Duncan's shot was deflected in by sophomore forward Kyle Cote at the 11:06 mark of the second period for the first score of the contest. Cote's fifth goal of the year came on the power play and was also assisted by junior forward Joey Sardina.
The score remained 1-0 for nearly 20 minutes of play, a span ended with a Spartan tally at the 11-minute mark of the third period. The home team then went ahead on a power play goal at 14:11, threatening to make the Foresters wait until next weekend to potentially clinch home ice for the quarterfinals of the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Harris Cup Playoffs.
Another shot by Duncan set up the tying score. He took a pass from freshman defenseman Scott Nicholson and sent a shot wide of the cage. The puck came out to sophomore forward Josh Giacomin, who scored from the left side at a difficult angle with 3:23 on the clock. It was Giacomin's team-high-tying 12th goal of the season.
Lake Forest outshot Aurora 39-31 on the night and Forester junior goaltender Boyd DiClemente finished with 29 saves.
The Foresters are now 16-4-3 overall and tied with Adrian College atop the NCHA standings at 13-3-2 in league play. Aurora is 11-6-6 overall and, at 7-5-6 in the conference, has clinched a spot in the Harris Cup Playoffs.
Lake Forest will play a home-and-home series with Concordia University Wisconsin next weekend. The Foresters will host the Falcons Friday night at 7:00 before traveling to Mequon, Wisconsin, for the regular season finale at the same time on Saturday. Victories in both games would give the Foresters at least a share of the league's regular season championship.
