The Lake Forest College men's hockey team tied visiting Adrian College, the third-ranked team in the nation, 4-4 in Friday night's series opener.
The Foresters started fast and led 3-0 after the first period. They converted the game's first power play opportunity when sophomore forward Jared Gerger scored his sixth goal of the year off a well-placed cross from freshman forward Colin Bella at 2:08.
Bella netted his team-high 12th of the season from a nearly impossible angle at the 8:24 mark to make the home team 2-for-2 on the power play.
Lake Forest's third power play score of the opening period went to freshman forward Justin Ross, who was led perfectly by a diagonal pass from senior forward David Cohen and hit the back of the net from point blank range with 4:45 on the clock. The ninth goal of the year for Ross was also assisted by Bella, who matched his season-high for points with three on the night.
Adrian finally got on the scoreboard six minutes into the second period but the Foresters' three-goal advantage was restored by junior forward Tyler Nielsen at the 10:20 mark. Sophomore defenseman Matteas Derraugh was able to keep the puck in the offensive zone and sent it behind the net, where Cohen retrieved it and quickly passed it back to Nielsen for the one-timer. Nielsen now has seven scores this season.
The Bulldogs closed back to within two at 14:11 in the second and added a power play goal at 16:33 to make it a 4-3 game. The score remained that way until a Lake Forest penalty set up the visitors' third power play goal of the night at 9:47 in the third.
Forester senior goaltender Nick Wiencek made 38 saves in the contest, including three in the final 10 minutes of the third period and four more in a scoreless five-minute overtime.
The tie gave each team one point in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association standings and a shootout decided which would earn another. Both teams scored twice in the first three rounds with Bella and freshman forward Griffen Sanom connecting for the Foresters. Neither team was successful again until Adrian's turn in round six, which ended the contest.
Lake Forest is now 6-8-4 overall and 3-5-3 in the NCHA this season. Adrian is 14-2-2 overall and 8-2-1 in the league.
The same two teams will face off again in Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon at 4:00.
