Playing at the BMO Center in Rockford, Illinois, the Lake Forest College men's hockey team defeated Aurora University 3-2 Saturday night in game two of their Northern Collegiate Hockey Association Harris Cup Playoff series. The Spartans, however, won the ensuing 20-minute mini-game 4-0 to advance in the conference tournament.
The first 33 minutes of the night were scoreless. Lake Forest finally took the lead at the 13:19 mark of the second when junior defenseman Connor Scahill's shot from the middle of the right circle flew just under the crossbar and into the net, sending the goalie's water bottle flying. The power play goal was assisted by junior forward Ben Perkins and freshman forward Griffen Sanom.
Scahill struck again at the 3:14 mark of the second, this time from the top of the left circle. His fifth goal of the year was set up by freshman forward Logan Kittleson and senior forward Drew Shields.
The Foresters added to their lead just 79 seconds later on the team's second power play goal of the evening. Freshman forward Colin Bella stole the puck between the circles, moved to his right, and backhanded a shot into the right side of the goal for his team-high 14th tally of the season.
Lake Forest's lead appeared to be safe until back-to-back Spartan goals just nine second apart made it a 3-2 game with 11 minutes to play. An injury to senior goaltender Carson Poulin, who had 30 saves in the game, added drama to the situation. However, freshman Dylan Kruss stopped all nine shot on goal he faced in the final 9:16 to preserve the victory.
With their series tied at one game apiece, the teams played a 20-minute mini-game to decide which would would reach the semifinal round. Aurora finally broke the scoreless tie at the 14:02 mark and added an insurance goal two-and-a-half minutes later. Kruss was pulled in favor of an extra attacker and the Spartans scored twice on an empty net in the last minute-and-a-half.
The Foresters finished the season 11-12-4 while Aurora, who entered the weekend ranked 10th in the nation, moves on at 18-7-2.
