Senior forward Jack Lewis recorded his second career hat trick to lead the Lake Forest College men's hockey team to a 5-3 season-opening victory at Concordia University Wisconsin Friday night.
Lewis started the scoring with a power play goal at the 12:49 mark of the opening period. He was assisted by senior defenseman Mark Esshaki. The Falcons returned the favor with a power play score of their own at 14:44 and the score was still 1-1 at the end of the period. Lake Forest had a 10-8 advantage in shots on goal in the game's first 20 minutes.
Lewis gave the visitors the lead for the second time on the night at 4:07 in the second period. Sophomore forward Bron Loiselle assisted on the play. After Concordia Wisconsin evened the score again on another power play goal at 8:02, the Foresters regained the advantage on an unassisted power play goal by junior forward Charlie Izaguirre with just one second left on the clock. Both teams put 10 shots on goal in the period.
The official game-winning goal was scored by Lewis three-and-a-half minutes into the final period. Loiselle and Esshaki assisted on the visitors' third power play goal of the night. It was the second career hat trick for Lewis, who also scored three times in the 2014-15 season opener against the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Concordia Wisconsin pulled back to within a goal at the 6:03 mark but was unable to score again. Forester junior forward Billy Kent took advantage of the empty net with 30 second to play to close out the scoring. He was assisted by senior forward Justin Pelock. The Falcons out-shot the Foresters 12-11 in the third period.
Lake Forest senior goalkeeper Billy Cooper stopped 27 of 30 shots on goal on the night to earn the victory.
The teams combined for 27 penalties for 65 minutes.
Game two of the home-and-home series will be played in Lake Forest and will begin at 7:00 Saturday night.
