The Lake Forest College men's hockey team hosted and defeated Saint Mary's University 3-0 on Saturday to finish off a weekend sweep of the Cardinals to open the 2021-22 season.
Lake Forest junior Nick Wiencek made a career-high 40 saves to earn his first victory and shutout at the College. He turned away all 16 shots on goal he faced in the first 20 minutes and added 12 saves in each of the final two periods. Wiencek's save total was the highest by a Forester goaltender in a shutout performance since Brandon Kohuch tallied 53 in a scoreless tie against the University of River Falls in February of 2009.
The home team was also held without a goal until freshman forward Jared Gerger netted his first career goal midway through the second period. He took advantage of a rebound off a shot by sophomore forward Ben Perkins and scored what proved to be the game-winning goal.
The score remained 1-0 until late in the contest. A penalty with exactly two minutes to play gave the Cardinals a power play opportunity to tie the game but Lake Forest senior Will Lebel's shorthanded score with 64 seconds left all but clinched the victory for the home team. Lebel was assisted by sophomore forward Tyler Nielsen. An empty net tally by Perkins with 6.7 seconds on the clock closed out the scoring. It was his first career goal.
The Foresters will play their first road game of the 2021-22 season next Sunday at Aurora University. The non-conference contest will begin at 3:00 p.m.
