The Forester men's hockey team defeated Aurora University, the 14th-ranked team in the nation, 7-0 in its home opener Tuesday night.
Lake Forest freshman goaltender Dylan Kruss finished his collegiate debut with 33 saves. He stopped all 10 of the Spartans' shots on goal in each of the first two periods and made 13 saves in the third to preserve the shutout.
Kruss was given a lead less than two minutes into the game on sophomore forward Jared Gerger's second score of the season. Fellow sophomore forward Noh Furman struck for the first time in 2022-23 at the 9:47 mark and the third and final score of the opening period was the second of the year for freshman forward Justin Ross.
A pair of Tylers tacked on two more goals for the Foresters in the second, Sophomore forward Tyler Buonopane netted his first of the season at 2:37 and junior forward Tyler Nielsen added his second at 8:43.
Senior defenseman Vaughan Bamford added to the home team's lead with his first career goal mid-way through the final period and senior David Cohen closed out the scoring a minute-and-a-half later with his team-high-tying third goal of the year.
Fourteen Foresters had a goal or assist in the contest and Buonopane, Cohen, and Nielsen finished with one of each. Junior forward Ben Perkins set up two scores for a multi-point performance of his own.
There were no power play goals in the game, despite the Spartans having seven opportunities and the Foresters six.
Both teams entered the non-conference contest at 2-0-0 on the season.
The Foresters will begin Northern Collegiate Hockey Association play against Milwaukee School of Engineering this weekend. The teams will face off in Milwaukee Friday night at 7:00 and in Lake Forest's Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse 24 hours later.
