The Lake Forest College men's hockey team erased a two-goal deficit to tie visiting Aurora University, the 11th-ranked team in the nation, Friday night. The Foresters also won the shootout 2-1 to earn another point in the league standings.
Lake Forest goaltender Dylan Kruss made 33 saves on the night and turned away Spartan attempts in two of the three rounds of the shootout. Freshman forward Colin Bella scored in the first round and, with an chance to end the game, sophomore forward Tyler Buonopane secured the extra point for the Foresters.
Aurora took the early lead just six seconds into the first power play opportunity of the night and at the 3:22 mark of the opening period. The home team drew even with 3:03 remaining on the third goal of the season by senior forward Drew Shields, who scored off a rebound after freshman forward Philip Quetell's shot was saved.
The visitors pulled ahead three-and-a-half minutes into the second period and doubled their lead five minutes later.
The Forester comeback began at the 12:38 mark of the second stanza when junior forward Ben Perkins netted his first score of the season. It was also a rebound goal off a shot by Tartaglione.
The score remained 3-2 until late in the third period. An Aurora penalty with 4:09 to play set up Lake Forest's fourth power play opportunity of the night. Freshman forward Justin Ross fired a shot from the right side and, once again, a Forester was there to put home the rebound. This time it was senior defenseman Scotty Nicholson at the 16:53 mark with his first of the season.
Lake Forest had a slight 40-36 advantage in shots on goal on the night.
Kruss is now 1-1-1 with a 1.62 goals against average and .946 save percentage on the year.
The tie leaves the Foresters with an overall record of 3-3-2 and a Northern Collegiate Hockey Association mark of 0-2-1. Aurora is now 6-1-1 overall and 4-0-1 in the league.
The same two teams will face off again Saturday afternoon at 3:00. The game will be played on Aurora's home ice, the Fox Valley Ice Arena in Geneva, Illinois.
