SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – The Lake Superior State Lakers forged a 4-2 come-from-behind win against the visiting Alaska Anchorage Seawolves Saturday evening in a Western Collegiate Hockey Association game at Taffy Abel Arena.
The Seawolves (8-10-3, 5-8-2 WCHA) twice gave up the lead as the Lakers (9-12-4, 6-5-4 WCHA) rallied in the third period, handing UAA its third-straight loss in the first meeting of the season. The teams will rematch tomorrow at 1:07 p.m. AST.
Furnishing UAA's opening strike was freshman forward Jeremiah Luedtke – his second on the season and ninth career point at 7:44. Luedtke, assisted by sophomore forward Anthony Conti, made it a 1-0 game after the Seawolves capitalized on a LSSU turnover, causing a favorable 3-on-1 rush.
The Seawolf lead held until Mitch Hults went over sophomore netminder Olivier Mantha's left shoulder from the right circle, just 43 seconds into the second frame.
Sophomore forward Tad Kozun collected his sixth power-play strike of the season – good for No. 1 in the WCHA – at 12:25 of the second, putting UAA back on top 2-1. Kozun, who also had a man-advantage goal last game, leads the Seawolves with 10 goals on the season – four more than his rookie campaign.
After the second intermission, a Josh Nenadal strike at 4:40 tied the game for the second time. The game stayed deadlocked at 2-2 until a five-minute major on sophomore Jarrett Brown for hitting from behind, set up a costly power play. The Seawolves managed to kill off 4:50 of the major before Diego Cugliette gave the Lakers their first lead of the night.
An empty net goal by Hults with 28.1 seconds remaining in the third ended the game, 4-2.
Mantha had 26 saves in the loss, as Gordon Defiel also made 26 stops for the victory.
UAA led the shot count in the first and second, 10-8, 11-5, respectively, before LSSU retaliated for a commanding 17-7 lead in the third.
Meanwhile, freshman Nils Rygaard, from Norrkoping, Sweden, made his collegiate debut tonight. He got on on the scorebook with a two-minute penalty in the first stanza.
