Give it up for Lake Forest. The Foresters made a statement on Saturday, upsetting No. 12 Skidmore in the opening game of the nationally ranked Thoroughbreds’ Thanksgiving tournament.
The Foresters finished off the weekend with a championship game win over Fredonia.
Against Skidmore, Lake Forest led 3-1 after one and never looked back on its way to a 5-4 win.
Justin Ross came through with a goal and assist while Tyler Buonopane, Collin Bella and Quaritaq Kusugak-Clark all scored goals as well. The goal by Kusuagak-Clark was his first of the year and his first career game winner.
Bobby McCloskey tallied 32 saves, his last with 10 seconds left to seal the deal.
Lake Forest beat the Blue Devils 4-0 on Sunday, Bella had one of the goals and pushed his season total to seven while McCloskey racked up 24 saves, with 22 of those coming in the final two periods. For his performance, he earned MVP honors at the tournament.
Trevor Faucher, Logan Kittleson and Jared Gerger all scored as well.
Lake Forest is 4-5-1 on the season and has won its last three games. The win streak means the Foresters end 2024 on a high note as they won’t be back in action until January 3 when they play at St. Olaf. Lake Forest has scored four or more goals in each of its last three games.
Oh what a start it is for the Green Knights
Liam Fraser is clutch and St. Norbert is off to the best start in program history after topping UW-Eau Claire 2-1 on Saturday.
Fraser scored the game-winning goal for the Green Knights, the seventh consecutive game in which that has happened, and St. Norbert capped a perfect November with an 11-0 record.
His goal came at the 18:56 mark of the second period, putting St. Norbert up for good at 2-1. It was the 70th goal of his career and the 145th point of his career, tying him for the fourth most in school history.
His seven game-winning goals tie a single-season record and the fact that they’ve come in consecutive fashion is believed to be an NCAA Division III record. Fraser has 16 game winners in his career, a program record.
Fraser finished the game with two goals while Grant Adams racked up 22 saves.
Jordan Randall scored the lone goal for the Blugolds.
Friday’s game wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the Green Knights opened up a 3-0 lead after one and rolled to a 5-1 win.
Brock Baker and Logan Dombrowsky both tallied a goal and assist. Hunter Garvey stopped 18 shots. Nolan Grier scored the Blugolds’ lone goal.
Surging Saints
Looking for one of the hottest teams in hockey? St. Scholastica is it.
The Saints have now win five consecutive games, the latest victory delivering a holiday tournament championship.
St Scholastica edged UW-Superior 3-2 to win the Superior Showdown on Saturday thanks to a game-winning goal by Jacob Seitz with under three minutes to play in the third.
Wyatt Wurst and Brodie Girod also scored goals for the Saints, who improved to 6-3-1, but needed to rally from a two-goal first period deficit to get the job done.
Eino Rissanen made 19 saves, with nine of those coming in the third. The Saints took 30 shots on goal.
St. Scholastica opened the weekend with a 5-3 win over Dubuque. Tristan Shewchuck led the way as he scored twice and also dished out two assists. Seitz rose to the occasion as well, tallying three assists. Rissanen made 31 saves for the Saints.
Nikita Borodayenko scored twice for Dubuque.
Let’s play outside
St. Olaf and Bethel squared off on an outdoor rink Saturday night, and the game was as entertaining as one hoped it would be.
In fact, overtime was needed to decide the outcome, and ultimately, the Oles prevailed on a goal by Jonthan Panisa a little over a minute into the extra period.
This was the third consecutive year where the two teams have played against each other outdoors, with the Oles winning two of the three, including an OT win last season.
St. Olaf has won two in a row and improved to 4-4-1 thanks to Panisa’s fourth goal of the year. He’s scored three of those in the last four outings. Connor Kalthoff had the assist, his team-leading ninth of the season and eighth in the last seven games.
St. Olaf held a 35-10 advantage in shots. Matthew Malin was tough in goal for the Oles, and his save on a shot by Tyler Braccini moments before Panisa’s goal set the stage for the game winner. Austin Ryman made 34 saves for the Royals.
Sweep success for Trine
Trine stayed unbeaten as it completed a sweep of Chatham with a 3-0 win on Sunday.
The Thunder scored twice in the third to secure the win. Dylan Glinski, Ethan Janda and Alexander Babich all scored for the eighth-ranked team in the country while Christian Wong-Ramos stopped 14 shots, including nine in the opening period.
It was a much closer game Saturday but Trine escaped with a 2-1 win, again scoring twice in the final period after falling behind 1-0 in the first.
Logan Furstenau, Brendan Finn also scored for the Thunder, who are 9-0-1 on the season.
Trine was outshot 10-6 in the first period but held a 17-2 advantage in shots the rest of the way.
Yellowjackets win in shutout fashion
UW-Superior opened its weekend with a win, blanking Lawrence 3-0 in the first game of the Superior Showdown.
Kobe Grant took center stage as he stopped 34 shots. Reed Stark also had a big night as he scored two goals for UW-Superior, which improved to 4-2-1 with the win.
