After finishing his rookie campaign with three goals and six points in the last five games of the season, Michigan Tech Huskies center Jake Lucchini has started the 2016-17 season with three goals. After scoring again Saturday night on a power play, Lucchini helped the Huskies earn a 4-2 win over the Lake Superior State Lakers at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena.
Lucchini found the back of the net just 5:25 into the contest. While defensemen Matt Roy and Mark Auk moved the puck between each other, Lucchini floated into a soft area in the right circle where Roy could feed him the puck.
Lucchini’s one-timed shot beat Lakers goaltender Gordon Defiel.
“I just really didn’t have any other options, so I just threw it at the net,” said Lucchini. “Luckily it snuck under his pad.”
For Lucchini, finding soft spots like the one he had Saturday are starting to become routine. Huskies coach Mel Pearson would like to see him continue that success when five-on-five.
“He better get going five-on-five,” said Pearson. “He’s just Johnny on the spot. Things are going in for him, but I’d like to see a little bit more five-on-five from him, but he’s played well.”
For Lucchini, the power play is a place where he can find the open ice created by the advantage and then wait for a well-placed pass from Roy or Auk.
“I think Matt and Mark do a good job up top,” said Lucchini. “They move the puck around really well. I just put myself into a good spot to succeed, I guess.”
Lucchini’s success is opening up other options on the Huskies’ advantage, and that bodes well for linemate Joel L’Esperance.
L’Esperance added a power-play goal of his own at 18:46 of the third, sealing the win for the Huskies. He found a quiet area to the right of Defiel in the bottom of the left circle before firing a one-timer off a pass from Auk.
“It was a great play by Mark,” said L’Esperance. “He walked down, drew a couple of guys to him, made a nice pass down to me. It was pretty much an easy tap-in back door.”
With three power-play goals on the night, the Huskies’ power play is now finding success 23.5 percent of the time, which puts them in the top 10 in the country at the moment.
With Lucchini and L’Esperance continuing their power-play prowess, things look good for the Huskies, who have now won three games in a row, improving to 6-6-2 on the season.
WCHA roundup:
No. 15 Bemidji State 2, at No. 11 Minnesota State 1
Nate Arentz scored at 1:37 of overtime to lift visiting Bemidji State to a 2-1 win over Minnesota State. Michael Bitzer made 32 saves in the win. The two squads traded goals early in the first, with Mike Soucier scoring for Bemidji at 2:22 and Marc Michaelis answering on a power play at 6:13.
Bowling Green 5, Northern Michigan 3
After Matt Meier gave the Falcons a 1-0 lead 2:40 into the game, the Wildcats got goals from Brendan Jacques, the first of his career, and one from Filip Starzynski to take a 2-1 lead. The lead lasted until late in the opening frame, when Mark Friedman evened the score.
After Kevin Dufour gave the Falcons a 3-2 lead, Brock Maschmeyer evened things for the Wildcats with a late second-period power-play goal. The Falcons picked up two in the third from John Schilling and Matt Pohlkamp to seal the victory.
Michigan State 4, Ferris State 3
Trailing 1-0 in the first period just 1:27 in, the Bulldogs struck three times in less than two minutes to take the lead. Andrew Mayer, Gerald Mayhew and Jared VanWormer all scored for the hosts. The Spartans scored three times in the final 40 minutes to win the game.
No. 12 Penn State 3, Alaska-Anchorage 1
Tad Kozun struck 5:54 into the third period to cut a two-goal lead by the Nittany Lions in half. Unfortunately for the visitors, that was the only goal they could muster in a 3-1 loss.
