The Lake Forest College Men’s hockey team opened the two-game set against Aurora University at home on Saturday night, beating the Spartans 7-1, with a firm performance from underclassmen to clinch the win.
Sophomore goaltender Louis-Philippe De Courcy played a solid game for only his second collegiate victory, making 17 saves throughout the night.
“I just wanted to keep us in a good spot the whole game,” says De Courcy, “it was the guys who really took it away for us to win and get us some points.”
The Foresters took the lead early in the first period with a goal at 4:32 by sophomore forward Bron Loisselle and assisted by sophomore defenseman Luke Meade and forward Cody Guidorzi.
During the second period, the underclassmen for the Foresters pulled away from and turned on the heat for Spartan goalie Jared Rutledge. Connor Duncan added to the Forester’s lead at 5:18 in the second period from the point which was also assisted by Guidorzi. Sophomore Ryan Kruss scored his first career goal (10:37), assisted by senior Travis Hill and Jack Lewis, giving the Foresters a 3-0 lead. Luke Meade netted the puck at 19:00 leaving Aurora Spartan’s silent into the end of the period.
The Foresters’ second-period momentum continued with a goal by Zach Feldman at 7:29 to extend the lead to 5-0. It wasn’t until the end of the third period when Aurora finally answered with Alex Holm finally finding the back of the net during a power play.
Lake Forest wasn’t done as they added another two goals in the last half-minute in of regulation. A power play for the Foresters gave Travis Hill his 3rd goal this season, assisted by Justin Pelock. Moments after the face-off, a pass from Charlie Izaguirre allowed freshman Austin Aksoy’s to score his first career goal with just seconds left in the game.
Lake Forest, now 11-9-0 overall and 7-8-0 in the Northern College Hockey Association, needed this win, along with another tomorrow to keep their playoff chances alive and well.
The Foresters travel to Aurora Sunday, February 5th to close out the second game at 4:00 P.M.
