Late Rally Falls Short in 3-2 Loss at LSSU  

Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. - The homestanding Lake Superior Lakers jumped out to an early 3-0 lead and held on for a 3-2 victory over Michigan State on Saturday evening in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. Jake Chelios and Greg Wolfe had the Spartan markers, while Drew Palmisano made 23 saves, including 12 in the final period to keep his team in the game.

Lake Superior drew first blood at 12:11, as Kellan Lain gathered the puck at the half wall on the right side and zipped a cross-slot pass to Colin Campbell at the left post, and Palmisano could not slide to his right quickly enough to swat away Campbell's offering. Campbell doubled the lead for the home team with a power-play goal at 16:11, with a snipe from the hash marks after he got the defender to go down to block a shot.

Nick McPartland gave the home team a 3-0 lead less than two minutes into the middle period. Palmisano made a save at the near post and was knocked down, and McPartland had a wide-open right side into which he deposited the rebound.

The Spartans got back into it with a goal by Jake Chelios at 10:52. The Spartans were pressing deep into the offensive zone, and had good pressure on Kapalka. One of the Laker defenders tried to clear the puck with a high flip out of the zone, but Chelios caught it, dropped it immediately to his feet, and rifled a shot from his spot on the left point. It was his first goal of the season.

Still trailing by a 3-1 margin after the second intermission, MSU pressed to get back into it, but ran into big, strong defensemen who didn't allow the Spartans to gain much advantage. With time winding down in the third, the Spartans got a break with a power play in the final minute, thanks to a too many men call against the home team. With five seconds remaining in regulation, Greg Wolfe got his second goal of the season when he lifted a loose puck over the shoulder of Kapalka; assists went to Chris Forfar and Trevor Nill. With 5.6 seconds remaining, the teams lined up for the center-ice faceoff. The Lakers won the draw, sending it deep into their offensive zone to seal the victory and the series sweep.
 
 
 

"They had open net on a couple of their goals, because of some breakdowns, " said Head Coach Tom Anastos. "They were easy putbacks, and LSSU was opportunistic. We are having breakdowns, they lead to goals. We continue to make untimely mistakes, and we're paying for them. We are going to keep working to get better. Their size was a bit of a factor for sure - we're not really a big team, either. But, we have to figure out ways to get to the net, and have more scoring chances, too.
"I thought that after last night, we made some adjustments and we were better today through the neutral zone," continued the head coach. "Obviously, we have to work harder in our defensive zone, too - there's too many mistakes that end up in our net. We'll go back and tinker with lines & combinations, and find some things that work. We also need to stay positive. "

The Spartans were outshot in the game by a 26-23 margin, and went 1-for-4 on the power play compared to 1-for-2 for the Lakers.