Lakers Hold Off Green Knights: Magagna Gets 100th Career Point

In the inaugural St. Norbert Thanksgiving Holdiday Tournament, the sixth ranked Lakers defeated the third ranked St. Norbert Green Knights 4-3. The Lakers came into the Green Knights home arena (the Cornerstone Community Center) off a Jekyll and Hyde performance last weekend. But, the Lakers shook off the rust from the Geneseo game and got right down to business.

Derrell Levy slipped the puck past St. Norbert's Blake Bashor for the first goal of the game at 10:09 into the first (assist to Garren Reisweber). The Lakers quickly gave the Green Knights a shot to tie the game up in the middle of the period committing two penalties. But, the penalty kill unit and goaltender Chris Hyk held out long enough to get back to full strength. The first ended with a series of penalties for both teams, but ended with the Lakers clinging to a slim margin.

The Green Knights started off the second period on the powerplay after a Ryan Ellis penalty late in the first. The penalty carried over, but things got worse for the Lakers as six men ended up on the ice costing them yet another skater. Green Knight Nick Tabisz took advantage of the situation on the 5 on 3 and fired a shot past Hyk from the top of the left circle at 1:08. The Green Knights and the crowd at the Cornerstone got a quick boost of confidence off the stick of Tabisz. But, exactly a minute later Brad Dormiedy carried the puck into the offensive zone somehow eluding a defender and found Neil Musselwhite for a breakaway shorthanded goal. This goal would prove to be the game changer for the Lakers as Musselwhite's goal propelled a solid offensive outburst in the second. Senior forward Mark Lozzi scored at 14:56 and senior captain Peter Magagna scored the eventual game winner at 18:52. The goal for Magagna gave him his 100th career point as a Laker.

The Green Knights, however, didn't go down without a fight. A.J. Gale put the Green Knights on his back scoring two goals late in the third period cutting the Laker lead to one. The Lakers were clearly back on their heals with five minutes left in the game, but they stood up to the onslaught. Chris Hyk and the Laker defense stepped up in a big way and closed the door on the Green Knights ending their bid at a wild comeback.

The Lakers (7-2-1) will play St. Scholastica tomorrow at 4:30. After tomorrow nights game the Lakers will make the trek up north to face Plattsburgh (#1) and Potsdam.

Jared Crast