Lake Forest 4, UW-Superior 2

You have to go back nearly a decade, to 2008-09 to be exact, to find the last time the Yellowjackets played Lake Forest College. As conference counterparts in the old NCHA, the Yellowjackets and Foresters used to play a minimum of two times per season. Once Lake Forest departed for a new conference, the two teams never shared the ice again.

Until Friday.

The Yellowjackets opened the 2017-18 season at the Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, taking on a Lake Forest team they had owned of late, winning the last 13 meetings going back to 2004. But on this night the Foresters put an end to the streak and opened their season with a win in the process, defeating the Yellowjackets 4-2.

It looked like the Yellowjackets (0-1-0, 0-0-0 WIAC) opened the scoring in the game as they did find the back of the net and the red light came on, but the officials waved it off, saying the net was dislodged before the puck crossed the line, keeping the game scoreless. Later in the first Lake Forest would open the scoring, getting a goal off a faceoff with under three minutes to play to move ahead 1-0.

Early in the second period the Yellowjackets went on the power play and tied the game. Bruno Birzitis (Riga, Latvia/Riga Distance Education Secondary) had the puck on the right board and sent a pass to the front of the net that was redirected by Evgeny Yakovlev (Belgorod, Russia) between the pads of Forester goaltender George Argiropolous, pulling the Yellowjackets even at 2:13 of the period.

Lake Forest would regain the lead for good at 6:41 of the second period, then added another goal with 4:54 to play to head to the locker room after 40 minutes leading 3-1.

The Yellowjackets would again strike early, pulling to within a goal before the third period was three minutes old. Ryan Carlson (Hermantown, Minn./Hermantown)'s outlet pass found Tanner Skaja (St. Cloud, Minn./St. Cloud Tech) on the right wing in the neutral zone. Skaja's shot would be turned away by Argiropolous, but Birzitis was there to put the rebound home, making it 3-2 at 2:37.

Lake Forest would get that goal back with each team down a man, scoring at 14:05 of the third to make the final score 4-2.

Kyle Miller (Prior Lake, Minn./Prior Lake) got the start in goal for the Yellowjackets and finished the night with 31 saves. At the other end Argiropolous made 21 stops.

The Yellowjackets took 10 penalties for 23 minutes, while the Foresters were whistled five times for 10 minutes. The Yellowjackets were 1-for-3 on the power play and were perfect on the penalty kill, going 8-for-8.

Up Next: The Yellowjackets will take on Concordia University Wisconsin Saturday, October 28. The opening faceoff is set for 4:00 p.m.