Yellowjackets 3, Lake Forest 3 (OT)

SUPERIOR, Wis.: Since arriving on the Superior scene in midway through last season, when the Yellowjacket men's hockey team has needed a big goal, they have called on Troy York (Plano, Texas/West). And more often than not the Texan has delivered. Entering the season York had 12 points in 12 games as a Yellowjacket, with eight of those points coming in the form of goals. After Friday night, York is officially producing at a clip of more than a point per game.

The sensational sophomore did his part Friday night, scoring a goal and setting up another in the third period, helping the Yellowjackets come from behind to earn a tie against Lake Forest College before a opening night crowd of 372 at Wessman Arena.

Lake Forest opened the scoring at 7:15 of the first period when Cody Guidorzi batted a puck out of the air and past Yellowjacket goaltender A.J. Smith (Keller, Texas/Southlake Carroll) to make it 1-0. The goal came with a pair of Yellowjacket defensemen in the penalty box.

The Yellowjackets had 28 seconds of power play time carry over from the first period to the second, and after a good chance early watched the man-advantage opportunity go by the boards. Moments after the penalty expired Aaron O'Neill scored from a shallow angle on the right wing and the Foresters led 2-0.

After the second goal Lake Forest carried the play, hemming the Yellowjackets in their own zone numerous times. Things went from bad to worse when the Yellowjackets took another penalty, but this time they used the infraction to swing the momentum. At 7:36 of the period they got on the board when Daniel Litchke (Superior, Wis./Superior) broke up a play in the neutral zone and fed a pass to the middle for Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas at Arlington). The freshman broke into Lake Forest territory and faked to the forehand before pulling to the backhand and sliding a shot past the Lake Forest goaltender to get the Yellowjackets on the board. The shorthanded goal came at 7:36 of the second period.

Before the frame ended, however, the Foresters regained the two-goal lead. Tyler O'Neill deflected a point shot past Smith at 15:16 and Lake Forest would take a 3-1 lead into the third period.

York struck on the power play at 6:48, getting a pass in the left circle from Litchke and wiring a shot past Lake Forest goaltender Louis-Philippe De Courcey high on the glove side to pull the Yellowjackets to within one. Then at 14:02 York did it again, this time taking a feed in the left circle from Liam Blais (Uxbridge, Ontario/Uxbridge Secondary) and letting a shot go that found the stick of freshman Troy MacTavish (Kanata, Ontario/Earl of March), who deflected it past De Courcey for his first collegiate goal and in the process tying the game.

With the game nearing the final minute of overtime the Yellowjackets were given a power play opportunity, but they were unable to capitalize and forced to leave the night with a tie.

Smith was solid in his Yellowjacket debut, finishing the night with 22 saves. At the other end De Courcey was much busier, making 41 saves.

Each team was 1-for-6 on the power play.

Up Next: The Yellowjackets (0-0-1, 0-0-0 W.I.A.C.) will be at home Saturday when they host Concordia Wisconsin at Wessman Arena. Game time is set for 7:05 p.m. and the game can be heard live on 91.3 FM KUWS beginning with the pre-game show at 6:40 p.m. The game can also be viewed live on the iFan Sports Network.