The Lake Forest Scouts varsity hockey team has been craving a win for some time now. In a streak that has featured way too many ties with some losses sprinkled in, the Scouts were looking to get one win–however they could–to turn their season around. Saturday afternoon, Lake Forest traveled to Heartland Arena to take on Lane Tech, a team that has racked up four wins this season. Per usual, the first period did not see much action, but as the game went on, the Scouts were able to score enough goals to barely edge Lane Tech in what ended up being a thrilling contest.
After a first period that featured some shots on goal for both teams, you knew that there would be plenty of action in the final two periods of play. With just under two minutes into the second period, Lake Forest broke away from the tie. Charlie Altounian set up Tanner Heitman for the first goal of the game, putting the Scouts in command early. Roughly seven minutes later, Altounian picked up his second assist of the afternoon when he assisted Hunter Heitman, Tanner’s younger brother. Lane Tech eventually had an answer to the two Scouts goals when James Johnston scored with 1:36 left in the period. It was a one goal lead heading into the final period of action. During the Scouts’ winless streak, they had plenty of trouble maintaining their leads, especially in late game situations. This time, instead of letting the opposition score first, the Scouts took care of business early in the third period to take some pressure off of their defense.
Close to five minutes into the final period, Tanner Heitman again was able to get the puck passed the Lane Tech goaltender on an assist from Brendan Manfred. Lake Forest, however, could not preserve that lead for more than three minutes. Noah Fletcher brought the game back to a one goal contest with 7:26 left in the third, giving Lane Tech plenty of time to score one more goal. For the next three minutes, there was plenty of hard fought hockey. Lane Tech was knocking at the door, while the Scouts were trying to get an insurance goal. With just under 4:30 remaining in regulation, senior forward Trevor Allen of Lake Forest provided an immense goal on an assist from Tyler Nicholas. With a 4-2 lead, Lake Forest was on their way to their first win since way back on October 25. Lane Tech forward Brendan O’Brien scored a late goal with one second left in the game, but regardless, the Lake Forest Scouts varsity hockey team finally got the win they were striving for by the final score of 4-3.
One of the main reasons that Lane Tech lost was because of the amount of penalties that went against them. In total, they had six penalties, two of which occurred in each period. The Scouts scored on one of those power-plays and controlled possession on the other five. It would be rare to see a team win a game when they had six men sent to the box over the course of the contest
On the other side, The Lake Forest Scouts just came in and did their job, something they haven’t been able to do for a while. They scored when they needed to score, and was able to play tough enough defense to prevail with a one goal victory. Sure, there is plenty of room for improvement as the season continues, but for now, the players will celebrate this victory and prepare themselves for their next game.
Tonight, the Scouts will face off against (5-6-1) Evanston at Lake Forest College in what should be a thrilling matchup. After that, the Scouts will get three days of rest before they play in the Stevenson Thanksgiving tournament. Come out to LFC tonight to support your Lake Forest Scouts varsity hockey team as they look to pick up their second straight victory.
