Bantam Lakers double up Big Red Cornell

As the Bantam Lakers entered their fifth game of the season, each week in practice their coach has continued to drill into them the importance of good solid passing and using their points to make the game more fluid.

After five weeks, the practices paid off as the Lakers defeated Big Red Cornell, 4-2, at the Pepsi Center on Nov. 19.

The first period was a very close checking affair as both teams were feeling each other out early. Laker goaltender Anthony Kroese made some key stops early to keep the game scoreless.

Laker defenseman Cal Eichhorn played strong in his own zone, keeping the Big Red forwards at bay throughout the first period.

At 3:25 of the first, the Lakers got on the board with the first goal of the game. Trevor Barrett, who had just got onto the ice, took the puck and skated around the back of the Cornell net, then wove his way back up towards the slot. As two Cornell players tried to check him from the puck, he did a complete 180 and took a hard slap shot that beat the Cornell netminder five-hole to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead to end the period.

The second period was a quiet one with no scoring but many chances for both teams. B. Lucey and Jordan Valley of Cornell showed their skating abilities with end-to-end rushes on a couple of occasions. At one point, Lucey had a breakaway but Laker goaltender Kroese was outstanding, stopping the shot to his stick side.

The highlight of this period was the Laker defense. With Cornell having an two-man advantage for well over a minute, the Laker defense rose to the occasion. Cornell kept it in the Laker zone but strong play by Matt Lindvall and Zach Adams early in the power play kept the Big Red team off the board.

With 45 seconds to play in the two-man advantage, strong checking and puck control by Dominic Carlino and Zach Adams help kill the remaining minutes of the two-man advantage to secure the Laker 1-0 lead through two periods.

In the third period, Cornell needed a quick goal to tie the game up and did just that one minute in when J.D. Frustaci knotted it at 1-1 with a wrist shot that beat the Laker goalie unassisted. Both teams traded chances for the next five minutes but with 5:48 to play, Laker defenseman D.J. Scinta took a pass at the point from Barrett and took a hard slap shot that found the back of the Cornell net to give the Lakers a 2-1 lead. The Lakers had another great scoring opportunity when Jonathan Rera took a lead pass from Greg Slawson and when in alone on the Cornell goalie but the Cornell goalie made a great glove save to keep it a one-goal game.

The Lakers continued to get strong play from Tyler Senway, Brenden Vujcec, Alex Shanahan, and Zach Adams to keep the lead at one goal but the Big Red team would not be denied, scoring with just 1:18 left.

The Lakers, showing their no quit attitude throughout this year, created many chances from great play by Muj Soniwala, Lois Huff, Mike Biggane and Conner Dougherty.

With just 58 seconds left, Josh Zalis made a great move in front of the Cornell net and shot it five hole to give the Lakers a 3-2 lead. The Big Red team pulled the goaltender and with 23 seconds left, Barrett got his second of the game in the open net.