Senior Night SpectacularPublished on: February 14, 2010
Allendale, MI — With three seniors taking the ice for their last home game at the Georgetown Ice Center, the Lakers were determined to get a momentum-changing win before heading into the North Regional Tournament next weekend. Prior to the drop of the puck, the Laker faithful honored senior forwards Aaron Misner, Tommy Renkes and Andrew Gilgallon with a small ceremony recognizing their accomplishments during their Laker careers. Coach Todd Charlesworth also assembled the three into a line for the opening shift of the game. Goaltender Scott Tiefenthal started in net for the Lakers. Much like the night before, the Stars struck first, and then again, to give themselves the 2-0 lead. But this night would ultimately belong to the Lakers. Alex Host opened the scoring for the Lakers to cut the lead to 2-1 before heading into the locker rooms down after the first period of play. Directly off a face-off in the Stars’ zone, David Stone swooped in, picked up the puck, and found Host open in front who buried the one-timer for the Lakers. The second period would prove to be all Lakers as they caught fire and their offense came alive. Breaking out of their own zone on the powerplay, Cory Farrell dished the puck off to a streaking Tim Marney who entered the left side of the Stars’ zone. He dropped the puck back to Stone who returned the puck to Marney in the left corner as he circled around the net and put home the wrap around to even the game at 2. On yet another Laker powerplay, they broke out of their own zone as this time Renkes flew down the left side of the ice with the puck. He cut to the middle and fired a shot just wide as it rimmed up the boards where Gilgallon was able to chip it back into the corner for Host. Host was hit and taken off the puck as Gilgallon picked up the loose puck and headed towards the net firing a shot that was stopped by the Stars’ netminder. The puck remained loose as both Renkes and Stone chipped away at it before Stone was able to knock it past the goaltender to give the Lakers the 3-2 lead. Shortly after, defenseman Doug Smotel picked up the puck in his own end and led the Lakers on a 3-on-2 rush entering the right side of the Stars’ zone. He skated towards the middle of the ice before firing a shot on net that was put home on the rebound by Stone to extend the Laker lead to 4-2. Following another face-off in the Stars’ end, the Laker line of Renkes, Tom Halpin, and Evan Olds caused havoc for the Stars’ as they had them running around in their own zone. Olds fired a shot that missed the target where it rimmed up the boards for Luke Chase who promptly tossed it back to the corner for Halpin. Halpin found Olds behind the net who found a wide open Renkes in front for the one-timer, glove side high to give the Lakers a 5-3 lead heading to the dressing room after two periods of play. The third period was more of the same as the Laker offense continued to storm the Stars’ net and would eventually put four more past the Stars’ netminder. After some tremendous forechecking pressure by the line of Marney, Host, and Stone, Marney took the puck on the left side and quickly dished it to Stone on the side of the net as Marney drove to the front. Stone walked out and tried to stuff it home but the puck bounced around before Marney found it and buried it to give the Lakers a 6-3 lead. After a faceoff in the Laker end, the puck got past a Stars’ defenseman and allowed Ben Sikkenga and Danny Leja to streak in on a 2-on-1. Sikkenga picked the puck up on the left side before slipping a pass to Leja who fired home the one-timer to give the Lakers a commanding 7-3 lead. Soon after, Tom Halpin connected to give the Lakers the 8-3 advantage. Defenseman Mathew Schulte blocked a shot from a Stars’ forward and then picked up the puck and found Olds on the right side near the Laker bench. Olds zipped a pass to Halpin who danced his way outside-in on a Stars’ defender before deking the netminder and tucking it home for the goal. Rounding out the scoring for the Lakers this evening would be Marney who completed the hat trick. Defenseman Tommy Skelton slipped the puck to Marney in the Laker zone who chipped it past a pinching Stars’ defenseman as he, Host, and Stone were off the races on a late developing 3-on-1. Marney went left to right with a slick toe drag around a sprawling Stars’ defenseman before firing the puck past the Stars’ netminder to seal the game 9-3 and send the Lakers off their home ice for the last time this season with a convincing victory. Goaltender Scott Tiefenthal made some key saves in the game for the Lakers, keeping the Stars’ from mounting any sort of comeback. The now third seeded Lakers will take on 10th seed Kettering University on Friday night at the Southside Ice Arena in Byron Center, MI at 7:30 PM in their attempt to claim a berth at the National Tournament in March. 
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