OXFORD, Ohio — The Lake Superior State Lakers shocked the heavily-favored No. 9 Miami RedHawks 2-1 Friday night in the first contest of their best-of-three-game series.
Steady goaltending from senior Jeff Jakaitis allowed Lake Superior State to hang around for most of the game before the Lakers took the lead with two third-period goals. Jakaitis, ranked second nationally in save percentage, fended off 37 of 38 shots.
Afterwards, Miami head coach Enrico Blasi gave high praise to the Lakers' senior netminder. "Jakaitis played well for them. We've got to find a way to get to him tomorrow night."
While forward Jeff Rainville was in a giving mood last week with five assists in the three-game CCHA first-round series against Ferris State, he was on the receiving end of the Lakers' first goal Friday.
Shortly after allowing a power play to expire without a shot on goal, senior defenseman Barnabas Birkeland forced RedHawks' goalie Jeff Zatkoff to lean to his right before sliding the puck across the crease to Rainville for the open-net equalizer 3:33 into the third period.
At the 9:57 mark in the final stanza, Derek A. Smith, one of three candidates for the CCHA's Offensive Defenseman of the Year Award, rifled a shot from the right circle for the game winner. The goal gave the junior 10 for the season.
The Lakers played like they had nothing to lose. Lakers head coach Jim Roque said, "There's not a lot of pressure on us. We are the road team."
After the loss, Miami head coach Enrico Blasi emphasized execution. "Bottom line, we did not execute ... [Saturday night] It's do or die. We need to come out and play with some urgency. We need to pay more attention to detail and see what happens. I think they executed and we didn't. The two goals they scored; they executed beautifully on.
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
"CCHA's Offensive Defenseman of the Year"
I know that to be grammatically accurate, but still.