The Laker boys’ hockey team secured a 5-4 victory over the Thief River Falls Prowlers in the Section 8A quarterfinals on Tuesday night at the Kent Freeman Arena.
The Lakers, who entered the tournament as the number four seed, fell behind just 17 seconds into the first period when Prowlers sophomore Spencer Anderson scored on a breakaway. However, the Lakers remained undeterred and tied the game at 5:21 in the first period when Keifer Lundmark slipped the puck through the pads of Prowler goalie Cooper Roff. The Lakers then took their first lead when Easton Kennedy scored during an odd-man rush, making the score 2-1. The Prowlers answered with a late goal in the period from Jaxon Hams, who made a nice move past the Laker defense to even the score heading into the second period.
The Lakers regained the lead at 2:46 in the second period when Owen Chiodo scored after his initial pass to the front of the net hit traffic and found its way into the goal. The Lakers added two more goals in the second period, coming just 40 seconds apart. Hudson Pettit scored with a wrist shot from the blue line, followed by Chiodo netting his second goal of the night after a deflection from a shot by Tommy Suckert. The Prowlers responded quickly, scoring 23 seconds later on a power play when Hudson Brouse found the back of the net, narrowing the score to 5-3 as they headed into the third period.
In the third period, the Lakers maintained pressure on the Prowlers, but the Prowlers managed to score in the final two minutes when Johnathan Rogalla beat Laker goalie Griffin Lindberg. The Lakers were short-handed in the last minute of regulation, and the Prowlers pulled their goalie to create a 6-on-4 advantage, but they were unable to tie the game.
With this win, the Lakers advance to the Section 8A semifinals, where they will face Warroad at a neutral site in East Grand Forks on Saturday at 1 PM. The Lakers had lost to Warroad in their only meeting of the season, which ended in a 4-1 defeat. Tune in to KDLM on Saturday for our pregame coverage beginning at 12:40 PM.