Lakers erase late deficit, lose in overtime

They erased a two-goal deficit for the second game in a row, but the Lake Superior State Lakers couldn’t turn it into a win on Sunday.

Sophomore forward AJ Vanderbeck was the hero as the Northern Michigan Wildcats beat the Lakers 4-3 Sunday in Western Collegiate Hockey Association action at Taffy Abel Arena.

Vanderbeck beat freshman Lake State goaltender Ethan Langenegger with 1:06 to go in overtime as he scored on a rebound after his initial shot from the high slot was stopped seconds earlier.

The goal was Vanderbeck’s third of the day and came just over two minutes after he had a goal called back earlier in the extra frame.

The Lakers forced overtime thanks to a pair of goals in the final 61 seconds of regulation.

“It was a good finish and a good response there late,” Lakers coach Damon Whitten said in a post-game interview on YesFM. “I’m proud of the effort in a lot of ways. I don’t like the result. It’s a missed opportunity to put points in our total.”

With the Wildcats leading 3-1, senior defenceman Will Riedell cut the lead to one with 1:01 to go as he beat freshman goaltender Rico DiMatteo with a shot through traffic.

Junior forward Pete Veillette then tied the game with 12.1 seconds to go in regulation when he tried to hit Ashton Calder with a pass in close from the right corner and had it deflect past DiMatteo off the skate of a Wildcats defenceman.

Junior defenceman Jacob Nordqvist had the other goal for the Lakers while junior forward Miroslav Mucha assisted on a pair of Lake State goals.

Andre Ghantous had the other goal for Northern Michigan, his fifth point of the weekend after the sophomore forward assisted on four goals on Friday night.

Langenegger stopped 22 shots for the Lakers while DiMatteo stopped 34 shots.

The loss drops the Lakers conference record to 1-3-0 (win-loss-tie) and 7-4-3 overall.

The Lakers return to action next weekend with a pair of games at Bowling Green.