Believe it or not, hockey season has already started.
The Lake Region State College men’s hockey team took a short trip to Forest City, Iowa, this past weekend for a pair of games against Waldorf University’s Division II hockey team. The Royals lost 5-3 on Friday before collecting their first win of the season with a 4-1 victory on Saturday.
LRSC’s Brett Lesage scored a goal just 44 seconds into Friday’s game to give the Royals an abrupt 1-0 lead. It was assisted by Langdon native Brody Steinmetz. But Waldorf went up 2-1 with a pair of goals in the second period.
Devils Lake native Cullen Schmaltz came up with an unassisted goal to tie it back up late in the second period. Just over two minutes later, Waldorf scored its second power-play goal of the period to retake the lead, 3-2.
A goal just over eight minutes into the third period made it a 4-2 game. LRSC’s Matthew Besse — another Devils Lake native — made it interesting with a goal at 13:31, getting the Royals within one. It was assisted by Carson Beaudin. Exactly five minutes later, the Warriors put the game away with another goal, sealing the deal on the 5-3 defeat of LRSC.
And for much of Saturday’s game, things weren’t going a whole lot better. After a scoreless first period, Waldorf went up 1-0 during a power play in the second period.
Then LRSC unleashed its dominance.
After just three goals in the first five periods of the season — and only two since the one 44 seconds into the season — the Royals exploded for a four-goal third period to soar to a 4-1 victory.
About three and a half minutes in, Steinmetz tied it with an unassisted goal, and Langdon native Alex Gellner gave LRSC the lead about three minutes later, assisted by Kaleb Hodny. Parker Swanson — the third of four Devils Lake natives on the team — gave the Royals some breathing room with an unassisted goal, and Lesage scored on a power play to put the hammer down on the 4-1 win.
Now 1-1 on the young season, which technically began during summer, the Royals will get a couple of weeks off before returning to action. They’ll play at home on Oct. 5 against the University of North Dakota club team at 7 p.m. The regular season goes all the way through March 1.
LRSC, competing in just its second season of men’s hockey, is a member of the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Division II. The Royals went 12-15 in their inaugural year.
