Sports

GVL / Brian B. Sevald
Nate Morang screams down the ice.

Lakers overcome barrage of injuries for weekend win

By Greg Monahan GVL Staff Writer
1/17/2010

With just one game this past weekend, the Grand Valley State University men's hockey team battled through both adversity and Oakland University en route to a convincing weekend victory.

Skating two players down due to recent injuries, the Division II Lakers took down Oakland, who came into the game rated No. 8 in the American Collegiate Hockey Association's Division I.

The 4-2 win became especially important for the Lakers when considering the team's short bench and absence of a handful of top players. GVSU head coach Mike Forbes said he has had to make several adjustments in light of the team's current injury situation.

"We're the walking wounded right now," he said. It seems like both teams right now are snakebit, but the positive of this is that everybody gets a chance to play."

Though his team cannot seem to catch a break in regards to getting healthy, Forbes said its performance on the ice has not suffered.

"We were two guys short of a full roster on the ice today, and out of necessity, Eric Beaupre was playing on a bad ankle and ended up scoring the game winner tonight," he said. "Right now we're definitely shorthanded, but the players that are playing are stepping up and filling in quite well."

The Lakers had several bright spots, the brightest of which being junior goaltender Grant Lyon. Bouncing back after being pulled last weekend against Adrian College, he turned in one of his most solid performances of the year.

After giving up 11 goals in two games last weekend, the Lakers locked down and played a defensive-minded game, which Lyon said made his job in the net easier.

"I was able to see the puck, so I was able to stop the puck," he said.

The next six games will each be pivotal for GVSU, who will take on No. 9 Central Michigan University before facing Davenport University and Michigan State University in back-to-back weekends. The Panthers and Spartans are ranked second and first in the region, respectively.

The puck drops at home this Friday at 9 p.m.

gmonahan@lanthorn.com

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