In the 2026-27 season opener, Lake Forest utilized six different goal scorers in a 6-1 victory over Saint Mary's.
The hosts tested the Forester defense early, forcing
Noel Friedman into three saves before scoring in the third minute of the game. Lake Forest killed a penalty at the midpoint of the first before going on its own power play. One minute into the man advantage,
Trevor Faucher lined up a wrist shot from the left point and found the upper-right corner to tie the game at 1.
Ryan Murphy and
Luke Lizak took two shots late in the period, but the score remained tied going into the first intermission.
Coming into the second, the hosts took three shots in the first 90 seconds of the period, but did not score. In the 13th minute of the period,
Reece Allman and
Kristian Halbych combined to find
Max Jaldung, who gave the Foresters a 2-1 lead into the third.
Early in the third, SMU found itself on the penalty kill yet again after a tripping call. On the power play,
Eddie Paulissian found his own rebound and hit the back of the net to push the score to 3-1. After a holding penalty put Lake Forest on the kill,
Will Shephard forced a turnover in the neutral zone that worked out to
Max Abramson, who scored shorthanded for the Foresters.
The offense continued to deliver as two minutes after the shorthanded goal,
Joseph Ziska scored in his first collegiate game to put Lake Forest up 5-1. The Foresters got a sixth goal of the night on the power play, as Shephard found room on the left faceoff circle and tucked the puck into the bottom left corner. A final power play for the hosts forced Friedman into action late, as the transfer from Chatham made 33 consecutive saves on the night after giving up the early goal.
Lake Forest finished the match 3-3 on the power play and 5-5 on the penalty kill in the season opener. The Foresters are back in action tomorrow against the Cardinals, with puck drop from Winona set for 2 p.m.
