Lake Forest College Sports Information
February 8, 2003
Contact: Mike Wajerski, SID

Foresters Finish NCHA Regular Season with Another Weekend Split
Team defeats UW-Stout, falls to UW-River Falls, Finishes 6-7-1 in NCHA play
  

Robin Charest had a career-
high three points on Friday.
LAKE FOREST, IL - The Forester men's hockey team recorded yet another split of Northern Collegiate Hockey Association games over the weekend (February 7-8). Lake Forest defeated UW-Stout 5-3 on Friday and lost to UW-River Falls 4-1 on Saturday to finish the regular season with a 13-8-4 overall record and 6-7-1mark in NCHA play. The team split six of the seven NCHA weekends and had a win and a tie the other. Stout fell to 6-18-0 overall at 2-11-0 with their loss on Friday. River Falls, the nation's fourth-ranked team entering the weekend, are now 20-4-1 overall and 11-2-1 in the league.

Lake Forest scored just 97 seconds into Friday's game on sophomore Robin Charest's (Cabano, Quebec/Coaticooh Jr. A) seventh goal of the season. UW-Stout, however, finished the first period with a 2-1 lead on scores from Dan Riffe (2:18) and John Schaffner (11:11).

Schaffner struck again at the 3:36 mark of the second, giving the visitors a two-goal advantage. Charest recorded an assist as sophomore Ryan Scapinello (Guelph, Ontario/Stratford Cullitons) scored his third of the year at 10:38 and junior Bryan O'Connor (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) tied the game at 18:39 with his seventh.

Junior Brad Saint's (Brantford, Ontario/Brantford Golden Eagles) goal 81 seconds into the third period was his first of the year and the game winner. Charest was credited with another assist, his career-high third point of the game. Senior David Evans (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Royals) scored his team-leading 19th goal of 2002-03 on an empty net with 10 seconds to play to seal the victory. Senior Matt Bruni (Unionville, Ontario/Aurora Tigers) assisted on Evans' goal to record his 99th career point.

On Saturday, River Falls finished the first with a 2-0 lead on goals by Jamie Steinert and Jess Johnson.

With a one-man advantage, Lake Forest sophomore Ryan Panet (Markham, Ontario/Wexford Raiders) scored his fifth of the season at the 13:59 mark of the second. However, the Falcons regained their two-goal lead when Joe Dustin scored at 16:39.

An empty-netter by Johnson with 25 seconds left in the third period closed out the scoring.

The Foresters finished the regular season in fifth place in the NCHA, trailing fourth-place UW-Stevens Point (13-11-1, 8-6-0 NCHA) by three points in the standings. Lake Forest will play at Stevens Point next weekend (February 14-15) in the quarterfinals of the NCHA Tournament. The winner of the series will advance to the semifinals to be played on February 28 at the site of the highest-remaining seed.

Lake Forest - Stout Box Score
Lake Forest - River Falls Box Score