The 2021 Lakeland Eagles Varsity hockey season took flight on Tuesday in an early evening matchup with crosstown rival Milford Mavericks. The Eagles bested the Mavericks with a final 7-4 score but the game was contested until late in the third period during which sophomore goalie Jason Slicker stood tall before unrelenting Mavs pressure.

The Eagles opened up the scoring on a bouncing shot from sophomore Luke Weinberger. Not satisfied with one goal, Luke netted the next two Eagles' goals for the hatty in his first period of Varsity hockey. Milford dropped in two goals during the first to make it a snug one goal game after one period.

The second period was equally tight with Milford quickly tying the game at three until Weinberger tallied his fourth goal of the game on a power play effort to put Lakeland up for good. A burst of goals by Kyle Baker and Jacob Lewis (two overall) in a 65-second span built a four goal lead after two periods. Milford came out firing in the third, pouring on the pressure and finally broke through Slicker's tough goaltending with five minutes to go in the game.

The short staffed Lakeland defensive core of Baker, Matthew Zaremba, Cael Slating, and Nick Hrobsky put in workhorse minutes to seal the victory in front of Slicker's stingy net-minding - turning back 22 of 26 shots overall. Lakeland's power play went a respectable 2 for 3 on man up opportunities. Senior Captain Cam Slicker notched four assists in total with Weinberger, Lewis and junior Dylan Huebner credited for assists as well.

Coach Tim Ronayne credited the team overall with the win. "Tonight we had good scoring from our top line, but it takes a strong effort by the entire team to beat Milford. We don't normally kick off the season with one of our most important games of the season but there's nothing normal about 2020/21. It was refreshing to play a tough, clean, back and forth game against our top rival and we managed to come out on top tonight."

Before the game Milford head coach Dennis Gagnon paid thoughtful tribute to Eagles alumnus Matt Langley and his father Huron Valley Schools' hockey icon Chuck Langley who we sadly lost just last month. Mr. Langley was a passionate proponent of the Beaumont Student Heart Check program raising money annually in support of the program in Matt's honor. He and his family also sponsor two yearly $1,000 scholarships granted to a Maverick and Eagle senior hockey player in remembrance of Matt. Chuck's ties to HVS varsity hockey run deep - his grandson Cooper Langley is a freshman goaltender for the Mavericks. Please remember the Langleys in your thoughts and prayers.

https://www.beaumont.org/.../heart.../student-heart-check