The Lakeland Eagles were hosted by Walled Lake Northern on Saturday night in front of a packed crowd supporting cancer research. The special evening ended in a fabulous way, as the Eagles prevailed 6-4.

The Knights charged out to a 2-0 lead early in the first. Lakeland surged back with three unanswered goals of their own. The first goal came on a powerplay advantage. Fisher Christian (from Luke Weinberger) found captain Kyle Baker on the top of the right circle. Baker let go a targeted snap shot beating the Northern goalie Jonah Stern down low. Lakeland’s second goal was a bit of a gift when a weak shot by junior Mitchell Beller heading wide was directed into the net by Stern (assists to Brennan Grant and Dylan Huebner).

The final goal of the period was well earned. It was Christian to Huebner for a textbook back door powerplay goal to make it 3-2 after 1.

The second period featured two goals from each team. Northern tied it back up but the Eagles found themselves back on the powerplay. Senior Kyle Sierota made a veteran pass from behind the net to a waiting Grant who made sure to bury the puck past Stern. The Knights had no quit in them and answered with their own man-advantage goal to tie the game at four.

Enter Ben “Big Minutes” Barkholtz. Barkholtz forced the play behind Northern’s net and was unceremoniously dumped to the ice. But the Knights failed to clear the puck thanks to junior Robbie Lewis. Lewis won the puck, shoveled it to Weinberger who directed it to a driving Barkholtz. Barkholtz went to his backhand and beat Stern for what ended up being the game winning goal.

Coach McElwee: “Ben was a little frustrated with his production last week. We told him we were happy with his play and energy and that we knew big goals would come to him. So we weren’t surprised that the first of his career turned out to be a huge goal. Robbie and Luke put in the effort on the puck and Barkie drove the net. And the boys went nuts in support of Ben.”

The only goal of the third period was a much needed empty netter by Christian (Sierota and Huebner) to ice the win. Final score 6-4 Lakeland.

The Eagles travel to the KVIH for an appointment with South Lyon Unified on Tuesday (1/25).