Saturday, the Varsity Hockey team, less than 24 hours after a Senior Night win, returned to the ice to defeat league rival Lakes Area United for a 8-1 matinee win.

Luke Weinberger kicked off the scoring when he clipped the inside of the post just 16 seconds into the game (Spencer Pickett, Dylan Huebner). Two minutes later Kyle Baker picked up a loose puck and beat four of five LA skaters and the goalie upstairs to make it 2-0. Junior Brennan Grant scored from the slot thanks to a heads-up Baker pass for a three goal lead into the intermission.

Lakes Area scored early in the second to tighten up the game. Lakeland got on board when a Mitchell Beller drive rebounded way out to a pinching Caden Pierson making no mistake on his attempt. Lakeland's next goal came when a deliberate Ben Barkholtz zone entry was picked up by Pierson. Pierson slickly centered the puck to Nate Behmlander who snapped the puck from the slot to make it 5-1. Big Minutes Barkholtz capped off the scoring, slaloming through the Lakes defenders before zipping the puck over the LA goalie's blocker (Weinberger, Huebner).

Lakeland added two more goals in the final period. Regan Voorhies scored when Weinberger found him driving for the far post. Finally, Weinberger would get his third point of the night after Barkholtz centered the puck to Fisher Christian who fed a waiting Weinberger in the crease.

Coach Ronayne: "We prepare for every league game the same - they are all very important. But Lakes Area was ready for us and the game was far closer than the score indicated. Our shots finally started to go in but for the first two periods we had to rely on Paul (Baker) to keep us in there. It was 3-1 halfway through the 2nd and without Paul's big saves it could have been 3-3."

Lakeland travels to the Hartland Sports Center on Wednesday to do battle with the surging Milford Mavericks