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Lake Forest 7, Finlandia 6

LF2 2 3 - 7

FU2 1 3 - 6

First period - 1. FU, Quinn McIntosh (Matt Marchel, Eric Schultz) 5:17, 2. LF, Marc Rubino (Trent Brown, Joel Gard) 5:52, 3. LF, Mike Rubino (Marc Rubino) 9:17, 4. FU, Jimmy Brey (unassisted) 17:48 .... Penalties - LF, Taylor (Slashing) 1:42, LF, Anthony Ventura (Slashing) 3:08, FU, James Neitsch (Checking from Behind, Game Misconduct) 4:12, LF, Phil Bushbacher (Interference) 4:35, FU, McIntosh (Cross Checking) 7:10, FU, Troy Storm (Charging) 18:14 ...

Second period -5. FU, Schultz (McIntosh, Dan Grille) 7:30 (pp), 6. LF, Taylor (Trent Brown, Zak Borowski) 11:59, 7. Bushbacher (Jake DellaValle, Gard) 15:50 (pp) .... Penalties - LF, Peter Pfeffer (Checking from Behind, Game Misconduct) 1:05, LF, Mike Rubino (Tripping) 5:36, FU, Justin LaDouce (Roughing) 12:20, LF, Brown (Roughing) 12:20, FU, Chris Hendrickson (Roughing) 15:06, LF, Borowski (Slashing) 15:55, FU, Hendrickson (Elbowing) 19:58, LF, Taylor (Checking from Behind) 19:58 ...

Third period - 8. LF, Brown (Thomas Bark, Marc Rubino) 1:00 (pp), 9. LF, Brown (Mike Rubino, Taylor) 4:17, 10. LF, Bushbacher (Adam Love, DellaValle) 4:42, 11. FU, Charlie Benik (Matt Manninen, Hendrickson) 6:31, 12. FU, McIntosh (Manninen) 8:40, 13. FU, McIntosh (LaDouce) 19:46 (ex, pp) .... Penalties - FU, Kasey Kreuter (Tripping) 0:41, FU, Manninen (High Stick) 9:56, FU, Matt Wylie (Charging) 12:17, LF, Bushbacher (Unsportsmanlike) 12:45, LF, Tyler Gross (Roughing) 13:22, LF, Brown (Charging) 16:09, LF, Andrew Rocca (Cross Checking) 18:27, LF, Ventura (Tripping) 19:24, LF, Taylor (10-minute misconduct) 19:46, LF, Bushbacher (Facemasking and Game Misconduct) 20:00, FU, Matt Marchel (Facemasking and Game Misconduct) 20:00 ...

Shots on goal - FU, 6-18-17-41. LF. 4-4-9-17.

Power-play opportunities - FU 2 of 6; LF 2 of 7.

Goalies - FU, Ryan Donovan (16 shots, 9 saves), FU, Mike Wuthrich (1 shot, 1 save). LF, Brendan Sullivan (41 shots, 35 saves)

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HANCOCK - The Finlandia Lions found themselves on the wrong side of a four-goal deficit with 15 minutes left in the third period Friday night against Lake Forest in non-conference NCAA Division III men's hockey action.

Despite three unanswered goals to end the game, the Lions fell to the Foresters 7-6 at Houghton County Arena.

"We dug ourselves a deep hole," Finlandia coach Joe Burcar said. "But I sure like the way we battled back, if we have a couple more minutes there at the end we tie it up and maybe win."

The Lions got the scoring started five minutes into the first period when senior captain Quinn McIntosh scored the game's opening goal with an assist from transfer student Matt Marchel and sophomore Eric Schultz.

The Rubino brothers, Marc and Mike, gave Lake Forest its first lead of the game scoring 35 seconds after McIntosh, and again four minutes later.

Hancock native Jimmy Brey tied the game up late in the first period, and the two teams went into intermission tied at two with FU holding a 6-4 shot advantage.

After Schultz scored a power-play goal to put FU back in the driver's seat at 7:30, things fell apart.

Despite outshooting the Foresters 18-4 in the second period, Justin Taylor tied the game on a rebound shot and Phil Bushbacher tipped a shot to put the visitors ahead after two.

Three additional Lake Forest goals to start the third period put the Lions in a bind, but the home squad never gave up.

"Right after they scored their seventh goal, I think the team took it upon themselves and was a little embarrassed at 7-3," Burcar said. "The team stepped up, took the body and then we got a goal and we just built on that momentum and got a few chances and kept building and building."

The first FU goal of the third period came from Charlie Benik, who one-timed a loose puck in the slot to the top shelf, igniting both the crowd and the Lions bench.

Two minutes later, McIntosh finished off a hard-earned goal that senior Matt Manninen chipped to the front of the net, and it looked like the Lions were ready to roar, down by only two with 11:20 left to play.

Unfortunately for the Lions, momentum was lost with back-to-back penalties to Manninen and Matt Wylie. Then came the Lake Forest parade to the box, with five different players earning minor penalties in the last 7:15 of the game.

The Lions pressured, including 17 total shots in the period, but it wasn't until there was only 14 seconds left that McIntosh pounded the puck home for his hat trick goal.

"Quinn (McIntosh) is a great leader, and he was a horse tonight," Burcar said. "He played close to 30 minutes and put the team on his back, unfortunately we didn't have everybody supporting him."

McIntosh finished the game with three goals and an assist, Manninen had two assists, Schultz had one goal and one assist and Justin LaDouce finished with eight shots.

Foresters goaltender Brendan Sullivan finished the game with 35 saves while Ryan Donovan stopped nine of the 16 shots he faced before being replaced by Mike Wuthrich for the last 13:45 of the game. Wuthrich had one save during his time in net, and Burcar said he'll get the start today when the teams meet at 4 p.m.

"It was a valuable lesson tonight, we dug ourselves a hole against a good team," Burcar said. "We'll make some lineup adjustments for tomorrow and try for the win."

Michael H. Babcock can be reached at mbabcock@mininggazette.com.