Posted on Sep 6, 2008

“One down, forty seven to go,” remarked Head Coach Cale Finseth after exiting the locker room on Saturday night. The sophomore campaign officially began Saturday with the Lumberjack capturing an impressive 6-2 road victory over the St. Paul Lakers. Finseth would go onto add, “Our boys skated really well for only having a week of practice under their belt. This was a nice team win.” Last year’s leading scorer, #18 Tyler Wahl, would lead the team with five points. Three early first period penalties would cause the Lumberjacks to skate a man down and force #18 Tyler Wahl into making a superb short-handed goal. His first goal of the game would come at the 7:21 mark and come on an assist from #07 Tyler Sura. The Lakers would bounce right back one minute later on a nifty two-on-one passing display to knot the game at 1. The game would remain tied until the 11:41 mark when new-comer #16 Louis Tincher pounded home his first goal of the night. The goal would be credited a power play goal with helpers going to #19 Alex Naujokas and #14 Kent Kirby. #16 Tincher would only wait four minutes before notching his second goal of the night. This goal would increase the Lumberjacks lead to 3-1 and come on assists from #18 Wahl and #19 Naujokas. The period would end with the Lumberjacks leading 3-1. A poor line change early in the second period would aid in the Lakers scoring a breakaway goal. The even strength goal would cut the Lakers deficit to one goal at 3-2. Another new-comer, #15 Robert Thompson, would soon score at 6:35 to make the score 4-2 good guys. #13 Shane Doerfler and #18 Wahl would pick up assists on the goal. The Lumberjacks would control play the entire second period and did not give the Lakers any real opportunity to gain any ground in the scoring column. The Lakers would return to the ice in the third period without showing any improvements in their defense. The Lumberjacks would continue to control play in their opponents end. Defenseman, #03 Brad Phenow, would score his first goal of the season at the 7:20 mark to make the score 5-2. #18 Wahl would pick up his third assist of the night on the acrobatic goal from #03 Phenow. The final scoring touch from #18 Wahl would come at 15:12 on an assist from line-mate #15 Thompson. A late flurry of shots against #01 Tyler Venne would amount to nothing and give 16 saves for the night. The final buzzer would sound and the Lumberjacks would return home with a 6-2 victory.