Sports

Lakeland Hockey Beats Walled Lake Northern 3-1 to Advance Saturday Against Mott

Sophomore call-up Justin Pahl scores the game winning goal as Lakeland upsets Walled Lake Northern 3-1.

The following was submitted to White Lake Patch by Pat Kalinowski.

Lakeland sophomore Justin Pahl was called up to Varsity and playing in his third game for the Eagles Wednesday night. Pahl’s first career varsity goal came at the 10:58 mark of the third period and put Lakeland up 2-1.

After a scoreless first period it was Northern’s Chad Bailey (Rob Luzynski, Kyle Adkins) putting the Knights up 1-0 at the 12:51 mark of the second. The Eagles fought back and Kevin Lechner tied it up with 48 seconds left in the second period after Kyle Jakubowski drove hard to net creating a rebound for Lechner.

Find out what's happening in White Lake-Highlandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

It was a tight third period until Lakeland’s Jakubowski wheeled around in the slot and fired a shot on Knight’s goalie Grant Luzynski. Pahl was standing at the side of the net and buried the rebound for what proved to be the game winner.

The Eagles got an insurance power play goal from Lechner (Tyler Mesclier), his second tally on the night with just under 9 minutes to play in the game.

Find out what's happening in White Lake-Highlandwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Knights had a two man advantage late in the period, but had trouble finding the net. When Northern did find the net it was occupied by senior goalie Mitch Leist. Leist was solid between the pipes for Lakeland and made some big saves during the final charge by Northern.

Northern out shot Lakeland 29 – 24.

Grant Luzynski made 26 saves in goal for the Knights.

Mitch Leist made 23 saves in goal for the Eagles.

Lakeland advances to the Regional Finals Saturday against Waterford Mott. The puck drops at 5:30 p.m. at Lakeland Ice Area. Admission is $5 and no passes are accepted.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from White Lake-Highland