After being named the No. 1 team in the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Central Region on Friday afternoon, the Grand Valley State University men’s ice hockey team needed a weekend sweep against the University of Michigan’s club team to stay in the region’s top spot.

On Friday, the team almost lost it, and on Saturday, the Lakers showed why they’re No. 1.

The Wolverines gave GVSU all it could handle in the first game, twice forcing the Lakers to come back from one-goal deficits to force overtime. But just 36 seconds into the extra frame, senior Brad Keough scored the game-winner to seal the Lakers’ comeback win.

Saturday, the Lakers used a five-goal second period to turn a once-close game into a blowout, skating away with a 9-1 victory and a weekend sweep.

“We didn’t play our best on Friday,” said senior forward CJ Pobur, who had a goal in Saturday’s 9-1 win. “We kind of played down to a team we should have beaten and got lucky to squeak out an overtime win. But (Saturday) we knew that it’s time to get back to business, so we just came out and ran them out of the rink.”

Keough had four goals on the weekend, including Friday’s game-winner.

It was his second goal of the game, both of which came on the breakaway. Keough used the same move to beat Michigan goalie Sean Puranen on each occasion.

“The first goal I was going to fake a shot and then go backhand, but then he opened up so I slid it in between his legs,” Keough said after Friday’s game. “But on the game-winner I was going five-hole the whole time.”

Friday’s game saw an unfamiliar face in net for the Lakers as sophomore goalie Cutter Hurst got the start and the win, his third in four starts.

Hurst is the third goalie on the Lakers’ depth chart, but with senior goaltenders Grant Lyon and Josh LaVigne graduating at the end of the year, Hurst is next in line. GVSU head coach Mike Forbes saw it as his time to get a shot against ACHA Division II talent.

“We’ve got three solid goaltenders and I wanted to get Cutter in the lineup,” he said. “The other thing was to send a message for next year, to see if he was of capable playing against top competition, and I have every bit of confidence that he can do that.”

After a Michigan goal right off the faceoff to put the Wolverines up 2-1 midway through the second period, Hurst shut Michigan out for the rest of regulation and through the brief overtime session.

“That was a really, really tough spot that we put him in,” Forbes said. “I think he did a fantastic job and I couldn’t be happier for him that he got the win.”

Josh LaVigne was in net for the Lakers’ win on Saturday and made 14 saves on 15 shots for his sixth win.

Saturday’s game was played at Yost Ice Arena in Ann Arbor, a historic brick building built in 1923 that has been home to dozens of NHL players and is widely considered one of the top college rinks in the nation.

“It’s definitely a cool atmosphere,” Pobur said. “We get the opportunity to play at a couple of Division I rinks. We play at Ferris State, (MSU’s) Munn Ice Arena, we play here, and it’s definitely a good time. It’s cool to play in a big rink where there’s a lot of history, so it’s a little extra motivation.”

The Lakers will look to uphold their No. 1 ranking with two home games this weekend against the Miami University of Ohio. If the Lakers can hold on to the No. 1 spot over the last two weeks of their season, the team will get an automatic bid to nationals in San Jose, Calif.

Friday’s game against the Redhawks will begin at 8 p.m., followed by a 9 p.m. puck drop on Saturday.

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