After blowing a two-goal lead with less than twenty minutes to play and getting the game-winning goal waved off in overtime, the Grand Valley State University men’s hockey team got past Colorado State University with only seconds to spare.

The Lakers scored with 38 seconds left in the ten-minute overtime period to win their second game of the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Division II national tournament, their second win in two games of the tournament.

In the closing seconds of the extra frame, senior captain Ryan Welch, holding the puck below the goal line, banked in a shot off of the pads of the Colorado State goaltender and into the net to give the Lakers the win in overtime.

“It’s a type of goal I’ve scored before,” said Welch, who had a goal and an assist on the game. “The goalie was hugging the post, and there was a little slot right where his knee was. There was only a few second left so I decided to try it, and it snuck in by only five or six inches.”

After a convincing 5-1 win against Temple University the day before, the Lakers seemed to be in control of the game, leading both 3-1 and 5-3 in the second and third periods. But GVSU would lose the lead after the Rams netted two goals just two minutes apart in the third, the last of which coming with only 5:09 left to play.

“We knew they were going to show up after their bad performance to start the tournament,” Welch said about Colorado State, which had lost 10-3 the William Patterson University the day before. “And we had them at times, but we can’t win an ACHA tournament giving up five goals a game. We were just lucky today that we got six.”

GVSU will play William Patterson University tomorrow, and the team must win in order to advance to the tournament’s semifinals. A loss will send them back home to Allendale.

“From here it’s just one game at time,” said senior defenseman Jake Ochsner. “We have to win five games in five days, and tomorrow is that next step.”

The Lakers’ face-off against William Patterson will be at 8 p.m. and can be viewed live online for free at fasthockey.com

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