Typically, facing a Division I opponent in any sport is grounds for a game that will be tough no matter what, but the Grand Valley State University club hockey team proved that theory wrong twice this weekend, defeating the Western Michigan University club team 9-1 Friday and 9-2 Saturday.

The 18-goal, two-game offensive outburst helped the Lakers cruise to their 14th-straight win, running their overall record to 15-2-1.

“Our puck movement and skating was excellent,” said GVSU head coach Mike Forbes. “Tonight (Saturday) I didn’t think we did as good a job supporting the puck defensively as we had in the past, mainly because they did not have a great deal of offensive pressure on us. Games like that you just have to be careful you don’t instill bad habits and still enjoy the offense when you have it.”

Throughout the weekend, it was the freshmen who really stepped up and contributed to the blowout victories. Freshmen forwards Ian Hamilton and Corbin Rainey each paced GVSU with two goals Saturday with Rainey coming close to netting a hat trick.

“If you look at the score sheet, we had some pretty balanced scoring,” Forbes said. “We had some freshmen that for the first time this year got on the scoring page. Rainey has played extremely well. He has added a dynamic with his hustle on the fore-check. I like to have four lines we can play in almost any situation and now we are getting some scoring and contribution out of our fourth line.”

While the freshmen played a large role against Western Michigan, the team understands that a win streak like this does not just happen to anyone and that it has taken sound play in all facets of the game to get here.

“We have been continuing to build on ourselves and continuing to improve,” said junior defensemen Craig Marrett. “There is nothing in our way and we are going out every game and giving it all we got. We are really setting the tone going into the end of the semester.”

Senior goaltender Josh Lavigne and freshman goaltender Doug Chidester each played in one game against the Broncos, thanks to little offensive action by Western Michigan and a solid defensive, team performance.

“Everybody has been playing good,” said senior forward Brad Keough. “We got different people scoring and we are just hot. We are playing a little down in terms of the competition but we keep blowing out teams we should.”

Not only did Rainey put up solid numbers in the two games, but his entire line, including senior forwards Eric Beaupre and Ryan Welch, played solidly as well.

The team goes back to the ice Friday against the University of Michigan club team before making a trip to Illinois to face Robert Morris University on Saturday. They then cap off the semester with a trip for two games against Northern Illinois University on Dec. 16 and 17.

“We have four games before the end of the semester. There is no reason why we can’t end the semester on an 18-game win streak,” Marrett said. “Anything less than that would be a severe disappointment to us, especially the way we are playing. We know enough about these teams that they can’t compete with us if we are playing our game. We can only beat ourselves really.”

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