The Grand Valley State University men’s hockey team got off to an ideal start in the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s national tournament on Tuesday. However, the team will look for much more over the next three days.

GVSU beat Temple University, 5-1, on Tuesday to win the first of three round-robin games before the tournament’s semifinals. With only one team out of four advancing beyond GVSU’s Group A, which includes Temple, Colorado State University and William Patterson University, the Lakers will likely have to win all three games to get to the ACHA’s version of the Final Four.

The results of Wednesday night’s game against Colorado State were not available at press time.

In the Tuesday win, the Lakers got five goals from five different players and were able to continuously apply pressure against the Owl defense. Two first-period goals from sophomore Chad Wilhelm and senior Derek Williams gave the team a lead from which they would never look back.

“The first goal was off of a tip, and we’ve been working on that in the power play for the past two weeks, so that worked well,” said Ryan Welch, senior captain. “Four of our goals were just from going to the net and getting rebounds, and that’s pretty much how you’re going to beat a good goalie.”

But the Lakers did not play a perfect game. The team took nine minor penalties as the game increased in chippy play and the Lakers extended their lead. Three of GVSU’s infractions were unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

“After the first period, (GVSU head coach Mike Forbes) came in to tell us to smarten up a little bit, but we didn’t really heed his advice,” said senior goalie Grant Lyon, who made 14 saves on 15 chances. “They were dragging us into the negative stuff, and that’s not our game. These next couple games, we have to stay on top, be smart and stay out of the box. Better teams will bury us if we play like that.”

Lyon’s shutout was ruined with just over 10 minutes remaining when the Lakers were already ahead 5-0. The goaltender, playing in his fifth and final ACHA tournament, will likely be the team’s starter throughout the tournament, although another senior, Josh LaVigne, may see some action.

The Lakers out-shot Temple 48-15 during the game, a situation in which Lyon admitted he might have lost focus if it were a normal game.

“During the regular season I might’ve gotten bored, but it’s the national championships tournament, and the 16 teams here are the 16 best teams in the country,” he said. “No matter what the shots were, at nationals, I’m always focused.”

But as the Lakers attempt to win their first national championship in the club’s history, the team knows that one loss could derail their hopes of even getting to the semifinals, let alone playing for the championship.

“We absolutely cannot afford a loss,” said senior defenseman Jake Ochsner. “If we take any team too lightly, we could lose a game and that could be the end of our tournament. We really have to win all five to take the championship.”

Though the Lakers handled Temple, the team is ready for the games to get much more difficult than going up against a No. 4 seed.

“Going forward, we can’t look at this game and say we did a great job,” Welch said. “We have to wake up in the morning and take care of our bodies and live one game at a time. If we come ready to play and do what we need to do, there’s no team in the tournament that’s going to beat us.”

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