It was a weekend to forget for the Grand Valley State University men’s hockey team.

The team is off to a rough start after dropping both games in a two-game set against ACHA Division I opponent Adrian College.

The Lakers were throttled in both games, losing by a combined 10 goals in the series, 5-1 on Friday at GVSU and 7-1 at Adrian the following afternoon.

The Division II Lakers were at a severe disadvantage heading into the first two games of the season. Adrian has been skating together since July and was competing in its seventh and eighth games. The Lakers picked their final roster just over three weeks ago and held only four total practices before the first game.

GVSU head coach Mike Forbes said while he is obviously disappointed with the start to the year, he knows it is not a barometer of how the team will perform throughout the season.

“I just look at this as an opportunity to build and get better and to correct mistakes, and we’ve got a lot of correcting to do,” he said. “I wouldn’t say it’s what I wanted, but it’s kind of what I expected.”

GVSU goaltender Grant Lyon was challenged throughout the first night, often having to deal with constant pressure and traffic in front of his net. Two of the first three goals went in on Lyon off of deflections, leaving the senior netminder without much of a chance to stop the puck.

“Yeah, we got a couple of bad bounces, but I stopped the pucks I could see and I thought I played well. I battled, so it was an alright first game,” he said. “The shots that you can’t see, there’s nothing you can do about it, you can’t dwell on what’s already happened. We just have to concentrate on the future.”

Goals by senior Jeff Anonick in the first game and sophomore Jeremy Christopher in the second game were the only Laker tallies of the weekend. Lyon and alternate goalie Josh LaVigne, who started the second game, were tested consistently in each of their respective starts.

With the Lakers limited practice time thus far in the season, junior Vinny Klein said the team knows that they won’t be able to jump on the ice and immediately start producing.

“We know that we’ll connect later on in the season, but with only four practices so far we also know it’s going to take more time,” he said. “Once we get some more time under our belt, learn how people are playing together, that’s when it’ll all come together.”

GVSU will have a series next weekend against Saginaw Valley State University. The teams will play at Georgetown Ice Arena on Friday at 8 p.m. facing off at Saginaw Valley Saturday at 8 p.m.

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