The Grand Valley State University Division III men’s club hockey team won their matchup against the University of Michigan on Feb. 4.

The scoring started early for the Lakers, taking advantage of a penalty on Michigan that allowed Reider Burgeson to score in the first period off an assist from James and Timmy Baldwin, making it 1-0 for the Lakers.

Later in the first, Timmy Baldwin found the back of the net on James Baldwin’s second assist of the night, giving the Lakers a cushion heading into the second period.

After a barrage of attacks throughout the second and third period, the Lakers were standing strong up 2-0. The Wolverines pulled their goalie, resulting in the Lakers’ Cole Parkhurst sinking a long solo goal, icing the game for a Lakers 3-0 win.

Head coach Dylan Knox expected this game to be a battle after their first matchup, and that is what he got.

“I really liked it,” Knox said. “Michigan is a good team. Last time we beat them 8-1 and we kind of figured that’d be a much tighter game this time, and we proved to be right. But I thought overall, I liked our effort and I liked our result.”

This win was paired with a shutout for Lakers’ goalie, Dominic Stankiewicz, who had 30 saves on the night.

“Dom, along with all three of our goalies, have been monsters all year,” Knox said. “Again, he just proved it today and it’s nice to see him get a win and a shutout too.”

Paired with their 3-0 win was a successful fundraiser for cancer research partnered with the Van Andel Institute Purple Community, put together by the Lakers’ captain, Brendan Ramboer.

The fundraiser surrounding the game featured a silent auction, a halftime “chuck-a-puck” game, merchandise and a bake sale.

While Ramboer was the captain to organize the event this year, it’s a standing tradition for the hockey team to help give back.

“This is the fifth annual ‘hockey fights cancer’ game that Grand Valley has put on,” Ramboer said. “It started six years ago when our captain had a professor that was diagnosed with cancer. He was close with her, so he decided to put this event on in her honor. It stuck, and we’ve been doing it every year since.”

While Ramboer is the face of the operation, he noted that it was not a one-man show that made this fundraiser possible.

“We had a lot of help from other people too; it was definitely a team effort,” Ramboer said. “There’s a lot going on here today, so I would like to thank all of my teammates for helping me out too.”

Coach Knox was happy to watch his captain put something like a fundraiser together, showing why he is in a leadership position on the team.

“I’m just really proud of Ramboer,” Knox said. “The guy just personifies what it means to be a Laker and what it means to be a captain of this team—showing it by putting all of this together. (I’m) super proud of him, and honestly, it’s just a cool thing to see. Obviously, there’s hockey, and there are sports, but there are things that are larger than that. It’s nice to see one of our own make something that gives back.”