Here we go, our first official results from the Winter Sports season, and they come from Hockey, courtesy of journalist extraordinaire, Matt McElwee:

Lakeland 5 Big Rapids 1

Lakeland's Varsity Hockey team migrated north over the weekend for their annual Soo Showcase in blustery Sault Ste Marie, MI. On Friday the Eagles took on Big Rapids to open the season. Lakeland used the first period to tenderize the Cardinals’ goal tender with 21 shots. Senior Eagles goalie Jason Slicker faced just a single puck to leave the score at 0-0 after one period.

LHS’ powerplay went to work early in the 2nd. Slicker directed a partial breakaway attack with a neat pad save to sophomore Ryan Danielson. Danielson spied junior Brennan Grant calmly posted at the Big Rapids blue line and hit him with a perfect 120 foot pass. Grant made no mistake on his breakaway, faking a wrist shot to make the BR goaltender sit directly on the ice while he backhanded in the puck for the first goal of the season. The Eagles second goal of the period began with a clearing pass by junior defenseman Mason Shaw that was picked up by senior Robby Lewis. Lewis (three points on the night) outworked the Card’s defender and found Junior Timmy Hinkle driving the net who made no mistake and cleanly beat the goalie. Big Rapids notched a power play goal late in the period to make it 2-1 after two.

The scoreboard was quiet until late in the third period when the Eagles finally wore down the BRHS defense. Lewis banged in a rebound to begin Lakeland’s first of three unanswered goals thanks to a Mitchell Beller steal and Nate Behmlander shot. Lewis didn’t wait long to clang in his second goal in less than a minute when senior Luke Weinberger angrily burrowed his way into the zone and found Lewis perched in the high slot. Weinberger then clinched the game for the Eagles on a gritty powerplay goal from Grant and freshman Austin Scanlon.

Coach Tim Ronayne on notching the first win: “We’re happy to get the first game under our belts. We let Big Rapids back up off the mat forcing Slicker to keep us in the game until our offense kicked in late. It was a good learning experience for the 8 or 9 players in their first high school game. We like our chances when our D and goaltending can hold a team to a single goal.”