GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.--Sophomore
Luke Radu potted a pair of goals, and senior
Shane Percefull scored what proved to be the game-winning goal five minutes into the second period, to help lead
top-ranked Lawrence Tech to a 5-2 victory Friday over No. 10 Calvin in the Michigan Collegiate Hockey Conference Vezina Cup semifinals at the Patterson Ice Center.
Lawrence Tech--which is now 25-4-1 to set a program record for victories in a season--will square off against second-ranked and MCHC-West Division No. 1 seed Hope in the Cup championship game on Saturday night at 7:30. The Flying Dutchmen defeated East#3 Oakland, 4-0, in tonight's other semifinal.
The Blue Devils grabbed a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play as Radu cleaned up a rebound near the mouth of the goal on the power play with 12 minutes and 25 seconds remaining. He was assisted by senior
Connor Juhasz and sophomore Ben DeHaas.
Lawrence Tech took control with four goals in the second period during a span of 11:15, starting with Juhasz's team-tying 19th goal of the season at the 1:15 mark. Percefull scored a shorthanded goal 3:29 later that was the difference-maker by putting LTU ahead 3-0.
Junior
Gavin Holmes, with two assists, joined teammates Radu and Juhasz with a two-point game. Sophomore goalie Owen Pryzbylo made 21 saves to improve to 10-1-1.
Lawrence Tech special teams were terrific by going 3-for-9 on the power-play and killing all nine man-advantage opportunities for the Knights (19-8-1).
Keagan Oberski put Calvin on the scoreboard at the 9:30 mark of the second period to make the score 4-1. Tommy Postal scored the Knights other goal in the third period. Lawrence Tech chased CU starting goalie Ryan Warosz (14 saves) after 32:30 of action and backup Garrett Walker finished the rest of the game stopping all eight shots he faced.
The 2022-23 squad first set the LTU single-season wins record at 24-6-2.