SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. â€Ã‚“ The Lake Superior StateUniversity hockey team finally found a way to defeat the NMU Wildcats.  After having the â€Ã‚˜Cats on the ropes the pastcouple of games they had a break through on Saturday night at Taffy Abel Arenawith a 4-2 win over the visiting â€Ã‚˜Cats. With the win the Lakers snapped a nine-game losing skid to theâ€Ã‚˜Cats.  NMU falls to 15-13-2 on theseason and 11-10-1 in the CCHA.  LSSU isnow 5-21-4 and 2-19-1.  The â€Ã‚˜Cats are4-10-0 away from the Berry Events Center and if you throw in neutral site games(1-1-1) NMU is 5-11-1 out of Marquette.

The first four goals of the game each team was matching theother.  Dirk Southern got the â€Ã‚˜Cats onthe board first with a goal at 00:59 of the first period for his sixth of theseason.  Chris Gobert and Terry Harrisonassisted.  Less than two minutes laterthe Lakers would answer with a goal by Jeremy Bachusz at 2:32 of the firstperiod.

Peter Michelutti opened the second period by giving theâ€Ã‚˜Cats the 2-1 lead with a goal at 2:09 for his sixth of the season. The goalwas unassisted.  Less than 40 secondslater the Lakers answered the Micheluttiâ€Ã‚™s goal with a goal of their own.  Chris Peterson scored his fifth of theseason at 2:42 of the second period. 

With the scored tied at two-all the Lakers put the game awaywith two goals in the third period.  JonBooras scored the game-winning goal at 4:06 of the final period to give theLakers the lead for good at 3-2. Bachusz scored his second goal of the game on a break a way for thefinal margin at 18:11 of the third period.

Matt Violin for the second night in a row was in front ofthe cage for the Lakers.  He gave up twogoals and had 35 saves on the night.  CraigKowalski was in goal for the â€Ã‚˜Cats and he gave up four goals with 25saves.  NMU had more shots at 37-29against the Lakers on the night.  Forthe fifth game in a row the â€Ã‚˜Cats did not score on the power play as they hadthree power-play opportunities on the evening.

The squad heads to East Lansing, Mich. next weekend (Feb.21-22) to take on Rick Comleyâ€Ã‚™s Michigan State Spartans.