Finlandia forward P.J. Donnelly (14) celebrates scoring the game-winning goal Sunday in a game against Lake Forest at the Houghton County Arena in Hancock. Also pictured are Max Messier (28), Connor Nagy (4), and Matteo Ybarra (13). (Photo courtesy of Finlandia University)

HANCOCK — It was the ultimate display of SISU as the Finlandia University men’s hockey team (1-5 NCHA, 1-7-1) beat Lake Forest (1-3 NCHA, 4-6-3) 2-0, Sunday afternoon at the Houghton County Arena.

Finlandia came out guns blazing with two near misses in the first 90 seconds of the game.  Lake Forest came back with two shots that were stopped at the last minute.

For the first two periods, great plays by Nick Wiencek and sophomore Dakota Meyer kept the game scoreless. At the 3:14 mark of the third period, junior P.J. Donnelly scored off a pass from sophomore Max Messier.

That put the Lions up 1-0. FinnU sealed the game when sophomore Matteo Ybarra scored an empty net goal with 34 seconds left.

Sophomore Nick Solema had 16 face-off wins while Messier had 15; both finished with a win percentage of .500% or higher. Meyer finished with 36 saves and posted his first career shutout.  This was the first time since Jan. 11, 2019, vs. Lawrence that FinnU had shut out an opponent.

Up next

Finlandia remains home, Friday, Dec. 9, taking on Hamline. The game is scheduled to start at 7:15 p.m.