Grand Valley State sweeps IU

With an 0-2-2 record in the Greater Midwest Hockey League going into a two-game weekend series against Grand Valley State, the IU hockey team was worried, but not overly concerned that it didn’t have a league win. After losing twice last weekend, that concern is growing.\nIU (0-4-2, 8-5-2 overall) was swept by the host Lakers, the top-ranked team in the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Division II Central Region, and now faces league-leading Miami of Ohio in a two-game home-and-home series this weekend.\nOnly league points are considered for the national tournament at the season’s end. Therefore, despite a successful non-league record, IU finds itself desperate to pick up a league win, which would also be the team’s first victory in more than a month.\n“We’re on quite a skid right now,” senior forward Dan Karlander said. “If we come out of the weekend without a win, I’ll be extremely disappointed.”\nAssociate head coach Tom Orr was a little more optimistic.\n“As we move through the GMHL, those wins will come,” Orr said. “We’re hoping with Miami of Ohio here at home, it would be a perfect opportunity to get a win.”\nThe matchup with Miami of Ohio will be IU’s first home game since Oct. 27. \nIU struggled against top-ranked Grand Valley, suffering its most lopsided defeat of the season Friday night, losing 7-1. IU played better Saturday but still lost 4-2. \nThe Lakers jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period Friday before Karlander scored IU’s only goal. Led by freshman Ryan Welch’s three goal hat trick, the Lakers scored five unanswered goals in the next two periods for the blowout victory. \n“Obviously Grand Valley is a pretty good team,” Karlander said. “They are the No. 1 team in the best region in the country. We came out and didn’t really play 60 minutes. That really hurt us. Every time we made a mistake, they capitalized on it; unfortunately, we couldn’t do the same to them. We struggled to put the puck in the net all weekend.”\nSaturday, IU came out with a little more energy. In fact, Orr thought his team outplayed the Lakers.\n“I was really excited about the way we responded on Saturday,” he said. “Our team definitely has the ability to play with any team in the country. It just seemed like everything that could go right went right for them and everything that could go wrong went wrong for us.”\nHe cited one Grand Valley goal in which the puck ricocheted off the shin pads of two players and found its way into the net. \n“As a coaching staff, there’s not much you can do to stop something like that other than attribute it to some bad luck.”\nFreshman forward Alex Cook and junior forward Adam Fishbein scored IU’s two goals.