“DL always comes out with great energy,” said Fergus Falls Head Coach Mike Donaghue.  “I thought we did a good job hanging on until we were able to adjust a few things after the first period, and it turned out we were pretty opportunistic cashing in on some turnovers.” 

Griffin Babolian scored the first goal of the season at 5:51 of the opening period.  Gavin Goepferd and Sam Dirkman assisted on the goal.  The Lakers pulled even with a power play goal by Easton Wahl, assisted by Tommy Suckert.

Babolian netted his second goal of the day at 10:09 of the second period with Leighton Buckmeier picking up the assist.  The power play goal made it 2-1, Fergus Falls.  Goepferd then scored on the rebound of a Shane Zierden shot at 15:50, increasing the Otters lead to 3-1.

The Otters second power play goal of the game came at 5:12 of the third period when Jack Welde scored from Kellen Stenstrom.  The assist was the 100th career point for Stenstrom.  Thirty-seven seconds later Brock Bender scored his first varsity goal for Detroit Lakes, cutting the lead to 4-2, which is as close as the Lakers would get.  Lawsen Justesen and Owen Chiodo were credited with assists on the goal.

“Griff has been working hard and it was good to see him get a couple of pucks in the net early,” noted Coach Donaghue.  “The kids were committed to one another today.  They did a great job blocking shots, re-directing passes and just picking each other up.”

Fergus Falls will host Northern Lakes in their home opener on Thursday at 7:15pm at the Community Ice Arena.

The Lakers will host East Grand Forks in their next game on Tuesday night at the Kent Freeman Arena.