One bad period of hockey was enough to put an end to the St. Thomas men’s hockey team’s five-game winning streak on Saturday night at St. Thomas Ice Arena.

The Tommies (7-6-1 overall, 5-3-0 CCHA) were unable to overcome a 3-0 first-period deficit and fell 3-1 to Lake Superior State.

“Give them credit, they were hungry,” St. Thomas coach Rico Blasi said of the Lakers (6-7-0, 3-4-0). “We talked about some things that they might do, and they certainly did that right off the bat.”

While Blasi and his assistants did their best to prepare the Tommies for what was sure to be an inspired opponent at start to the game, the Tommies were not able to match the Lakers’ intensity.

“We’re still in the start of Year 3,” Blasi said. “They’ve got to learn, they’ve got to feel it. They’ve  got to feel it because we’re going to be in these situations quite a bit the rest of the year. I don’t think anybody in the locker room is happy about what happened.

“But nothing we can do about it now. We have to learn, reflect and get ready to practice on Monday.”

A player with a familiar last name got the Lakers started 43 seconds into the game. Ross Roloson, son of former Wild goaltender Dwayne Roloson, beat Tommies goaltender Jake Sibell on a shot from the right circle for his third goal of the season.

The Lakers took a 2-0 lead at 2:49, scoring off a scramble in front, and added to their lead at 11:19 on a pretty give and go. The Lakers outshot the Tommies 19-9 in the period.

The Tommies carried the play early in the second period and got on the board at 10:25 on a power-play goal by Ryan O’Neill. They outshot the Lakers 15-8 in the frame but weren’t able to cut further into the Lakers’ lead.

The Tommies’ chance for a third-period comeback suffered a big blow at 6:32, when Lucas Wahlin received a major penalty for checking from behind. They killed off the penalty and were back at full strength with just over eight minutes to play.

It appeared the Tommies had pulled to within a goal with 4 minutes, 9 seconds to play when the puck crossed the goal line during a scramble in the crease. But the Lakers challenged the play, and a review via replay determined that a Tommies player pushed the goaltender into the net.

The Tommies pulled their goalie with over three minutes to play but came up empty despite some good scoring chances.

“For 50 minutes we actually played pretty good,” Blasi said. “If I had to dissect if from last night, I thought we played better tonight than we did last night.”

But the night belonged to the Lakers, and in a special way, the Rolosons.

Ross, a freshman defenseman who was born in Woodbury, is joined on the Lakers by his older brother Brett, a junior forward. Dwayne Roloson serves as the Lakers’ volunteer goaltending coach and director of player development.

Dwayne Roloson played for the Wild from 2001-06. Dwayne went on to play for Edmonton, the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay before retiring in 2012. The family lived in Stillwater briefly after Dwayne retired.

“I went to 11 or 12 high schools,” Ross said, “just moving around with my dad.”

Ross said he was too young to remember his dad playing for the Wild, but has fond memories of his time here.

“It’s fun coming back to Minnesota,” he said. “I had neighbors who used to babysit me here for the game; friends from elementary school. It means a lot that I’ve gotten to see them. It’s a special moment.”

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