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Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

H

hockeyrocks55

New member
2 years ago the Foresters switched leagues and went from the NCHA to the MCHA. There last years in the NCHA were nothing to brag about, and they won on average 4 games a year from 2005-2008. Last year they they entered the MCHA and won 9 games but fell to many powerhouses including St. Norbert by a score of 1-8.

This year though is a different story. Legendary coach Tony Fritz retired in the summer, and the school hired 2nd year assistant coach Seamus Gregory to lead the team on an interim basis. This year they have won 4 games and are struggling. With losses to Northland, MSOE, Marian, Adrian, Lawrence, UW-River Falls, and St. Norbert (1-2) it has been a struggle. Interestingly enough, the team is not poorly skilled and is fast, strong, and well coached. Recently, the renovation for the campus' rink hit a low and things have been down hill from there it seems. What has happened to the once gleaming NCHA powerhouse and hockey hot bead Lake Forest? Will they bounce back next year?
 
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Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

hockeyrocks55 said:
2 years ago the Foresters switched leagues and went from the NCHA to the MCHA. There last years in the NCHA were nothing to brag about, and they won on average 4 games a year from 2005-2008. Last year they they entered the MCHA and won 9 games but fell to many powerhouses including St. Norbert by a score of 1-8.
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It hasn't been that long since they've been decent. In '05-'06 they won 15 games and a first round NCHA playoff series...
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

what do u think has happened to them? does anyone know who the coach will be next year?
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

Recruiting fewer Canadian kids maybe? In all honesty the class drop (from NCHA to MCHA) was probably not as great as everyone expected. MSOE, LU and Marian were all competitive with Lake their last couple of years in the NCHA. In addition, the top four MCHA teams continue to get better.

Truth be told, on a more macro level, I don't know why Lake isn't better. They have a nice campus in a very, very nice suburb of an awesome city. They have a rink on campus (even if it has seen better days). Historically they have offered pretty good financial aid to Canadian students. I don't know what is wrong with them.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

I only saw them play twice last year at Adrian, and they had one helluva time keeping the puck out of their own net. They gave up 34 goals to Adrian in 4 games, and yet did not bring in a single defenseman or goaltending.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

hockeyrocks55 said:
what do u think has happened to them? does anyone know who the coach will be next year?
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I remember that there was a discussion on this board that the school admin was trying to make it more difficult to enroll students who were over age 18 as freshmen. That would have made it tough to get guys who had played in Juniors or Prep Schools after high school
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

true. but they do get good players (OJHL, GOJHL, NCAA D1/D3 Prep). i just want em to have a better season.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

I think most of the teams in the MCHA have elevated their programs and this young Lake Forest team is a WIP.

I was impressed with the very large class of freshmen when I watched them at Adrian last year. They had good size and seemed to enjoy the physical game. I recall commenting to Hammer that if these guys hang in for 4 years they will be very tough.

The results this season may be disappointing , but I think the future is promising.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

very true. they do have some good players they brought in. does any1 know about the coach for next yr? If they are hiring someone new and if there are nay plans for the rink?
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

I think we have found fornax's evil twin, or probably more accurately his nice twin. Since I can figure out what the poster is trying to say and it has a relatively positive tone we can rule out a fornax alias.

As far as the question at hand, I know there were some of the issues Prof mentioned with the school tightening up some things to really discourage students who were coming in at 21 after 2 or 3 years of juniors. Getting kids to come in with Juniors eligibility still on the table means you are getting guys who are less mature, have less games under their belt, and aren't the caliber of player with enough talent to hold out hope of snagging some kind of a D1 offer.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

hockeyrocks55 said:
very true. they do have some good players they brought in. does any1 know about the coach for next yr? If they are hiring someone new and if there are nay plans for the rink?
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I think for now, the bottom line is that they are a very young team. They only have four seniors and three juniors. The top four MCHA programs are working very hard to get better. Now there may be some institutional issues with the program (i.e. admissions, financial aid, rink renovation, etc.) that may affect how it operates going forward, but I think their current results are a function of overall experience. Does anyone know why they want to limit enrollment of students who are over 20? Is it specifically directed at the hockey program? Does it have anything to do with the bar fight over the summer?
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

AVFC said:
I think for now, the bottom line is that they are a very young team. They only have four seniors and three juniors. The top four MCHA programs are working very hard to get better. Now there may be some institutional issues with the program (i.e. admissions, financial aid, rink renovation, etc.) that may affect how it operates going forward, but I think their current results are a function of overall experience. Does anyone know why they want to limit enrollment of students who are over 20? Is it specifically directed at the hockey program? Does it have anything to do with the bar fight over the summer?
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It wasn't hockey specific, but rather an attempt at maintaining some sort of desired college atmosphere on a campus-wide basis. To the best of my knowledge the initial policy has been relaxed somewhat or might not even be in place anymore.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

XYZ said:
It wasn't hockey specific, but rather an attempt at maintaining some sort of desired college atmosphere on a campus-wide basis. To the best of my knowledge the initial policy has been relaxed somewhat or might not even be in place anymore.
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That's why it was so wrong headed. In my opinion, diversity in age, gender, nationality, race, religion, etc. enhances the educational experience. For there to be a campus wide initiative to narrow the age population of a school that's foolish. I can sort of understand (sort of) some kind of control over the post graduate playing experience of student-athletes there is a philosophy that wants to discourage having players with more than a year or two of post graduate junior play - that's kind of what happens in the NESCAC. I'm not a fan of that policy, but it's more defensible that what I heard from LFC. For the LFC fan(s) out there - is the school wide age initiative still an issue?
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

XYZ said:
It wasn't hockey specific, but rather an attempt at maintaining some sort of desired college atmosphere on a campus-wide basis. To the best of my knowledge the initial policy has been relaxed somewhat or might not even be in place anymore.
Click to expand...
I should have been more specific. It wasn't aimed at hockey but certainly stood to impact it.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

MW4Bucky&SNC said:
I should have been more specific. It wasn't aimed at hockey but certainly stood to impact it.
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No question. There were never any doubts about that. Considering the landscape of DIII, however, it obviously had disproportionate impact on the hockey program -- especially considering Tony's ties to Ontario and the Toronto area in particular.
 
Re: Lake Forest College Foresters (MCHA)

hockeyrocks55 said:
true. but they do get good players (OJHL, GOJHL, NCAA D1/D3 Prep). i just want em to have a better season.
Click to expand...

In my opinion Lake Forest accounted very well for themselves this weekend. They are a young team, and my belief that they will improve hasn't changed. As for the coaching, I was impresssed. Gregory was very animated behind the bench, called "timely" timeouts in both games to get his players focused, and his young team never stopped applying pressure which is a usually good sign they are buying in.
 
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