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Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

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Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

Laker54 said:
I agree with everything you say and I am excited to see them do this well and very excited to see the freshmen do so well. Maybe some of you who may have played college hockey can explain to me why it is they have fallen apart on Saturday nights? :confused: In years past it was Friday night they couldn't win and Saturdays they played great. Is it conditioning? Losing focus? If they could put a more Friday and Saturday night wins they would be right there with Ferris. Who appears to be running away from the rest of the conference.
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I am not so sure I agree with how the Lakers are now playing . In their last 12 games they are playing 500 hockey only and that won't get you into the NCAA tournament and they have lost two games in overtime in that period and lost their last game in the last 14 seconds of the game. Also the fact they are now in a weaker league and still can only manage 500 hockey at this point in league play. The bottom line is always the same. You have to win to be a good team not play a good game and still lose. No one looks at how well you may have played but what the score was at the end. A W is a win and a L is a lost and that is what brings fans and good players in. Do you have more Ws than Ls in the standings.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

LSSULaker889294 said:
In a way, it's the "final five" games of the WCHA season before the NCAA tournament. I think that' why they still call it the WCHA Final Five.
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Actually, the "Final Five" consists of three games, two semi-finals and a final.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

Lakers ranked #18 in this week's USCHO poll. This is the 9th straight week the Lakers have been ranked in the top 20.
 
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Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

sm2pk said:
I am not so sure I agree with how the Lakers are now playing . In their last 12 games they are playing 500 hockey only and that won't get you into the NCAA tournament and they have lost two games in overtime in that period and lost their last game in the last 14 seconds of the game. Also the fact they are now in a weaker league and still can only manage 500 hockey at this point in league play. The bottom line is always the same. You have to win to be a good team not play a good game and still lose. No one looks at how well you may have played but what the score was at the end. A W is a win and a L is a lost and that is what brings fans and good players in. Do you have more Ws than Ls in the standings.
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As much as I feel the Lakers are a good team, I have to agree with sm2pk on this one. At the end of the season it does not matter how well you played. Either a conference championship or high Pairwise ranking is what gets you into the Tournament. With the way Ferris is playing right now, they are the team to beat. With a sweep of UAA, the Lakers could have moved into the top 10 in Pairwise. A tie would have left them around 12 or 13 like last week. Instead they lost a very winnable game Saturday and they plummeted to 21st. At the end of the day, being a ranked team is a nice pat on the back. But please keep in mind, coaches' opinions don't select teams to make the Tourney, the Selection Committee (& Pairwise) does. The only way to persuade them for an invite is to make them (winning conference tourney) or WIN. We haven't done enough of the latter lately.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

Rankings/Ratings are a nice conversation piece, but I don't find them particularly meaningful until at least February. That's when you want to be ranked/rated high, or at least fairly high. Given the Lakers tendency for poor second half finishes in recent years, their relatively high ranking/rating so far this season doesn't do a lot for me. Yes it's nice to talk about, but so what. What's important is where will they be ranked/rated at the end of the season prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament. Just 2 seasons ago they started off 7 and 1, but finished only 1 game over .500 and a couple of games under that in the CCHA. Let's see how they do the second half. I'm not ready to judge them based only upon a half a season of play.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

Lakers2Glory said:
As much as I feel the Lakers are a good team, I have to agree with sm2pk on this one. At the end of the season it does not matter how well you played. Either a conference championship or high Pairwise ranking is what gets you into the Tournament. With the way Ferris is playing right now, they are the team to beat. With a sweep of UAA, the Lakers could have moved into the top 10 in Pairwise. A tie would have left them around 12 or 13 like last week. Instead they lost a very winnable game Saturday and they plummeted to 21st. At the end of the day, being a ranked team is a nice pat on the back. But please keep in mind, coaches' opinions don't select teams to make the Tourney, the Selection Committee (& Pairwise) does. The only way to persuade them for an invite is to make them (winning conference tourney) or WIN. We haven't done enough of the latter lately.
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The problem with last weekend is that Anchorage is not a strong team as far as Pairwise goes. They have won 8 games, but all of those wins were on home ice or neutral ice (tournament in Fairbanks). They are 0-5-1 in their 6 games outside the state of Alaska, which leaves them ranked 38th.

The Lakers entered the weekend at 13th in the Pairwise. If you go to the Pairwise rankings on collegehockeynews, you can customize game results. Had the Lakers swept the weekend, they would have stayed at 13th. A tie on Saturday would have still dropped the Lakers to 19th, and the loss dropped them to 21.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

The Lakers have had a much better first half than most (or any) would have hoped for. At 10-7-1 they have the opportunity to make a lot of noise not only in the WCHA race, but in the race for an NCAA bid, which is something this school has not sniffed in quite some time. Many (including myself) questioned the ability of Jim Roque before this season to be able to coach a team to success, specifically due to the fact that the Lakers have had several second half swoons in the Roque tenure. If not now, then never, this season is a referendum on Jim Roque's ability to successfully take a team from start to finish. The Lakers have proven they have the ability to be a factor in the league race and be in the conversation for an NCAA bid. If Roque can take this team to heights unseen in over a decade then I will be the first to admit that perhaps I was wrong about the Laker coach...however if the Lakers fall back in to their old habits and collapse in the second half then I see no plausible argument where JR keeps his job. To be clear I want Roque to make it, and as a due consequence of that I want the Lakers to make a serious run at the WCHA title and an NCAA bid, however the stage has been set and it is time for JR to prove he has earned the slack that he has been given by this administration!
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

AnchorsAway said:
The Lakers have had a much better first half than most (or any) would have hoped for. At 10-7-1 they have the opportunity to make a lot of noise not only in the WCHA race, but in the race for an NCAA bid, which is something this school has not sniffed in quite some time. Many (including myself) questioned the ability of Jim Roque before this season to be able to coach a team to success, specifically due to the fact that the Lakers have had several second half swoons in the Roque tenure. If not now, then never, this season is a referendum on Jim Roque's ability to successfully take a team from start to finish. The Lakers have proven they have the ability to be a factor in the league race and be in the conversation for an NCAA bid. If Roque can take this team to heights unseen in over a decade then I will be the first to admit that perhaps I was wrong about the Laker coach...however if the Lakers fall back in to their old habits and collapse in the second half then I see no plausible argument where JR keeps his job. To be clear I want Roque to make it, and as a due consequence of that I want the Lakers to make a serious run at the WCHA title and an NCAA bid, however the stage has been set and it is time for JR to prove he has earned the slack that he has been given by this administration!
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Good post. I think if the Lakers neither finish in the top 5 in the WCHA standings or make it to the WCHA Final Five, Roque very well might not be back next season.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

Merry Christmas Laker fans! See you at the Taffy in January. :)
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

Zach Trotman made his NHL debut tonight! He had two shots on goal and finished even in +/-. He's the 3rd former Laker in the last year to make their NHL debut.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

Lakers remain at #18 in this week's USCHO poll. This is the 10th straight time the Lakers have been ranked in the top 20.

Hopefully the Lakers aren't too rusty this Friday. Tech just played last weekend. Hopefully they don't take advantage of that.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

LSSULaker889294 said:
Lakers remain at #18 in this week's USCHO poll. This is the 10th straight time the Lakers have been ranked in the top 20.

Hopefully the Lakers aren't too rusty this Friday. Tech just played last weekend. Hopefully they don't take advantage of that.
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Unfortunately they have dropped to 24th in the Pairwise after last weekends results. Hopefully they can win both games this weekend to move up a couple of spots.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

They need a sweep to reverse the downward trend, protect home ice, and try to establish some positive momentum. Continuing to split series isn't going to cut it. I'd prefer that they had played this past weekend like Tech did, to avoid getting rusty, but that wasn't in the cards.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

Bill said:
I'd prefer that they had played this past weekend like Tech did, to avoid getting rusty, but that wasn't in the cards.
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I agree. It would of helped the Lakers be better prepared for the 2nd half of league play had they played. Hopefully the Lakers can get to play in holiday tournaments the next few seasons after this one.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

LSSULaker889294 said:
I agree. It would of helped the Lakers be better prepared for the 2nd half of league play had they played. Hopefully the Lakers can get to play in holiday tournaments the next few seasons after this one.
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I think I heard that they will be playing exhibition games in Toronto over the break next season.
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

Laker Dude said:
I think I heard that they will be playing exhibition games in Toronto over the break next season.
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Sounds like the Lakers might be doing the International tour that teams can do once every four years (Lakers did it three years ago). They will probably play teams like Nipising, Laurentian, and Ryerson as well if the tour happens.

Happy New Years Laker fans! Hopefully 2014 is a great year
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

Laker Dude said:
I think I heard that they will be playing exhibition games in Toronto over the break next season.
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You cannot play exhibition games during the season. Once your NCAA season starts, they all count, NCAA or CIS. That's how UAH has a 3-21-1 record for last year — our club exhibitions against Oklahoma counted. I rather doubt that any school that isn't hurting for games will burn games.

GFM
 
Re: Lake Superior State Hockey Lakers 2013-2014 (part II)

gfmorris said:
You cannot play exhibition games during the season. Once your NCAA season starts, they all count, NCAA or CIS. That's how UAH has a 3-21-1 record for last year — our club exhibitions against Oklahoma counted. I rather doubt that any school that isn't hurting for games will burn games.

GFM
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the games that counted for UAH were against Lake State and division 3 Finlandia. The Lakers can play exhibition games during the season. Most teams do.
 
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