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LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Hopefully they can bounce back tomorrow. I would think Kossoff will get the start tomorrow.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

It didn't look like Gordie was seeing the puck well tonight. At least some of that was probably due to traffic in front of the net, but he just wasn't picking up the puck very quickly, or in some cases at all.


My thoughts exactly. The team needs one of the goalies to take control and backstop this young team.

Kudos to the Chargers for never giving up.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

It didn't look like Gordie was seeing the puck well tonight. At least some of that was probably due to traffic in front of the net, but he just wasn't picking up the puck very quickly, or in some cases at all.

Lakers can't get a break. Most years they couldn't score but always had goal tending that was better than average and this year they seem to have some scoring talent but goal tending that is struggling to keep pucks out of the net .
 
Lakers can't get a break. Most years they couldn't score but always had goal tending that was better than average and this year they seem to have some scoring talent but goal tending that is struggling to keep pucks out of the net .

I wouldn't put it all on Gordie. I don't think the overall team defensive play was as good as it needs to be either.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

I wouldn't put it all on Gordie. I don't think the overall team defensive play was as good as it needs to be either.

That is true. They had looked solid in what games I have been able to see. Hopefully just a one-off performance?

Congratulations to J.T. Henke for the hat-trick. His five goals have him tied for 8th in the country (albeit a decent log jam of a tie, given the proximety to the gebinning of the season.)
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

I wouldn't put it all on Gordie. I don't think the overall team defensive play was as good as it needs to be either.

It's not five goals last night. It's 21 goals in five games so far. Kossoff needs to play a good game tonight that lights a fire under Gordie to give this team a real solid competition between the two goalies for playing time.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

It's not five goals last night. It's 21 goals in five games so far. Kossoff needs to play a good game tonight that lights a fire under Gordie to give this team a real solid competition between the two goalies for playing time.

The first 2 starts for Kossoff were impressive. Hopefully he can continue tonight.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Tough result for the Lake Superior State University hockey Lakers, and hopefully the bounces will go more their way tonight. J.T. Henke looked really good in scoring three goals for the Lakers, and Owen Headrick was solid on defence, with an assist and +1. Need more people in the rink tonite, and a much louder crowd.

Listen to Coaches Corner on 1230 WSOO http://www.1230wsoo.com/ this morning at 11, from Applebee's with David "The Professor" Watson as he will have lots more about Friday's game and Pink in the Rink.

Lake Superior State men's hockey opened Western Collegiate Hockey Association play Friday evening with a 5-4 loss to Alabama-Huntsville in overtime. Sophomore forward J.T. Henke (5-2--7) paced the Lakers with a hat-trick, but two goals in the third period sent the game to extra time with the Chargers collecting the game-winning goal 1:07 into the final frame.

Brennan Saulnier opened the scoring after only 36 seconds after the opening puck drop. Max McHugh assisted on Saulnier's opening tally.

One minute and 40 seconds later, Henke scored his first goal of the evening off of a feed from Diego Cuglietta (0-3--3).

With 15:25 remaining in the first, Saulnier scored his second goal of the evening with the lone assist coming from Chad Brears. Saulnier's second tally was his team-leading sixth goal of the season.

The Lakers (2-5-0, 0-1-0 WCHA) scored a pair of goals to cap the first period and take a 3-2 lead into the dressing rooms.

Alex Globke tied the game at two-goals apiece after tipping a James Roll (0-1--1) shot from the blue line with 1:15 remaining in the opening period. Globke's goal was his first of the season and his first point overall this season.

Henke gave the Lakers the 3-2 lead with 10 seconds remaining in the first period. Henke's second score came on a perfect centering pass by Mitch Hults (3-2--5) from behind the net. Matt Johnson picked up his fourth assist on the season on the go-ahead marker.

After the horn a skirmish broke out between the teams and it was decided, after mcuh deliberation, the Lakers would head to their second power play opportunity of the game to start the middle period.

It took Henke just 37 seconds into the second period to give the Lakers a power-play goal and 4-2 lead. Freshmen Anthony Nellis (0-2--2) and Owen Headrick (1-1--2) were credited with the assists.

LSSU took the 4-2 lead into the second intermission while also leading in the shot column 20-15.

The Chargers' (2-2-1, 1-1-1 WCHA) Kurt Gosselin scored two goals, 4:46 minutes apart, to knot the game at 4-4. Gosselin's blue-line strikes were the first two goals of the Brighton, Mich. native's career.

With 21 seconds remaining in regulation Henke found the puck on his stick and empty ice ahead of him with a chance to score the go-ahead goal. After making a move to deke Chargers goaltender Carmine Guerriero, Henke's shot sailed high and out of play.

Guerriero took his 24 saves into the overtime period and went without seeing a shot in the extra 1:07.

Cody Marroney scored the game-winning goal on a hacking attempt in front of Lakers goaltender Gordon Defiel with the Lakers defense looking to clear the zone. Marooney's shot trickled over Defiel's blocker to give the Chargers the 5-4 overtime victory.

Defiel made 22 saves and was tagged with the loss, the fourth on his record this season.

The Lakers and Chargers will play the series final Saturday night at 7:07 p.m. Saturday's game continues the eighth annual LSSU Pink in the Rink ceremonies. Following the game, the Lakers will auction the pink jerseys they have been wearing this weekend.
 
It's not five goals last night. It's 21 goals in five games so far. Kossoff needs to play a good game tonight that lights a fire under Gordie to give this team a real solid competition between the two goalies for playing time.

I don't disagree that Gordie, with the exception of the win at MSU, has struggled so far this season. My comments were directed towards last night's game. If Kossoff continues to play well when given his chances, he might wind up taking the #1 goalie spot if Gordie's numbers don't start improving significantly.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Well the Lakers have caught a small break tonight as UAH's leading scorer Saulnier got suspended for tonight's game for a contact to the head (which was missed by the refs) to a Laker player in last night's game.
 
Well the Lakers have caught a small break tonight as UAH's leading scorer Saulnier got suspended for tonight's game for a contact to the head (which was missed by the refs) to a Laker player in last night's game.
He's a good player but he has a reputation of being a bit of a hot head and taking bad penalties.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

He's a good player but he has a reputation of being a bit of a hot head and taking bad penalties.

It's too bad the refs missed it. The Lakers would of had a 5 minute major power play to work with towards the end of the 3rd period.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

You want fans back ? This is how you do it. Have parents weekend with a team picked to finish 8th in league play and than go out Friday night and give the game away when the game should have been a victory for you. Come back the next night with Pink in the Rink and get blown out 5 to nothing. What happened? Who was there both nights? Was it defense? Was it offense? Was it goal tending ? Were they out worked ? Was it turn overs and mistakes ? Is it just a little of everything ? Did they make a mistake on recruiting these two goalies ?
 
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Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

The Lakers are a program in progress, after the mess that Jim Roque left, and have 11 freshman and 8 sophomores. We are already light years ahead of where we were at this time last year, and it's going to take time for head coach Damon Whitten, to get his system implemented and more players recruited here. We are already ahead of last years pace for wins, and with high-end local talents like Owen Headrick and Aiden Wright, they and others will need time to develop under this coach.

I saw some good things in the first couple of periods on Friday night, before some touch luck and lack of calls doomed the Lakers in the 3rd period. Saturday night, the Lakers just didn't have it, and there are going to be bumps along the road to progress.

The crowds were disappointing this weekend, as the rink was half empty both games, and little to no atmosphere. I had rows of empty seats around me, and I don't understand why the lack of people on Pink in the Rink and parents weekend? The university and media outlets did a tremendous job, promoting the event. Need more fans at the Taffy. I expect the Lakers to bounce back next weekend at Bowling Green.

Tune into Monday's Laker Hockey Show on ESPN Radio 1400 http://stream.1400espn.net/ from Antlers starting at 6 p.m. with Bill Crawford and head coach Damon Whitten.
 
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Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Couldn't make it to either game but quite disappointed in the results. I just hope this is merely a small step backwards while we progress two giant steps forward...next week will certainly be a tell all for what type of team the Lakers are and what we fans can expect.

As for fan support (or the perceived lack there of), I think what many have to understand is that this may be the new normal no matter how well the team performs. Let's face it, the school's enrollment is down and the economy on both sides of the bridge is suffering. I think we have to view a crowd of over 2500 as a positive and only be concerned if attendance dips below 2000 for an extended period of time.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

You want fans back ? This is how you do it. Have parents weekend with a team picked to finish 8th in league play and than go out Friday night and give the game away when the game should have been a victory for you. Come back the next night with Pink in the Rink and get blown out 5 to nothing. What happened? Who was there both nights? Was it defense? Was it offense? Was it goal tending ? Were they out worked ? Was it turn overs and mistakes ? Is it just a little of everything ? Did they make a mistake on recruiting these two goalies ?
I got home from the Soo a little while ago. I may write up some thoughts later tonight or tomorrow. Got some other things I need to do first.
 
What happened? Who was there both nights? Was it defense? Was it offense? Was it goal tending ? Were they out worked ? Was it turn overs and mistakes ? Is it just a little of everything ? Did they make a mistake on recruiting these two goalies ?
I thought defense was an issue both nights, and I include forwards in defensive play, not just D-men. Offense looked very good on Friday, not so good on Saturday. I really liked a lot of what I saw from the new guys. More offensive potential than we've had in years; more team speed and that should improve even more in the future.

We should have won Friday. Too many mistakes on defensive coverage. Gordie didn't seem to be seeing the puck that well. Guerriero made some big saves for UAH ( but we still got 4 by him). Not sure how many, but we hit several posts. We didn't do a good job of playing with the lead in the 3rd period. Our new forwards showed a lot of offensive skill and potential.

Saturday we just looked out of synch on offense most of the night. Passes weren't crisp and accurate. We had several 3 on 2 odd man rushes where we wound up going offsides. I thought we were a touch slow making decisions on what to do with the puck. Offensive chemistry wasn't there on Saturday. A couple of good things from Saturday despite the loss. We held UAH to 19 shots overall. We generated a lot of shots, especially on the PP. I didn't think we did a god job of getting traffic in front of Larose on Saturday, either to screen him or create deflections. He played solid in net, but he was seeing everything we threw at him. We had some shots from grade A areas but he played positionally well and we just weren't hitting the corners of the net like we needed to do to beat him. On one of our PPs in the 2nd period, with UAH up 3-0, we had a guy come in backdoor on Larose, wide open, but the pass to him was too far back, at his feet, and he couldn't do anything with it. Should have been an easy tap in goal and might have given us some momentum. Couldn't fault Kossoff too much. Really bad defensive lapses on 1st 2 goals; guys wide open by the net and he didn't have a chance. 3rd goal looked to be a screen shot from the point that he never saw. 4th goal we gave their guy too much room and he rifled a hard wrist shot into a corner off the net from pretty much out front. 5th goal looked like a shot that was going to miss the net but deflected in off either our D-man or their forward (not sure which).

Give the Chargers credit. They play hard. Not too flashy. This weekend they did a good job of getting shots from the points and creating screens in front of our goalies. And taking advantage of our defensive mistakes.

Larose got a shutout Saturday but I thought Guerriero faced more tougher shots on Friday.

Anyway, some thoughts from my perspective. Others may have different thoughts. Some of it depends on where you sit and what it looks like from your angle.
 
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