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LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

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

LakerBaker said:
Another high-end recruit picked up by Damon Whitten. Randy Russon is all over it on www.hockeynewsnorth.com

Defenceman Kristofers Bindulis, who played for the Soo Eagles during the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 seasons when they were members of the North American Hockey League, has committed to the Lake Superior State University Lakers of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, HockeyNewsNorth.com has confirmed.

The 6-foot-3, 180-pound Bindulis, who has a 1995 birth date, is originally from Latvia and is currently playing his final season of junior with the Aston Rebels of the NAHL.

Besides playing in the NAHL with the Soo and Aston, Bindulis has also seen action with the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League.

He is slated to join the Lakers of LSSU for the 2016-2017 campaign.

“I’m really excited to sign with Lake Superior State and move to the next level. I am really thankful to all the people who helped me and were there for me along the way to achieve my goals,” stated Bindulis.
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If he is such a high end recruit, wouldnt he still be in the USHL instead of sliding back to the NAHL as a 20 year old?
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

RealLaker94 said:
New recruit. A defenseman Kristofers Bindulis out of Latvia. Playing for the Aston Rebels (NAHL), also played for the Soo Eagles. I'll see if I can find any more info on him, one of my buds housed many of the Latvian players here in town last season.

http://nahl.com/news/story.cfm?id=16132
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The Lakers will be down to 6 D-men at the end of this season. Colin Saccoman will be coming in next season to make it 7. They also have Cole Hults recruited but he's pretty young, a 98 birth date. This could be an indication that Cole Hults will be coming in for the 2017-18 season instead of next season. Either that or Damon wants to go with 9 D again next season. He could be doing that and Bindulis is in effect a replacement for Bird. I think the eventual goal is to have 8 D-men on the roster, which is pretty standard.
 
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Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

blackswampboy said:
When I said hello to Whitten while ya'll were down at BG, he commented on what a good job Bergeron has done, and that the Lakers are using BGSU as a rebuilding model. 'Course that doesn't exclude Tech either, but I bet he's taking notes on all of the WCHA rebuilding successes: BGSU, Tech, UAH...
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He also expressed similar thoughts to me. He has a lot of respect for Mel Pearson and for Chris. They've both done outstanding jobs and I see Mike Corbett at UAH on a similar path. Maybe the Lakers will be the next to take forward steps.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Lakers need at least a split . You don't want them coming home with a 2-10-2 record and 0-4-2 in league play. You dig a hole this early in the season and getting out keeps getting harder every week.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

LakerBaker said:
Following a home sweep at the hands of the upstart Arizona State Sun Devils, coach Damon Whitten and the Lake Superior State Lakers return to Western Collegiate Hockey Association play with a series at Bemidji State.

The series opens with a 7:37 p.m. CT puck drop on Friday and follows with a 7:07 p.m. CT start Saturday night at the Sanford Center. The games will be broadcast live on 99.5 YES FM www.yesfm.net with the legendary Voice of Laker Hockey, Bill Crawford.

The Lakers (2-8-2, 0-2-2 WCHA) are at the bottom of the league standings, currently sitting 10th with two points. Along with this weekend's opponent, ninth-place Bemidji State, Alabama-Huntsville and Alaska are both within reach at seventh and eighth, respectively.

Valuable points in the standing s will not come easily, however, as Bemidji State boasts the reigning WCHA Rookie of the Year between the pipes in Michael Bitzer.

Though Bitzer had a phenomenal freshman campaign, he has seen his share of the bumps in 2015-16 that resemble the same growing pains experienced by LSSU's Gordon Defiel. Both netminders open the series with a 1-5-2 season record. While Defiel, with a .898 saves percentage and a 3.19 goals-against average, holds the advantage in making stops, Bitzer has surrendered fewer goals per game with an average of 2.74 and a shutout to his credit. Bitzer currently owns a .887 saves percentage.

Defiel has faced 60 more shots than Bitzer in the same number of games played.

The Lakers will also be tasked with the difficult responsibility of limiting space for Gerry Fitzgerald, who leads the Beavers with six goals and three assists in nine games played. Fitzgerald, a triplet, typically spends time with his identical brothers Leo (2-3--5) and Myles on the same line. Myles has been sidelined this season with injuries and has appeared in just two games.

Brendan Harms is second on the team in points with a pair of goals and six assists. Harms put together a four-point weekend against the Nanooks last weekend including goals in consecutive games. For his efforts against Alaska last weekend, Harms was named the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week.

Along with Harms, Nate Arentz is the only other returning 20-point scorer from last year's squad. Arentz didn't register a point through the first eight games this season but finally got off the schneid with a goal in the Beavers' 6-3 victory over the Nanooks on Saturday.

J.T. Henke (5-3--8) continues to lead the Lakers in scoring despite being held without a goal for five games. Henke registered an assist last weekend during the Lakers' 3-2 loss on Friday night.

Freshman Anthony Nellis (0-5--5) tallied three assists against the Sun Devils last week and moved into a third-place tie with Gage Torrel (1-4--5) in scoring for the Lakers.

Nellis and Henke's linemate last weekend, Diego Cuglietta (1-3--4), scored his first collegiate goal during Saturday night's 3-2 overtime defeat.

If the Lakers hope to find success against the Beavers, it will most likely start with the scoring provided by their freshman class. The Laker rookies have combined for 13 goals and 22 assists. The freshmen also have a league-high combined G-A-P of 6-15--21 on the power play and trail only Ferris State's junior ensemble (12-28—40 overall) as the highest scoring class in the league.

When the Lakers have been able to score this season, no matter which class provides the tally, it tends to happen in the second period of games. The Lakers have scored 14 goals this season during the middle period, more than any team in a specific period, however they are also last in scoring during both the first and third periods of games.

Against the Sun Devils last weekend the Lakers' power play was running on all cylinders, indicating a facet of play markedly improved from the previous season. The Lakers scored all four of their goals against ASU while on the power play and boosted their success rate to 16.1 percent for the season.

Following the road trip to Bemidji State, the Lakers will return to Taffy Abel Arena for a two-game tilt against Ferris State. The Lakers and Bulldogs are slated to meet during the holiday weekend with games Nov. 27-
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Again I got the same Article from Eddie Bishop at LSSU Sports information. Should give credit when you plagiarize an article.

SAULT STE. MARIE - Following a home sweep at the hands of the upstart Arizona State Sun Devils, coach Damon Whitten and the Lake Superior State Lakers return to Western Collegiate Hockey Association play with a series at Bemidji State.

The series opens with a 7:37 p.m. CT puck drop on Friday and follows with a 7:07 p.m. CT start Saturday night at the Sanford Center. The games will be broadcast live on 99.5 YES FM, and a live video stream is available for purchase via WCHA.tv.

The Lakers (2-8-2, 0-2-2 WCHA) are at the bottom of the league standings, currently sitting 10th with two points. Along with this weekend's opponent, ninth-place Bemidji State, Alabama-Huntsville and Alaska are both within reach at seventh and eighth, respectively.

Valuable points in the standing s will not come easily, however, as Bemidji State boasts the reigning WCHA Rookie of the Year between the pipes in Michael Bitzer.

Though Bitzer had a phenomenal freshman campaign, he has seen his share of the bumps in 2015-16 that resemble the same growing pains experienced by LSSU's Gordon Defiel. Both netminders open the series with a 1-5-2 season record. While Defiel, with a .898 saves percentage and a 3.19 goals-against average, holds the advantage in making stops, Bitzer has surrendered fewer goals per game with an average of 2.74 and a shutout to his credit. Bitzer currently owns a .887 saves percentage.

Defiel has faced 60 more shots than Bitzer in the same number of games played.

The Lakers will also be tasked with the difficult responsibility of limiting space for Gerry Fitzgerald, who leads the Beavers with six goals and three assists in nine games played. Fitzgerald, a triplet, typically spends time with his identical brothers Leo (2-3--5) and Myles on the same line. Myles has been sidelined this season with injuries and has appeared in just two games.

Brendan Harms is second on the team in points with a pair of goals and six assists. Harms put together a four-point weekend against the Nanooks last weekend including goals in consecutive games. For his efforts against Alaska last weekend, Harms was named the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week.

Along with Harms, Nate Arentz is the only other returning 20-point scorer from last year's squad. Arentz didn't register a point through the first eight games this season but finally got off the schneid with a goal in the Beavers' 6-3 victory over the Nanooks on Saturday.

J.T. Henke (5-3--8) continues to lead the Lakers in scoring despite being held without a goal for five games. Henke registered an assist last weekend during the Lakers' 3-2 loss on Friday night.

Freshman Anthony Nellis (0-5--5) tallied three assists against the Sun Devils last week and moved into a third-place tie with Gage Torrel (1-4--5) in scoring for the Lakers.

Nellis and Henke's linemate last weekend, Diego Cuglietta (1-3--4), scored his first collegiate goal during Saturday night's 3-2 overtime defeat.

If the Lakers hope to find success against the Beavers, it will most likely start with the scoring provided by their freshman class. The Laker rookies have combined for 13 goals and 22 assists. The freshmen also have a league-high combined G-A-P of 6-15--21 on the power play and trail only Ferris State's junior ensemble (12-28—40 overall) as the highest scoring class in the league.

When the Lakers have been able to score this season, no matter which class provides the tally, it tends to happen in the second period of games. The Lakers have scored 14 goals this season during the middle period, more than any team in a specific period, however they are also last in scoring during both the first and third periods of games.

Against the Sun Devils last weekend the Lakers' power play was running on all cylinders, indicating a facet of play markedly improved from the previous season. The Lakers scored all four of their goals against ASU while on the power play and boosted their success rate to 16.1 percent for the season.

Following the road trip to Bemidji State, the Lakers will return to Taffy Abel Arena for a two-game tilt against Ferris State. The Lakers and Bulldogs are slated to meet during the holiday weekend with games Nov. 27-28.

For tickets to the Lakers versus Bulldogs series, http://www.lssutickets.universitytickets.com or call the Norris Center box office, 906-635-2602.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Been saying this all season about Owen Headrick, and here is the latest article from Randy Russon and www.hockeynewsnorth.com on how Owen has NHL scouts watching.

The youngest player on the Lake Superior State University Lakers is attracting the attention of at least a few National Hockey League scouts.

Freshman defenceman Owen Headrick, who has a 1997 birth date, has seen regular duty while playing in all 12 of the Lakers games thus far this season.

In fact, as the quarterback of the LSSU power play, Headrick has been an offensive bright spot for the Lakers in addition to playing solid defensive hockey.

With 2 goals, 2 assists, 4 points in his first 12 games as a Laker, Headrick is tied for fifth on the LSSU scoring chart heading into a pair of weekend road games at Bemidji State University against the Western Collegiate Hockey Association rival Beavers.

To be sure, a few NHL scouts have taken note of the 6-foot, 185-pound Headrick, who hails from Garden River First Nation, just outside Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.

When USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program played an exhibition game at LSSU to start the 2015-2016 season, Headrick was the one Laker in particular who had more than NHL scout in attendance talking.

And when the Lakers played host to the Arizona State Sun Devils last weekend, one NHL scout confirmed that he made the trip to LSSU specifically to watch Headrick.

What stands out to those who have closely watched Headrick — besides savvy in running the LSSU power play — are his smarts, poise, smooth skating, precision passes and ability to read the play quickly.

Having earned the trust of second-year Lakers head coach Damon Whitten, what is also impressive about Headrick is that he is several years younger than a lot of guys he is playing with and against.

“He plays with a lot of poise for someone so young,” Whitten has said of Headrick. “You look at the fact that he is four, five, even six years younger than a lot of guys he is playing against and the fact that he plays in key situations for us.”

As an example, Headrick is four years younger than James Roll, his sophomore defence partner with the Lakers.

From the coaching end, Whitten has been careful not to over-use Headrick while recognizing the obvious skill level and maturity of his young defenceman, who starred for the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League the past two seasons after being an Ontario Hockey League draft pick of the Erie Otters in 2013.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

LakerBaker, did you make your own edits to the original article? I look at your version of the article, the version posted by Paul and the version in my hand, and yours has been altered to give a shoutout to Bill Crawford. Quite sure changing the article without the expressed written consent of the original author is frowned upon in the media.

By the way, why would you delete your original post when it's been quoted on the board already and thus not disappearing completely?
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Laker Hockey Preview for this weekend's games and preview of the series

http://www.lssulakers.com/sports/m-hockey/2015-16/videos/Laker_Hockey_Preview__Bemidji_State

Following a home sweep at the hands of the upstart Arizona State Sun Devils, coach Damon Whitten and the Lake Superior State Lakers return to Western Collegiate Hockey Association play with a series at Bemidji State.

The series opens with a 7:37 p.m. CT puck drop on Friday and follows with a 7:07 p.m. CT start Saturday night at the Sanford Center. The games will be broadcast live on 99.5 YES FM, and a live video stream is available for purchase via WCHA.tv.

The Lakers (2-8-2, 0-2-2 WCHA) are at the bottom of the league standings, currently sitting 10th with two points. Along with this weekend's opponent, ninth-place Bemidji State, Alabama-Huntsville and Alaska are both within reach at seventh and eighth, respectively.

Valuable points in the standing s will not come easily, however, as Bemidji State boasts the reigning WCHA Rookie of the Year between the pipes in Michael Bitzer.

Though Bitzer had a phenomenal freshman campaign, he has seen his share of the bumps in 2015-16 that resemble the same growing pains experienced by LSSU's Gordon Defiel. Both netminders open the series with a 1-5-2 season record. While Defiel, with a .898 saves percentage and a 3.19 goals-against average, holds the advantage in making stops, Bitzer has surrendered fewer goals per game with an average of 2.74 and a shutout to his credit. Bitzer currently owns a .887 saves percentage.

Defiel has faced 60 more shots than Bitzer in the same number of games played.

The Lakers will also be tasked with the difficult responsibility of limiting space for Gerry Fitzgerald, who leads the Beavers with six goals and three assists in nine games played. Fitzgerald, a triplet, typically spends time with his identical brothers Leo (2-3--5) and Myles on the same line. Myles has been sidelined this season with injuries and has appeared in just two games.

Brendan Harms is second on the team in points with a pair of goals and six assists. Harms put together a four-point weekend against the Nanooks last weekend including goals in consecutive games. For his efforts against Alaska last weekend, Harms was named the WCHA Offensive Player of the Week.

Along with Harms, Nate Arentz is the only other returning 20-point scorer from last year's squad. Arentz didn't register a point through the first eight games this season but finally got off the schneid with a goal in the Beavers' 6-3 victory over the Nanooks on Saturday.

J.T. Henke (5-3--8) continues to lead the Lakers in scoring despite being held without a goal for five games. Henke registered an assist last weekend during the Lakers' 3-2 loss on Friday night.

Freshman Anthony Nellis (0-5--5) tallied three assists against the Sun Devils last week and moved into a third-place tie with Gage Torrel (1-4--5) in scoring for the Lakers.

Nellis and Henke's linemate last weekend, Diego Cuglietta (1-3--4), scored his first collegiate goal during Saturday night's 3-2 overtime defeat.

If the Lakers hope to find success against the Beavers, it will most likely start with the scoring provided by their freshman class. The Laker rookies have combined for 13 goals and 22 assists. The freshmen also have a league-high combined G-A-P of 6-15--21 on the power play and trail only Ferris State's junior ensemble (12-28—40 overall) as the highest scoring class in the league.

When the Lakers have been able to score this season, no matter which class provides the tally, it tends to happen in the second period of games. The Lakers have scored 14 goals this season during the middle period, more than any team in a specific period, however they are also last in scoring during both the first and third periods of games.

Against the Sun Devils last weekend the Lakers' power play was running on all cylinders, indicating a facet of play markedly improved from the previous season. The Lakers scored all four of their goals against ASU while on the power play and boosted their success rate to 16.1 percent for the season.

Following the road trip to Bemidji State, the Lakers will return to Taffy Abel Arena for a two-game tilt against Ferris State. The Lakers and Bulldogs are slated to meet during the holiday weekend with games Nov. 27-28.

For tickets to the Lakers versus Bulldogs series, http://www.lssutickets.universitytickets.com or call the Norris Center box office, 906-635-2602.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

davyd83 said:
He also expressed similar thoughts to me. He has a lot of respect for Mel Pearson and for Chris. They've both done outstanding jobs and I see Mike Corbett at UAH on a similar path. Maybe the Lakers will be the next to take forward steps.
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and Berge has said that he wants to do what Hastings has done at Mankato, and he wants something like the Daniels mobile D corps at Ferris.
we've got a bunch of smart coaches with a lot more conference parity coming down the pike, that's for sure. next few years should be fun!
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Four players out with injuries for the Lakers. Henke, Hand, Drapluk, and Patterson.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Nellis scores! First goal as a Laker at last! Congratulations to him! Let's hope the Lakers can hold on to a two goal lead unlike the Friday UAH game.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Nice win! Another good showing on the road. Too bad they can't play as well at home.

Records thus far
Home: 1-4-0 :mad:
Road: 2-2-2
Neutral: 0-2-0
 
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Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

And Nellis' goal winds up as the game winner. I thought Nenadal's major penalty might do us in but we played good D and held on.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Bill said:
And Nellis' goal winds up as the game winner. I thought Nenadal's major penalty might do us in but we played good D and held on.
Click to expand...

Anybody watching / listening to the game believe Nenadal deserved the disqualification? I wasn't able to catch the whole game, but Bill Crawford said he didn't see the play when it happened.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Lake Superior State opened a two-game series on the road against Bemidji State with a 3-2 victory, backstopped by a strong effort in net by starting goaltender Gordon Defiel (2-5-2). The victory marks the first Western Collegiate Hockey Association victory of the season for the Lakers (3-8-2, 1-2-2 WCHA).

Defiel turned aside 33 of the 35 shots fired at him by the Beavers (2-6-2, 1-5-1 WCHA) to pick up his second win of the season and the tenth of his career.

Defiel's counterpart and reigning WCHA Rookie of the Year, Michael Bitzer (1-6-2), allowed three goals on 17 shots by the Lakers.

The visiting Lakers took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission on Gus Correale's (2-3--5) second goal of the year.

Peter Spratte (0-1--1) picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and fired it up the boards to a streaking Correale. Correale found a seam and buried his shot from the faceoff circle to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead with 10:02 remaining in the opening frame.

Mitch Hults (4-2--6) put the Lakers up 2-0 just 4:26 into the second period with a short-side wrister on the rush. The tally, Hults' first even-strength goal of the season, was assisted by Bryce Schmitt (1-1--2) and Kyle Chatham (1-3--4).

Graeme McCormack cut the lead in half with 10:59 remaining in the second period with a shot that just trickled through Defiel's pads.

Just under three minutes after the goal by McCormack, Anthony Nellis netted his first career goal to put the Lakers up 3-1. Aidan Wright (0-1--1) and Chatham scored the assists on the marker by Nellis. The assist by Chatham was his second of the evening.

The goal by Nellis remained the differential in the final score and marked his first game-winning point of any kind in an anchor sweater.

With 7:44 remaining in the middle period, Josh Nenadal (3-0--3) was whistled for contact to the head on freshman Ian Janco. Nenadal's penalty was deemed worthy of a disqualification and a 5-minute major penalty.

The Beavers were quick to respond on the extended power play, scoring just 2:14 into the penalty time on Nenadal. Gerry Fitzgerald notched his team-high 7th goal of the season while displaying excellent patience in the slot and picked the corner over Defiel's glove.

Despite constant pressure by the Beavers on the remaining penalty time to Nenadal, Defiel and his defense stood strong to ward off any attempts to tie the game and took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission.

The Beavers outshot the Lakers 19-5 during the second period with both sides scoring a pair of goals.

The teams skated through a tense final period featuring premium scoring chances for both sides but neither goalie allowed further damage and the Lakers held on to secure the victory.

For the game, the Beavers outshot the Lakers 35-17 and went 2-4 on power play opportunities. The Lakers were unsuccessful in three attempts on the power play.

LSSU now holds a 27-21-2 advantage in the all-time series against the Beavers and has extended their series-lead in Bemidji to 12-10-1.

The Lakers now sit a single point behind Alabama-Huntsville and Alaska in 9th place of the WCHA standings following the series opening victory.

The teams will resume the series Saturday night at 8:07 p.m. ET from the Sanford Center.

Dave "The Professor" Watson will have more about Friday's big victory, on Coaches Corner, on Radio Soo www.1230radiosoo.com this morning at 11 a.m. I'll be listening to the best in the business, the Voice of the Lakers, Bill Crawford tonite on www.yesfm.com as the LSSU Lakers go for the road sweep.

Ringy Dingy!
 
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Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Lake Superior State claimed three points in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association standings on the weekend with a 1-1 tie Saturday night, following Friday night's 3-2 victory over Bemidji State.

The Lakers were backstopped by sophomore netminder Gordon Defiel's (2-5-3) career-high 47 saves to draw even with Alabama-Huntsville at eighth in the WCHA standings. Defiel turned aside 80 of the 83 shots he faced on the weekend.

Defiel's counterpart, Reid Mimmack (1-0-2) made 30 saves in the effort to keep the Beavers just a point back of the Chargers and Lakers in the standings.

Alex Globke (2-2--4) registered his second goal of the season on a skillful play in front of the net, knocking down a point-shot from James Roll (1-3--4) and flipping the bouncing puck past Mimmack to put the Lakers up 1-0 10:59 into the opening period. Mitch Hults (4-3--7), who scored in Friday night's 3-2 victory, picked up his third assist of his freshman campaign on the power-play goal by Globke.

Just under three minutes later, the Beavers tied the contest at 1-1 with shot by Markus Gerbrandt that found it's way past Defiel. John Parker and Nate Arentz added the assists to the Gerbrandt goal.

The teams skated through the final 46 minutes of regulation with a goal a piece and neither team was able to tally the game winner during the 5-minute overtime period.

The Lakers went 1-4 on the power-play and held the WCHA's hottest team with a man advantage to 0-5 on the night, including a 5-minute major penalty to Aidan Wright (0-1--1) who was ushered out of the contest with a game misconduct penalty resulting from the checking-from-behind whistle.

The Beavers finished with a 48-31 advantage in shots on the evening.

The Lakers return to Taffy Abel next weekend to face Ferris State Nov. 27-28. The Bulldogs are tied with Bowling Green for third place in the WCHA standings following a pair of ties with Alaska on the weekend.

Tune into the Laker Hockey Show on Monday night with Bill Crawford and Damon Whitten on ESPN 1400 Radio at 5 p.m., the Hockey North Show with Randy Russon, Tuesday at 5 p.m. on ESPN 1400 Radio, and Laker Talk Wednesday morning Bill and Damon, as well the best site for Laker Hockey and local hockey information www.hockeynewsnorth.com

Ringy Dingy!
 
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Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Good to see that they could take 3 out of 4 from the beavers on their ice.
 
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