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LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

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

Terrible power play. Not very much to cheer about after the first 10 minutes for the Lakers fans. I wish the team knew how important this game was because it sure didn't look like it except for maybe a couple player's.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

The LSSU Lakers were snake bit yesterday and couldn't buy a goal. They dominated in every statistical category, yet another tough luck loss. Freshman sensation Owen Headrick scored a goal and played a solid game on both ends of the ice. Headrick is 6th on the team with points, pretty impressive being the youngest player on the team.

Tune into the Laker Hockey Show, tonite from 6-7 on ESPN Radio station 1400 with the Voice of the Lakers, Bill Crawford and Damon Whitten.

On Tuesday tune into the Hockey North Show with Randy Russon from 5-6 on ESPN 1400.

On Wednesday tune into Laker Hockey Talk, with Bill Crawford and Damon Whitten 8:30am on ESPN Radio 1400.

Ringy Dingy!

Lake Superior State hockey fell to Alaska Anchorage 3-1 in Saturday evening's Western Collegiate Hockey Association weekend series finale. The loss gives the Lakers a 9-13-4 overall record and keeps them in 7th place of the WCHA standings with a 6-6-4 record in conference play.

Owen Headrick scored the only goal for the Lakers 2:14 after the opening puck drop. The unassisted tally was the freshman's fourth goal of the season and gave the Lakers the early 1-0 lead.

With the goal Headrick tied Kurt Gosselin from Alabama-Huntsville with the most points by a freshman defenseman on the season and gives the Garden River, Ont. native the most goals among the WCHA's freshmen defenders.

Despite a 13-6 advantage in shots on goal for LSSU during the first period the Seawolves (9-10-3, 6-8-2 WCHA) eventually tied the game at 1-1 with 5:42 remaining in the first period.

Connor Wright scored the tying goal with assists coming from Austin Azurdia and Chase Van Allen.

With the score tied after the first period of play the Seawolves came out of the intermission and took a 2-1 lead just 2:05 into the middle period on a goal by Anthony Conti. Sean MacTavish and Jeremiah Luedtke added the assists on the go-ahead goal.

Six penalties were called during the second period, with four against the Seawolves and two against the Lakers, but the score remained 2-1 heading into the final break.

LSSU had 13 shots during the third period and a number of opportunities to score the tying goal but were unable to get anything past starting goaltender Olivier Mantha during the last 20 minutes.

Mantha made 34 saves in earning his eighth victory of the year, while Nick Kossoff (3-5-1) made 19 saves and allowed three goals in the loss.

With the game winding down an errant pass by the Lakers defense was intercepted in the neutral zone by Blake Tatchell. Tatchell flipped a pass to Azurdia to set up a 2-on-1 opportunity and as Azurdia tried to center a pass back to his teammate a Laker stick redirected the puck through the legs of Kossoff and made the score 3-1.

The goal marked Azurdia's second point of the night and secured the weekend split.

UAA moved into a tie for 8th place with in-state rival Alaska following the victory. Both teams sit two points behind the Lakers in the WCHA standings.

The Lakers travel to Mankato, Minn. to face the Minnesota State Mavericks next weekend, Jan. 22-23. The Mavericks hold the top spot in the WCHA standings following a tie and a loss at Michigan Tech this weekend.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

HuskyNation said:
If he was not happy at Tech because of the remote location and difficulties thereof, why would he feel any different at the Soo?
Click to expand...

Location had nothing to do with it. Playing time did. Apparently thought he should be playing more.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

eye4talent said:
Location had nothing to do with it. Playing time did. Apparently thought he should be playing more.
Click to expand...

How do you argue over a guy whom you have no idea if he is the goalie that was recruited at tech and may come here now or not .
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

sm2pk said:
How do you argue over a guy whom you have no idea if he is the goalie that was recruited at tech and may come here now or not .
Click to expand...
He is a forward. He had pretty good scoring stats in the USHL prior to going to Tech. The subject came up because Damon evidently played a significant role in recruiting him to Tech when he was there.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Score goals this weekend or it will be a tough two games for the lakers.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Randy Russon of www.hockeynewsnorth.com and www.saultthisweek.com on the LSSU Lakers honour Gil and Gary. http://www.hockeynewsnorth.com/ncaa/lakers-honour-gil-somes-gary-mcclellan/

Following a weekend split with Alaska Anchorage last weekend, Lake Superior State remains in seventh place in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association prior to this weekend's meeting with Minnesota State- Mankato.

Both Friday and Saturday's games are set to begin at 8:07 p.m. ET at the Verizon Wireless Center. The legendary Voice of the Lakers, Bill Crawford, will provide play-by-play coverage of the action live on 99.5 YES FM.

Last weekend the Lakers (9-13-4, 6-6-4 WCHA) came from behind to earn victory over the Seawolves 4-2 on Saturday before falling 3-1 in Sunday's series finale.

With the split the Lakers remain in seventh place of the WCHA standings and only trail Bemidji State by a single point in sixth place. Ahead of the Beavers are Ferris State in 4th place and Northern Michigan in fifth place. The Lakers trail the Bulldogs by three points and the Wildcats by two points with two games in-hand on each of the three teams ahead of them.

Freshman forward Mitch Hults (6-6--12) scored a pair of goals in Friday's game, and freshman Diego Cuglietta (4-4--8) registered his second consecutive game-winning goal to cap the victory, putting the Lakers up 3-2. Josh Nenadal (4-1--5), also a rookie, scored the game-tying goal with 15:20 remaining in the third period to knot the score at 2-2.

Culminating with the single goal by first-year defenseman Owen Headrick (4-4--8) in Sunday's 3-1 loss, each goal scored by the Lakers last weekend came from the stick of a freshman.

The LSSU freshman class has steered the ship this season, combining for 28 goals and 40 assists as a class. The 68 points combined by the freshmen ties the Ferris State junior class (22-46--68) for the most points by a class in the WCHA. Only the Northern Michigan junior class has combined for more goals (29). Laker freshmen have also combined for the most power-play points with a combined nine goals and 25 assists for 34 points on the power play. Only the NMU juniors have scored more power-play goals (11).

J.T. Henke, another newcomer to the Lakers lineup this season, albeit as a sophomore, leads the Lakers in scoring this season with six goals and eight assists for 14 points. Trailing Henke in scoring is Hults with 12 points and Gus Correale (5-6--11), Gage Torrel (4-7--11) and Anthony Nellis (3-8--11) each with 11 points.

The Lakers have never beaten the Mavericks (11-8-5, 10-3-5 WCHA) in eight attempts since joining MSU in the WCHA during the 2013-14 season. In all four games played in Mankato, all of which were played in 2014-15 including the WCHA quarterfinals, the Lakers are 0-4-0 against the Mavericks.

The Mavericks opened the season on the wrong foot, losing their first four games, all against non-conference opponents. Since then, the Mavericks have cruised through conference opponents, however not as gracefully as last year's squad that went 15-2-1 through their first 18 conference games.

The Mavericks are 2-2-1 in their last five games and 5-2-3 in their last 10 games.

Usually known for their high-powered offense, the Mavericks are only scoring 2.21 goals per game which ties them with Alabama Huntsville for eighth in the WCHA. LSSU ranks last in scoring at 1.92 goals per game, but has improved from a 1.69 goals per game average at this point of the 2014-15 season.

Defensively the Mavericks have been up to the task and rank one spot ahead of the Lakers in goals against per game with 2.25 goals allowed on average. The Lakers rank fifth in the WCHA with a team goals-against average of 2.35, down from 3.58 at this time last season.

Senior forward Teddy Blueger has been one of the most consistent threats for the Maverick offense this season, scoring five goals and 13 assists for 18 points in 24 games. Four of Blueger's five goals have registered as game-winning tallies.

In net, freshman goaltender Jason Pawloski has backstopped the Mavericks with a 8-2-5 record, 1.72 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.

Among freshmen goaltenders, Pawloski leads the league in goals against average with LSSU freshman Nick Kossoff hot on his heels with a 1.90 GAA.

Kossoff ranks third overall in the WCHA with a .929 save percentage and second among freshmen. Nationally Kossoff ranks 16th overall and fourth among freshmen in save percentage. Kossoff also leads all freshmen goaltenders and is tied for second in the WCHA with three shutouts.

The Lakers will likely counter Pawloski with some combination of Kossoff and sophomore goaltender Gordon Defiel who picked up his sixth victory of the season in the 402 victory over the Seawolves on Saturday night.

Defiel ranks sixth among WCHA goaltenders in saves percentage with a .924 clip and sports a respectable 2.45 goals-against mark. The Stillwater, Minn. native has gone 6-8-3 this season and ranks seventh all-time on the Lakers' shutout list with five career shutouts.

The Lakers have five players on their roster that hail from Minnesota, including Defiel and Torrel (Monticello).

Following this weekend's series with the Mavericks, the Lakers enter their first official bye-week of the season after not taking a weekend off during the fall. LSSU resumes play with another road series against Michigan Tech Feb. 5-6 before returning to Taffy Abel Arena on Feb. 12-13 for a home series against Bemidji State.

Laker Alumni gathering in Mankato

Join the LSSU Alumni Association on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 5:30 p.m. CT at Rounders Sports Bar for a hockey social before the Lakers play Minnesota State-Mankato at 7:07p.m. CT.

All Laker Alumni and fans are invited! The LSSU Alumni Association provides free appetizers and a drawing for Laker door prizes. Anna (Kerr) Hotz '03 is hosting this Laker gathering and the cost is just $5 per person or FREE for dues-paying members of the LSSU Alumni Association and children 10-and-under.

Game tickets can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com. LSSU fans and families are sitting in section 200. For questions or more details, call the Alumni Office at (906) 635-6219, or email alumnirelations@lssu.edu.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Great article by Randy Russon in www.hockeynewsnorth.com on another local player the LSSU Lakers missed out on, under former head coach Jim Roque. http://www.hockeynewsnorth.com/ncaa/soo-boy-pierce-a-hit-with-nmu-coach/

Sault Ste. Marie area product Denver Pierce has earned a regular shift and words of praise from his coach as a freshman forward with the Northern Michigan Wildcats of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association.

A 5-foot-11, 185-pound, 1995 birth-year winger who could have played another season of junior hockey this 2015-2016 campaign, Pierce instead has seen regular minutes and been a “good, solid contributor,” according to Northern Michigan head coach Walt Kyle, who is in his 14th year as bench boss at the Marquette-based university.

Kyle told HockeyNewsNorth.com that the original plan going into this season was for Pierce to spend his final year of junior eligibility in the North American Hockey League.

“Then we decided to bring him in but to be honest, we saw him as a depth guy,” Kyle said of Pierce, who had played the previous three seasons with the Soo Eagles, then of the NAHL, now of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League.

But after sitting out three games in late November, Pierce has since been in the Northern Michigan lineup for 10 straight outings — and taking a regular shift.

“Denver is doing well…he has been a pleasant surprise,” said Kyle. “He is a hard-working kid who plays his position well.”

Kyle added that Pierce “plays a very similar game” to that of another Michigan Soo product, forward Ray Kaunisto, who played four seasons at Northern Michigan, ending in 2010.

“Denver is like Ray in a lot of ways, a big, strong forward who works hard, is coach-able and is always in the right position on the ice,” Kyle added in further praise of Pierce.

From his end, Pierce said he enjoys playing for the veteran Kyle.

“He’s a really good coach,” Pierce said of Kyle. “He’s really good at teaching us the game and he makes sure that we work hard in practice and pay attention to all the little details. I like playing for him.”

As for combining hockey with school — he’s studying Engineering and Industrial Technology at Northern Michigan — Pierce said “it can be difficult and stressful. But so far I am an ‘A’ student, so I guess I will be okay.”

On the ice, Pierce has played in 19 of the Wildcats 24 games and has 3 goals and 2 assists. He had a goal and an assist in his most-recent outing, which was a 5-3 win over the Alaska Nanooks.

With a record of 7-7-4 within the hotly-contested WCHA (they are 9-9-6 overall) the Wildcats are in fifth place in league play but only a point behind the fourth-place Ferris State Bulldogs.

On the flip side, Northern Michigan — which has a bye this weekend — is only a point up on the sixth-place Bemidji State Beavers and just two points ahead of the seventh-place Lake Superior State Lakers in the 10-team WCHA.

The Lakers, who have played the fewest games in the WCHA, are at Minnesota State for games tonight and Saturday against the first-place Mavericks. Both games will be broadcast on Sault Ste. Marie radio station 99.5 YES-FM with Bill Crawford calling the play-by-play.

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

**** Mankato is on fire right now. With their win tonight they have only lost twice the past 14 games. Too bad we didn't play them early in the season when they were struggling. Still a poor showing by the Lakers tonight regardless.
 
Last edited:
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

At least BGSU helped us by sweeping UAA. Speaking of BGSU, they score 12 goals this weekend against UAA while we only managed 4 (3 if you don't count the empty net goal) against the same team last weekend. That tells us this offense is still very challenged to score goals.

purpleinnebraska said:
We're not scoring, either. I think we're looking at a couple of 2-1 games, one way or the other.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you were way wrong.
 
LSSULaker889294 said:
At least BGSU helped us by sweeping UAA. Speaking of BGSU, they score 12 goals this weekend against UAA while we only managed 4 (3 if you don't count the empty net goal) against the same team last weekend. That tells us this offense is still very challenged to score goals.
Click to expand...
Yeah, we're still at the point where we need to rely on defensive play and goaltending to keep us in the game and give us a chance to win. I think the offense will slowly get better but it's going to take time and there will be a lot of hiccups on the way.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Bill said:
Yeah, we're still at the point where we need to rely on defensive play and goaltending to keep us in the game and give us a chance to win. I think the offense will slowly get better but it's going to take time and there will be a lot of hiccups on the way.
Click to expand...

At least our Freshman class is giving us promise for more offense in the future. I believe it has the 2nd best offense for any class in the WCHA which shows Damon did a great job recruiting this past year.Hopefully Damon can recruit another good scoring class as it takes more than one good scoring class to have success offensively.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Lake Superior State hockey dropped the Western Collegiate Hockey Association series opener 8-0 on Friday night against Minnesota State. The No. 20 ranked Mavericks (12-8-5, 11-3-5 WCHA) regained the top spot of the WCHA standings with the victory.

The Lakers (9-14-4, 6-7-4 WCHA) are now 0-9-0 all-time against MSU and 0-5 in games played at Verizon Wireless Center.

MSU goaltender Cole Huggins, appearing in his first game since Nov. 13, made 17 saves in securing his first shutout of the season and the eighth of his career.

Sophomore netminder Gordon Defiel (6-9-3) started in net and played the entire game despite being tagged with all eight of the Maverick goals. Defiel made 34 saves in the loss.

Freshman forward Max Coatta scored two goals to match his season total entering the evening, while sophomore C.J. Franklin scored a goal and tallied a pair of assists.

Brett Knowles, Daniel Brickley, Teddy Blueger, Zeb Knutson, and Michael Huntebrinker added a goal each in the winning effort. Brickley also had a game-high plus/minus +4 rating .

Junior defenseman Casey Nelson also added three assists and had a +3 rating.

The teams will face off in Game 2 on Saturday night with the puck set to drop at 8:07 p.m. ET. You can hear that game, with the legendary Voice of the Lakers, Bill Crawford on YES FM.
 
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