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LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

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

It does get old though when teams that have been having trouble scoring bury the lakers with goals . Teams that have trouble winning, Arizona State, Alabama Huntsville come into the Soo and sweep the lakers. We seem to be at that team A and team B crossroads again.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

sm2pk said:
It does get old though when teams that have been having trouble scoring bury the lakers with goals . Teams that have trouble winning, Arizona State, Alabama Huntsville come into the Soo and sweep the lakers. We seem to be at that team A and team B crossroads again.
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It's a team dominated at every position by first and second year players. We all would like to see more and faster success, but the reality is that it's going to take time. This season is Damon's first recruiting class and we're getting most of our scoring from those guys. Defensive play and goaltending has improved quite a bit from the early part of the season; last night was a blip. In most games, if we can get the first or at least an early goal, I think we'll have a decent chance. Be patient.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

sm2pk said:
It does get old though when teams that have been having trouble scoring bury the lakers with goals . Teams that have trouble winning, Arizona State, Alabama Huntsville come into the Soo and sweep the lakers. We seem to be at that team A and team B crossroads again.
Click to expand...

Or you're just a young team that's learning to win at the D1 level.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Tough luck for the good ship Laker this weekend, but still a lot of progress under head coach Damon Whitten. Lake Superior State capped the weekend Western Collegiate Hockey Association series with a loss against Minnesota State on Saturday night, 5-1.

The Lakers (9-15-4, 6-8-4 WCHA) were unable to get their offense rolling on the weekend following a shutout in Friday night's 8-0 loss.

The lone goal for the Lakers came with 12:07 remaining in the game and the Lakers trailing 4-0. C.J. Hayes (3-2--5) received a perfect feed from fellow freshman Owen Headrick (4-5--9), skated in all alone and flipped a wrist shot past the Mavericks' (13-8-5, 12-3-5 WCHA) Cole Huggins.

Hayes' third goal of the season was the only blemish on Huggins' night as the junior netminder posted 22 saves to earn the weekend sweep.

C.J. Franklin scored a pair of goals, including the eventual game-winner midway through the second period. Franklin also scored a goal and added two assists on Friday night to collect five points on the weekend.

Freshman Nick Kossoff received the starting nod in net for the Lakers and posted 30 saves in the loss.

The Lakers are still winless against the Mavericks since the teams first met in the 2013-14 season, going 0-10-0 in the history of the series.

The Lakers will have a bye-week next weekend before traveling to Michigan Tech for a two-game WCHA series Feb. 5-6.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Bill said:
It's a team dominated at every position by first and second year players. We all would like to see more and faster success, but the reality is that it's going to take time. This season is Damon's first recruiting class and we're getting most of our scoring from those guys. Defensive play and goaltending has improved quite a bit from the early part of the season; last night was a blip. In most games, if we can get the first or at least an early goal, I think we'll have a decent chance. Be patient.
Click to expand...

Bill, it is more than that. Whitten knew last year offense was a nightmare as it is this year and he and the coaching staff know it has to be fixed. It's the losses they have endured that seem troublesome. Arizona has three wins in Division 1 and two of those came at the expense of the Lakers on the Lakers home ice. Alabama has three wins in league play and two of those wins came at the expense of the lakers on the Lakers home ice. Minnesota State has been struggling with goals for the most part and had it not been some great saves by Kossoff last night, Minnesota would have racked up 16 goals against the Lakers this past weekend.

Globke is still a big disappointment as a goal scorer this year and there just doesn't seem to be anything there that is changing that . We all know Whitten has a lot of work and has to recruit some players that can score but we can't assume how the next players will be that come in next year . All we know as of now is this big freshmen class that was brought in, scoring is a huge problem for them. The power play doesn't work at all and so many times Crawford will say what a great save the opposing goalie made on a Laker player. My question is, was it really a great save or did the Laker player not have quick enough hands to get the shot in before the goalie was able to get to the shot. I hope like hell Whitten recruits speed and shooters.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Pearson and Bergeron both had rough second years with rebuilding their programs. I knew it wouldn't be different with Damon here. We have to be patient. However if we are still struggling after Damon's 5th year, then we can talk about a coaching change. Any talk of replacing him before then is nonsense.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

LSSULaker889294 said:
Pearson and Bergeron both had rough second years with rebuilding their programs. I knew it wouldn't be different with Damon here. We have to be patient. However if we are still struggling after Damon's 5th year, then we can talk about a coaching change. Any talk of replacing him before then is nonsense.
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I keep telling people the same thing around here.

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

I don't think anyone is talking about replacing the guy . I think he is working his butt off and trying like hell to get better players . The bottom line is after 18 years and still no offense , you have to wonder if the style of play Lake State goes with keeps guys with offensive skills looking to play for other teams . Globke is still a mystery to me. After his freshman year, everyone and his mother thought we finally landed a bonafide scorer.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

sm2pk said:
Bill, it is more than that. Whitten knew last year offense was a nightmare as it is this year and he and the coaching staff know it has to be fixed. It's the losses they have endured that seem troublesome. Arizona has three wins in Division 1 and two of those came at the expense of the Lakers on the Lakers home ice. Alabama has three wins in league play and two of those wins came at the expense of the lakers on the Lakers home ice. Minnesota State has been struggling with goals for the most part and had it not been some great saves by Kossoff last night, Minnesota would have racked up 16 goals against the Lakers this past weekend.

Globke is still a big disappointment as a goal scorer this year and there just doesn't seem to be anything there that is changing that . We all know Whitten has a lot of work and has to recruit some players that can score but we can't assume how the next players will be that come in next year . All we know as of now is this big freshmen class that was brought in, scoring is a huge problem for them. The power play doesn't work at all and so many times Crawford will say what a great save the opposing goalie made on a Laker player. My question is, was it really a great save or did the Laker player not have quick enough hands to get the shot in before the goalie was able to get to the shot. I hope like hell Whitten recruits speed and shooters.
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I don't know what to tell you other than we need to be patient. It's going to take another season or two to get a better feel for how well Damon is doing rebuilding the Lakers. Keep in mind that pretty much all the high end scorers commit to schools at a young age these days. You have to recruit them at a much younger age than was the case 10+ years ago. Part of Damon's challenge as coach is to go after some of these young high end recruits and try and convince them to come to LSSU. Hopefully he'll occasionally be able to convince a few of them to do so. I'd put Owen Headrick in that high end category (although he's a D-man and not primarily a scorer) so we already have some success in that area that we can point to. The reality is that there weren't a lot of high end guys available when Damon (and his assistants) were recruiting this season's class, or even next season's for that matter; they had already committed to other schools over the past few years. I think our coaches did a very good job recruiting this freshman class, and I'll throw Henke in there also even though he is a sophomore. Certainly we're bringing in guys who are better skaters with more speed and that will continue to be a point of emphasis in recruiting; that doesn't mean everyone on the team is going to be fast, but overall the team speed should continue to get better. So far we're seeing that primarily with the forwards, but I think the coaches are looking to bring in faster and more mobile D-men also. We've got a lot of 1st and 2nd year forwards and although team scoring is a big issue, I think at least some of these guys will develop into decent scorers over their Laker careers. Damon has said a number of times that they are always looking near term for a high end forward who can help the team scoring wise, but those type of guys have generally committed elsewhere already; if any become available near term, it's probably because they've decommitted from another school (or left another school for some reason). Going forward, Damon and his assistants no doubt will be making a serious effort to recruit more high end guys while they are younger and before they have committed elsewhere.
 
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Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Agree or disagree with Chris Dilks?
"I watched Lake Superior State lose 8-0 to Minnesota State. The Lakers tried to skate with the Mavericks and.....it went poorly. However, tip of the cap to the Lakers for at least trying to play that way. They could have played the style of pack-it-in garbage hockey many teams, especially in the WCHA, opt for, and lost by a lesser margin. They'd probably have more short-term success playing that way too. But they're a young team with a really good freshman class, and should improve as they continue to add to that base of talent. They're a bad team right now that could be a pretty good team in the future, which to me, is a lot better than being a middling team that is always going to be a middling team because of the style they play."

http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/201...ern-omaha-duluth-st-cloud-lake-superior-state
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

purpleinnebraska said:
Agree or disagree with Chris Dilks?
"I watched Lake Superior State lose 8-0 to Minnesota State. The Lakers tried to skate with the Mavericks and.....it went poorly. However, tip of the cap to the Lakers for at least trying to play that way. They could have played the style of pack-it-in garbage hockey many teams, especially in the WCHA, opt for, and lost by a lesser margin. They'd probably have more short-term success playing that way too. But they're a young team with a really good freshman class, and should improve as they continue to add to that base of talent. They're a bad team right now that could be a pretty good team in the future, which to me, is a lot better than being a middling team that is always going to be a middling team because of the style they play."

http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/201...ern-omaha-duluth-st-cloud-lake-superior-state
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For the most part I agree. I don't think they are as bad as Chris Dilks thinks. He caught them on an off weekend from a defensive play standpoint so that influenced his opinion. But Damon Whitten wants the Lakers to play up-tempo hockey so that's how they are trying to play. They don't have the overall team speed yet to be as effective at that as they eventually want to be, but they have started to bring in better skaters this season and are making progress. Better to try and get everyone to play a certain style of hockey now, even though they don't have all the pieces in place to be good at it yet, instead of waiting until they do have the pieces/players and then try to start playing that style.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Damon definitely needs more of his players. There is still a good chunk of Roque players still on this roster.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Zach Trotman has picked up his first goal of the season for Boston tonight.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Arizona thread is saying the Big Ten is looking like the landing spot for them.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

sm2pk said:
Arizona thread is saying the Big Ten is looking like the landing spot for them.
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We'll see. I've always thought that the Big Ten made the most sense for them. All big schools with a lot of money. From ASU's standpoint, I think it would make more sense for them to be in the Big Ten for the name recognition of their opponents while trying to build a fan base. From the existing Big Ten hockey schools standpoint, it would allow them to expand beyond 6 teams, which is probably getting pretty old for them in a hurry. The NCHC is closer geographically but not a lot of name recognition for a Phoenix area fan base, and it might be a bit of a burden travel ($) wise for some of the NCHC schools. The WCHA just doesn't make much sense to me; I can only see the WCHA taking them if nobody else wanted them (i.e. to help keep their new program alive) and ASU offered some travel subsidies. I think ASU still has to address the venue issue and do it soon. I don't see them sharing an NHL arena with the Coyotes on other than a short term basis, and I think the other small arena they currently use isn't going to satisfy any potential conference for very long. They need to build (or remodel) an arena of more realistic size (maybe in the 5-10K seating range). If they did wind up in the WCHA or even the NCHC, I think it would probably be a temporary thing for them and that they still eventually would wind up in the Big Ten.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

Bill said:
We'll see. I've always thought that the Big Ten made the most sense for them. All big schools with a lot of money. From ASU's standpoint, I think it would make more sense for them to be in the Big Ten for the name recognition of their opponents while trying to build a fan base. From the existing Big Ten hockey schools standpoint, it would allow them to expand beyond 6 teams, which is probably getting pretty old for them in a hurry. The NCHC is closer geographically but not a lot of name recognition for a Phoenix area fan base, and it might be a bit of a burden travel ($) wise for some of the NCHC schools. The WCHA just doesn't make much sense to me; I can only see the WCHA taking them if nobody else wanted them (i.e. to help keep their new program alive) and ASU offered some travel subsidies. I think ASU still has to address the venue issue and do it soon. I don't see them sharing an NHL arena with the Coyotes on other than a short term basis, and I think the other small arena they currently use isn't going to satisfy any potential conference for very long. They need to build (or remodel) an arena of more realistic size (maybe in the 5-10K seating range). If they did wind up in the WCHA or even the NCHC, I think it would probably be a temporary thing for them and that they still eventually would wind up in the Big Ten.
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Getting a 7th team would probably allow for a playoff system rather than all 6 just making it to St. Paul or Detroit as it is down. 2-7 could play a best of series with the conference winner getting a bye to the final 4.
 
Re: LSSU Lakers 2015-16: The 50th season

I have no idea how most Atlantic Conference teams survive with crowds of 600-700 and less fans at so many of their games.
 
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