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LSSU Lakers 2021 off-season thread

Mike Mannara is transferring to York University. Probably looking for more playing time. Hope things work out well for Mike at York.
 
Bill said:
Ashton Calder has reportedly entered the transfer portal. A bit of a surprise. Perhaps he's seeing if any high profile teams are interested, thus giving him more looks from the pro scouts, and if not maybe he'll return to the Lakers. I hope he does return.

Also, it looks like Lukas Kaelble is going to Clarkson as a grad transfer.
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I was bummed that LSSU wasn't allowing some fans last year when other schools started to. I was thinking of how this impacted Ashton and Chase, specifically. It would be difficult to send your kid to the local school and not be allowed to see him play for an entire season, especially when places like Tech and Northern did have fans at one point. I don't know if that factors into Calder's decision at all, but I think it would bother me in his situation.

Whatever happens with him, I'm glad we got to see him as a Laker. He had so many memorable moments in a Laker jersey, and I'll be forever grateful that a Soo kid helped get the Lakers back into the NCAAs.
 
Looks like Ashton Calder is transferring to North Dakota. That's a big hole to fill.
 
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"I've been in (Sault Ste. Marie) for 20 of the 23 years of my life," Calder said. "I wanted to see what college was like away from home and get that experience. That was one of the main reasons I decided to go in the portal. And I'm super excited to see what the University of North Dakota is like."

Calder became one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal over the weekend as teams looked toward someone who could be a top-six winger.

"It's definitely been a different experience," Calder said. "It felt a little more like free agency than college recruiting, but it was definitely cool. I committed to Lake State when I was 16, so I didn't really go through that experience. I was happy with the school I picked right away. This time, it was a little more hectic, a lot more note-taking and kind of going with my gut on the final decision."

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sp...om-Lake-Superior-State-transfer-Ashton-Calder
 
Ashton transfering really stings and hurts. Up there with Owen Headrick with the most untimely departure. Hope he has a great post Laker future ahead.
 
FLHockeyMom said:
Willets is listed as a dman on FSU's roster and his EP page.
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Yep, my mistake. It does make me wonder if the Lakers are going to be overloaded at D next season. Or maybe another D-man isn't coming back for some reason or another; or maybe one of the new D-men expected to come in, isn't. Time will tell.
 
UAH has suspended their hockey program due to lack of a conference affiliation. No hockey there for 2021-22. They could bring back the program in the future if they find a conference, although this could be the end for them.
 
A few things from the show related to next season's team.

It sounds like Niko Esposito-Selivanov will no longer be on the team. He was on the roster this past season but didn't play. I think (but am not sure) it was academic related. I suspect he wasn't eligible.

The plans are for Logan Jenuwine to be on the team once the new season starts. Hopefully he has moved beyond whatever off ice issues kept him off the team. He's supposed to be a very good scorer so the Lakers could really use him in the lineup, especially with Ashton Calder moving on to North Dakota.

In discussing incoming players, Bryan Huggins name wasn't mentioned. John Forrest had pegged him as coming in next season during an interview with Matt Pocket during one of the broadcasts late this past season. Huggins is an 02 and a D so I suspect he may be coming in for 2022-23 instead. With the Lakers picking up D-man Jake Willets from Ferris, that would make sense.
 
It sounded like Whitten was optimistic the Lakers will be able to replace some of the scoring.

Another takeaway I got is that it's really going to be problematic with LSSU not offering graduate degrees. It's one thing for larger schools to promise some kind of elevated exposure (which I question sometimes because hockey is number 1 at a school like Lake State and you get the undivided attention whereas at some other schools you're not even in the top 3 sports on campus), but some of these kids might actually stay if they could get a grad degree at LSSU. It goes back again to the same old problem that the school's hockey program is in decent shape but the institution itself seems to hold it back because of low enrollment, no grad programs, etc. I really wish that could improve some day.
 
lakersparty said:
It sounded like Whitten was optimistic the Lakers will be able to replace some of the scoring.

Another takeaway I got is that it's really going to be problematic with LSSU not offering graduate degrees. It's one thing for larger schools to promise some kind of elevated exposure (which I question sometimes because hockey is number 1 at a school like Lake State and you get the undivided attention whereas at some other schools you're not even in the top 3 sports on campus), but some of these kids might actually stay if they could get a grad degree at LSSU. It goes back again to the same old problem that the school's hockey program is in decent shape but the institution itself seems to hold it back because of low enrollment, no grad programs, etc. I really wish that could improve some day.
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When it comes to grad programs, you kind of said it: It's hard to justify creating these grad programs with already low enrollment. It's been an open secret at how the school has struggled with cashflow in recent years, right? It sucks, but unless the school/state does something to bring more students in with what they've got...

As far as transferring to schools where hockey isn't #1: In some cases the market is a lot bigger, or closer to hotbeds of hockey, so I can understand that. Some transfers have also happened in the past where they're originally from that area, kind of like what happened with James Roll & Niagra a few years back.
 
lakersparty said:
Another takeaway I got is that it's really going to be problematic with LSSU not offering graduate degrees. It's one thing for larger schools to promise some kind of elevated exposure (which I question sometimes because hockey is number 1 at a school like Lake State and you get the undivided attention whereas at some other schools you're not even in the top 3 sports on campus), but some of these kids might actually stay if they could get a grad degree at LSSU. It goes back again to the same old problem that the school's hockey program is in decent shape but the institution itself seems to hold it back because of low enrollment, no grad programs, etc. I really wish that could improve some day.
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Thank you!! This is one of the very first things that came to mind when these new rules came to be, and I was waiting to see if this point would be raised. I think Crawford touched on it briefly on the show but he was also comparing predominately D1 schools to predominately D2 schools... One could make a strong argument that one or two of these seniors who were granted a 5th year would stay in the Soo if a graduate program existed, considering we have seniors transferring to schools without a very strong recent track record to get another year of play in. Further, they have practically 0% chance of bringing in a 'super senior' as a transfer due to the absence of grad program.

No matter how you spin it, or whether you are for against the new rules, I see this as a pretty clear disadvantage for Lake State. I did little-to-no research but I am wondering what other schools with D1 hockey programs have absolutely no graduate programs?
 
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