Re: "The Lake Show" - LSSU Laker Hockey
I agree but I'm apt to think that if people can live up to their potential (a huge IF, i'll admit that.) then offensively the Lakers might be able to hold their own. If the returning players can improve their scoring output slightly and the freshman contribute the Lakers may be in decent offensive shape. If we can roughly these amount of goals from each player...
Schofield- 18
Acton-14
Nehring-12
Cassiani-12
Monardo-10
Campbell-10
Power-8
Lain-6
Mcparland-6
Radke-5
Barczuk-4
Jean-4
Stonehouse-3
Trotman-3
Cowie-2
Haines-2
Bruneteau-1
Sternberg-1
Hobbins-1
Perrault-1
...that adds up to 123 goals total, the Lakers have 34 games on their schedule (not counting next weeks exhibition) so that would be an average of about 3.6 goals per game..if production like this came to fruition and the Lakers had a goal total similar to these then barring a total collapse in the defense/goaltending department I would have to believe the Lakers would indeed finish up the regular season with a winning record...I don't believe these projections are asking too much from any player in particular although it is hard to guesstimate how the freshmen will be, but by the same token if this team is to have a good season it will need solid production from the new players...It will be interesting to revisit these projections as the season moves along to see how close they actually are to the actual numbers the Lakers put up...
This will serve as my midseason report card of sorts...
The Lakers have played 19 games this season with 14 left in the regular season not counting the canada trip, here's how the team's goal progress compared with the projections...the projections are on the left with the actual goal totals on the right.
Schofield- 18 --7
Acton-14 --2
Nehring-12 --3
Cassiani-12 --3
Monardo-10 --8
Campbell-10 --2
Power-8 --2
Lain-6 --1
Mcparland-6--3
Radke-5 --2
Barczuk-4--1
Jean-4 --1
Stonehouse-3--0
Trotman-3--
4
Cowie-2 --
4
Haines-2 --
3
Bruneteau-1 --0
Sternberg-1 --0
Hobbins-1 --
1
Perrault-1
Those in bold have met or surpassed their goal projections...obviously the "goal" goal total of 123 doesn't looked like it will be reached as the Lakers have only scored 47 this year so these numbers must be tempered a bit, especially when considering the fact that the team has played MUCH better defensively this year thanks in great part to the efforts of Kevin Kapalka....
Here's how i rate the team with letter grades
A:
Kevin Kapalka
Domenic Monardo
Zach Trotman
Matt Cowie
KK has been nothing less than stellar, if someone would have said that after the Lakers finished the 2010 portion of their schedule that KK would not only be the starter but leading the CCHA in save percentage no one would have beleived it...Monardo has had a meteoric rise as the Lakers best offense player this season, scoring some of the prettiest goals i've seen by a Laker...Trotman has lived up to his billing as probably the best defenseman the Lakers have had since Derek Smith and appears the surest bet on this team to make it to the NHL...Cowie has really lived up to his senior status and has been a leader on the blueline, i was skeptical of him at the beginning of the season but thankfully he has proven me wrong..I know many have been critical of the coaching staff's ability to develop players during their time here and although I don't necessarily disagree, Matt Cowie is one that they certainly have done a good job with.
B
Rick Schofield
Will Acton
Kyle Jean
Kyle Haines
Nick McParland
Matt Bruneteau
Andrew Perrault
Schofield has been good although maybe not spectacular, I hope he can have a better second half than his first half, we will need it for a 2nd half push...Acton has been very productive when he hasn't been held out of the lineup by sickness...Jean has the most points of any freshman and has sey up some very nice plays for the Lakers this year...Haines had the 2 goal game at Michigan a week after getting CCHA defenseman of the week honors for the sweep against FSU and has been very consistent...Mcparland has taken a more active role especially in the offensive zone and had a great game tonight, he has had a big impact that was lacking last year, that Bill predicted prior to the season...Bruneteau and Perrault haven't lit up the scoresheet but they have provided steady stay at home defense that has helped the Lakers alot this season.
C
Fred Cassiani
Ben Power
Kyle Radke
Cassiani has played decent 2 way hockey but really needs to start showing up on the scoresheet ...Power has had a bit of a sophomore slump but has had some nice plays of late with the winner in the shootout last week and a goal tonight...Radke has had some nice plays but dissapears at times
D
Colin Campbell
Dan Barczuk
Kellan Lain
Dillon Stonehouse
Nick Shrkeli
Tyson Hobbins
Kyle Pobur
Zach Sternberg
Campbell and Lain have both played well but they receive a D because I feel if this team is to have a great second half we will need these two to capitalize on their skill set in the form of points...Barczuk hasn't played a full slate but has been inconsistent and thus has found himself out of the lineup, he's missing the sparkplug quality that he has contributed to lineup in the past...Stonehouse hasn't really fulfilled his role as a senior in my opinion..he hasn't done much offensively and has made mistakes that he should not be making after 4 years of D1 hockey...Shrekeli has been marginally productive in the games that he has played in, about what I would have expected Hobbins, Pobur, and Sternberg haven't played a ton of games and haven't although they haven't been terrible they haven't produced much either, the lack of playing time and production factors into the grade
F
Brett Wall
Brian Mahoney-Wilson
Wall doesn't contribute much to the lineup...I'm very surprised he has dressed as much as he has quite frankly...The grade for BMW is strictly an on-ice grade, as a 4 year player and basically a 3 year starter he didn't live up to the billing and lost his job, albeit to one of the biggest surprises in the league this year...the way things look he will be the number 2 netminder for the forseeable future...as far as the off-ice goes however, BMW deserves an A because he has been nothing but supportive and has handled this adversity as well as anyone could have, there is more to life then hockey and BMW has proven himself as a quality individual which means more than a pile of wins or a great save percentage ever could.
