CCHA Fan Roundtable

1. In 50 words or less, give a quick overview of your team's season so far. There is a lot of excitement with the Laker team. Former Laker Jim Roque was named the Lakers 9th head coach this summer; he is the second former player to hold the position. Winning is always good too, the Lakers are 3rd in the CCHA, good to see them on the top half of the league. 2. What is the general consensus among fans about your team? (Is your coach a God among men or an incompetent fool that should be attacked by a swarm of bees? Do people at your school even realize that you have a hockey team? etc.) Laker fans are excited to see the Lakers performing so well this season. They have had some bad outings, but they have played much better at time this year than they have in the past few years. 3. What does your team need to do better in the second half to improve? As is a continuing theme with the Lakers scoring is needed. The Lakers really need a couple of guys to step up and score some goals, LSSU hasn’t had a 20 goal scorer since 1996-97. 4. Who is your team's star player and how has his season been going? Again this year the consensus team MVP would be workhorse goaltender Jeff Jakaitis. Jeff is currently ranked ninth in the nation with a 2.09 GAA, and has posted a 908 SV%. 5. Who on your team doesn't receive the credit that he deserves? Junior Defenseman Barnabas Birkeland leads the team with a +5, and is tied for the team lead with 6 assists. 6. Who is your favorite player to watch? Freshman forward Troy Schwab is by far the smallest player on the LSSU roster, but he plays a big game. Schwab currently has 4 goals and 5 assists on the season. 7. Who or what has been the biggest surprise for your team this season? Dominic Osman has returned to the Lakers lineup, and leads the team with 6 goals, after missing all but 12 games last season due to suffering a major back injury. Osman was the Lakers' leading scorer as a freshman in 2003-04. 8. What is going on with your team's goalie situation? Jeff Jakaitis is the goaltending workhorse for the Lakers, baring an injury he will play all the CCHA games. The Lakers brought in Vince Wheeler this fall, he has played in 2 games, Wheeler probably won’t see much playing time until the 2007-08 season. 9. Where do you see your team in 3 months? Not to overlook the Lakers January schedule but they play Michigan, MSU, and NMU in February. If the Lakers can survive Feburary they may have home ice come the CCHA playoffs. The Lakers have shown the can play which every team they have faced, so anything is possible. 10. Who will you be saddest to see leave at the end of the season? The Lakers will be graduating 12 seniors at the end of this year. Captain Steve McJannet has stepped up in his career, he has been asked to play forward and defense while at LSSU and has been one of LSSU’s top scoring defenseman during this time. 11. Who are you most excited about joining your team next season? Current SJHL scoring leader Michael George of the Battleford North Stars is among the recruits who signed a National Letter of Intent to play hockey at LSSU next season. George finished second in the league in scoring last year behind current Laker Troy Schwab. 12. What has been the highlight of the season so far? The Lakers are over .500 against nationally ranked team, including scoring a victory against 2nd ranked Miami. Here is a link to hear what others had to say about their teams: http://westerncollegehockey.blogspot.com/2005/12/college-hockey-roundtable-discussion-1.html