Lakers take Undefeated Streak to South Bend

Lake Superior State University’s (9-5-4, 5-5-2 CCHA) 18th ranked hockey team will play travel to South Bend, Indiana this weekend to take on former coach Jeff Jackson and the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5-10-1, 3-6-1 CCHA). This weekend’s games will take place at the Joyce Center at 7:05 p.m. Saturday and 2:05 p.m. on Sunday. Lake Superior is looking to extend their 6 game unbeaten streak which has seen them go 5-0-1 including 3-0-1 against nationally ranked teams. Notre Dame is coming off a split with Minnesota State, and has won 2 of their last 3 games. Notre Dame has struggled this year, not beating a team with a better than .357 win percentage, the teams they have beaten have a combined record of 17-39-6. The Irish have been averaging 2.75 goals per game this season while also giving up 3.38 goals per game. ND's power play is ranked 8th in the CCHA with a .159 Power Play Percentage, while their penalty kill is ranked 11th in the CCHA with a .789 penalty kill percentage. Notre Dame has also surrendered 4 short handed goals on the season, while only being able to tally 1 themselves. ND is the least penalized team in the league averaging only 15.81 penalty minutes per game. LSSU went 1-12 on the power play last weekend in Bemidji and is currently ranked 5th in the CCHA with a .172 PP%. The Lakers are currently sixth in the CCHA in penalty killing giving up 16 goals in 18 games with a kill rating of .833. The Lakers lead the all-time series against the Irish, 22-16-4, but are 7-10-3 in South Bend. Last season the both games where tied 1-1 after regulation, but Jeff Rainville scored in overtime to give the Lakers the win. Prior to last years win and tie the Lakers had endured a 1-8-1 streak against the Irish. This is the only scheduled meeting of the two teams this season. LSSU goaltender Jeff Jakaitis is currently ranked third in the CCHA with a .918 SV%, and fourth in the CCHA with a 2.02 GAA. The Lakers are ranked second in the CCHA and sixth in the nation with a goals against average of 2.06. LSSU is offensively lead by Trent Campbell with 5 goals and 8 assists, Dominic Osman who has 6 goals and 2 assists, and Jeff Rainville who has 4 goals and 10 points on the season. ND is led offensively by junior Josh Sciba who has 10 goals and 14 points, after finishing last year 6-4-10, freshman Erik Condra, named CCHA rookie of the week on Monday, who has 3 goals and 12 assists on the season, and junior defenseman Wes O'Neill who is 2-11-13 on the season. Jeff Jackson has assigned the majority of Notre Dame’s goaltending responsibilities to junior David Brown who has compiled three wins and 7 losses in 12 games played. Brown has give up 4 goals or more in 4 appearances this season. Also seeing action for ND this year has been freshman Jordan Pearce who has 2 wins and 3 losses in 6 appearances. Pearce has a 3.80 GAA and has also given up 4 goals or more in 4 appearances this season.