LSSU opens Playoffs at Home

Lake Superior State Univeristy’s (15-12-7, 11-12-5 CCHA) hockey team will host the Bronco’s from Western Michigan University (8-22-6, 7-16-5 CCHA) this weekend in the opening round of the CCHA playoffs in a best-of-three first-round series beginning at 7:05 p.m. Friday at Taffy Abel Arena. Saturday’s second game and Sunday’s if-necessary game are also set for 7:05 p.m. The home playoff series for the Lakers will mark the first time that Sault Ste. Marie has played host to the CCHA playoffs since the 1999-00 season, when the Lakers where upset by Bowling Green State in a sweep. Lake Superior has not won a playoff series since the 1995-96 season, under Jeff Jackson, when they swept Ohio State before eventually falling to Michigan in the CCHA finals. For LSSU to advance in the CCHA finals they will have to beat a Western Michigan team that they have already beat four times this season. LSSU beat WMU 10-0 and 3-1 on Nov. 4-5 in Kalamazoo, and won 6-1 and 4-0 Jan. 6-7 in Sault Ste. Marie. The last time that LSSU beat a team six times in one season was in the 1984-85 season when the Lakers beat the University of Michigan 6 times, including a sweep in the CCHA playoffs. Lake State is 4-0 in post season play against Western Michigan, to go along with their 64-37-11 all time series record. The Lakers’ have statistically played their best hockey against WMU this season. One third of the Lakers leading scorer junior Trent Campbell’s points came at the expense of the Bronco’s this season, he scored 4 of his 13 goals this season against WMU and recorded 4 of this 11 assists. Freshman Troy Schwab posted similar numbers with half (4) of his eight goals coming at the expense of WMU, and 7 of this 22 points. Junior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis has posted, two shutouts, a 0.50 goals-against average; letting in just 2 goals in four games; and .980 save percentage against the Broncos this season. Western Michigan shocked the CCHA by taking 3 points last weekend by beating Nebraska-Omaha to avoid last place in the CCHA. The Bronco’s strong play last weekend prevented Scott Parse, arguably the best player in college hockey from posting more than 2 points, both assists, on the weekend. The Mavericks’ loss dropped them into fifth place in the CCHA, and gave Northern Michigan a first-round bye along with Miami, Michigan State and Michigan. The other first-round CCHA series this weekend include Bowling Green at UNO, Ohio State at Ferris State and a rematch of last weekend’s Alaska Fairbanks at Notre Dame series. Western has struggled mightily this season only wining 7 games in conference and not winning going 1-11-2 on the road in CCHA games. Western has been able to record wins this season via a sweep over Ohio State and plus posting wins over Michigan State, Northern Michigan, and Nebraska-Omaha, four teams that LSSU has gone 0-8-2 against this season. Western Michigan is 2-1-2 in their last 5 games while LSSU has gone 0-4-1 in their last five, and 1-5-2 in their last eight games. Western Michigan is led offensively by Senior forward Brent Walton who has scored 23 goals and 38 points, while appearing in all of Western’s 36 contests this season. Junior Paul Szczechura has recorded 10 goals and 33 points this season. Sophomore goaltender Dan Bellissimo has appeared in 34 of Western’s 36 contests this season, posting a .877 Saves Percentage, and a 3.83 goals against average.

Lakers will play host to WMU for first round of CCHA Playoffs

FARMINGTON HILLS - The Central Collegiate Hockey Association's fuzzy playoff picture finally came into focus after Saturday's final night of regular-season action. Coming off its 2-2 tie with second-place Michigan State, Lake Superior State finished sixth in the regular-season standings and earned home ice for the first round of the playoffs since the 1999-00 season. The Lakers (15-12-7 overall, 11-12-5 CCHA) will play host to Western Michigan in a best-of-three series beginning Friday at Taffy Abel Ice Arena. The starting time for Friday's game is still pending, but will be either 7:05 p.m. or 7:35 p.m. Saturday's contest and Sunday's if-necessary game will begin at 7:05 p.m. Miami, Michigan State, Michigan and Northern Michigan finished first through fourth, respectively, and will receive first-round byes. In other first-round action, it will be Bowling Green at Nebraska-Omaha, Ohio State at Ferris State, and Alaska Fairbanks and Notre Dame. Tickets for this weekend's series at LSSU are $10 for adults, $3 for LSSU students and $5.50 for all children age 17 and under. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday at the Norris Center Ticket Office. All season-ticket holders and LSSU students with the athletics pass must purchase tickets. Season-ticket holders' seats will be held through Thursday.

Jakaitis wins the Perani Cup

With 53 points in the Perani Cup standings Lake Superior State University goaltender Jeff Jakaitis has won the 2005-06 Perani Cup. Jakatis recorded 7 first star, 5 second star, and 3 third star honors in 28 games played this season. Perani Cup points are accumulated through out the regular season by players being named one of the three stars in each game that they play. The Perani Cup Three Star Award is given to the player from each school who earns the most points throughout the season each time they are named a “star of the game” (5 points for 1st star, 3 points for 2nd star and 1 point for 3rd star). Past winners of the Perani Cup are: 2004-05 Jordan Sigalet, BGSU, G 2003-04 Craig Kowalski, NMU, G 2002-03 Mike Brown, FSU, G 2001-02 Dan Ellis, UNO, G 2000-01 Ryan Miller, MSU, G Other Lakers with cup points Trent Campbell, Jr., F 18 Colin Nicholson, Sr., F 16 Steve McJannet, Sr., F 10 Nathan Ward, Sr., F 9

Lakers Skate to 2-2 tie and 6th place in the CCHA

Lake Superior State battled back in front of 8000 fans at the Joe Louis Arena on Saturday afternoon to secure home ice in the first round of the CCHA playoffs. Trent Campbell opened up the scoring for the Lakers with his team leading 13th goal of the season at 9:11 of the first period, with assists going to Nathan Ward and Troy Schwab. Michigan State was able to maintain momentum for much of the first two periods surrendering 26 shots while only recording 9 shots themselves. Junior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis made several spectacular saves to keep the Lakers lead at one. Michigan State’s Colton Fretter was able to tie the game at 1-1 when he knocked in the free puck during a scramble in front of the Laker net. MSU’s Drew Miller scored what appeared to be the game winning goal on the power play at 12:29 of the third period after the Lakers again failed to clear the puck from the net. Eight seconds after Miller’s goal Dan Eves skated in on MSU goaltender Jeff Lerg after Jeff Rainville won the ensuing faceoff and roofed the puck in to tie the game at 2-2. Referee Mark Wilkens swallowed his whistle after the Lakers scored the game tying goal, preventing LSSU from going on the power play despite two obvious interference-holding penalties committed on Schwab and Rainville in the last five minutes of the game. Coach Jim Roque declined to comment on the officiating after the game, referencing a fine imposed on him by the CCHA earlier in the season. Neither team was able to score again in the third period nor in the overtime period. Thanks to wins by Alaska Fairbanks and Northern Michigan the Lakers finished in 6th place in the in the CCHA and will host Western Michigan, Friday night at the Taffy Abel Arena. Coach Roque said the being home for the first round of the playoffs “would be good for us, because we have been on the bus every weekend in February… it would really help us to be home one weekend to get the juice back.”

CCHA Tournament Seeding tie Breaking Procedure

The team accumulating the greatest number of points in regular season CCHA contests shall be given the higher seed in the CCHA playoffs. If two or more teams are tied for points positions for the CCHA Tournament shall be determined, according to the following procedure: a) The recipient of the higher seed in the CCHA Tournament shall be determined by the greater number of CCHA regular-season wins; b) If not determined by (a) the recipient of the higher seed in the CCHA Tournament shall be the team with the best regular-season winning percentage against the other tied teams; c) If not determined by (a) or (b) the recipient of the higher seed in the CCHA Tournament shall be determined by comparison of total goals for and against each team in contests between tied teams in regular season play; d) If not determined by (a) or (b) or (c), recipient of the higher seed in the CCHA Tournament shall be determined by comparison of the winning percentages of tied teams against the remaining highest ranked CCHA teams, successively, until the determination is accomplished or all CCHA regular-season contests have been considered; e) If not determined by (a) or (b) or (c) or (d) the recipient of the higher seed in the CCHA Tournament shall be determined by the flip of a coin. In the case of ties among three or more schools, the criteria will be used in order until a team, or teams, is separated from the pack. At that point, the process will begin anew to break the “new” tie. In other words, when a four-way tie becomes a three-way tie, the three-way tie is treated as a “new” tie and the process begins with the first criterion. The CCHA Tournament Championship Team will receive an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

LSSU drops opener to MSU

All twelve seniors for LSSU suited up for Thursday nights contest against Michigan State, as MSU’s dominance over LSSU continued, MSU is now 23-2-4 in their last 29 games against LSSU. Lake Superior State fell behind early when MSU’s Chris Mueller scored an even strength goal at 1:43 of the first period. Despite dominating the first period, putting up 11 shots to Michigan State’s 3 shots, LSSU was unable to get a shot past freshman goaltender Jeff Lerg. LSSU scoring leader Trent Campbell was able to tie the game at 1-1 when he scored a four on three power play goal at 6:40 of the second period with assists going to Alex Dunn and Derek A. Smith. A lapse in defense in the 12th minute of the second period saw the Lakers let the game get away from them when they fell behind 3-1 with Bryan Lerg and Drew Miller scoring goals 23 seconds apart. Lerg’s goal came on the power play at 12:12 of the second with Miller’s even strength goal coming at 12:35. Nathan Ward was able to score a short handed goal at 13:37 of the third period, with Campbell assisting, to pull the Lakers within 1 goal. LSSU goalie Jeff Jakaitis was pulled with 1:20 remaining in the game but the Lakers where unable to capitalize with the sixth attacker. MSU went 1 for 5 on the power play while LSSU was able to connect on 1 of their 7 opportunities. LSSU also out shot MSU 30-22 Both teams head to Detroit for Saturday afternoon’s game at the Joe Louis Arena. MSU has a first round bye locked up for the CCHA playoffs while LSSU is trying to hold on to a home playoff series next weekend, that they have seen slipping from their hands the past four weeks.

LSSU Prepares to bring CCHA Season to a Close

Lake Superior State University (15-11-6, 11-11-4 CCHA) will be concluding CCHA regular season schedule this week with a home-and-Joe series against Michigan State University (19-10-7, 13-7-6 CCHA). LSSU has struggled mightily in February, compiling a 1-4-1 record; including 3 straight losses; against Nebraska-Omaha, Michigan, and Northern Michigan. Lake Superior has found themselves fall from second in the CCHA to sixth with only 2 points separating them from 10th place. Michigan State has come on strong since the first of the year going 11-2-2, including 5 straight wins including a sweep of Miami University last weekend. LSSU trails the all-time series, 29-58-9, including 2-22-4 in their past 28 games including 1-2-0 at the Joe Louis Arena. This week’s match up will pit two strong defensive teams against another, LSSU’s D is ranked 10th nationally, while MSU’s is ranked 11th. The challenge for LSSU will be to slow down MSU’s offense. The Spartan’s offense has decent this season averaging 3.00 goals per game, sixth in the CCHA, while allowing just 2.36 goals per game, ranking them 11th in the nation. The Lakers are currently averaging just 2.72 goals per game this season, 8th in the CCHA, while allowing only 2.34 goals per game, ranking them 10th in the nation. MSU's power play is ranked 3rd in the CCHA connecting .186 percent of the time giving them an average of 1.19 power play goals per game. The Spartan penalty kill is ranked 7th in the CCHA with a .833 penalty kill percentage, and they are the third least penalized team in the CCHA averaging 16.69 minutes per game. The Lakers power play mean while is ranked 5th in the CCHA scoring a goal 17.9% of the time, 35 goals in 195 opportunities. The Lakers penalty kill is ranked 8th in the CCHA, allowing 29 goals in 167 opportunities, for a .826 penalty kill percentage. LSSU is also the least penalized team in the CCHA averaging only 15.62 minutes in the box each game. Michigan State is lead offensively by, Bryan Lerg, Drew Miller and Tyler Howells Freshman Jeff Lerg, Bryan’s cousin, has established himself as the number one goalie after and Junior Dominic Vicari struggled in December. Brian Lerg is leading the team with 12 goals and 33 assists, while Miller and Howells each have 21 assists and 32 and 31 points respectively. MSU has 8 players with 20 or more points and freshman Justin Abdelkader with 19 points going into this weekend. Jeff Lerg has played in 22 of MSU’s 36 contests this season posting an 11-4-5 record with a 1.99 GGA, sixth nationally, and .927 save percentage, eighth nationally. LSSU is lead by junior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis with his NCAA 15th ranked 2.23 goals against average, and 19th in the nation with a 0.919 save percentage. Jakaitis and the Laker defense has struggled in their last six games, with the team going 1-4-1 in these games, and Jakaitis posting a 4.00 GAA and .878 save percentage. The Lakers offensive leaders are Trent Campbell and freshman Troy Schwab, Campbell has amassed 11 goals and 21 points this season appearing in all 32 of LSSU's games, while Schwab has 13 assists and 21 points in 20 games this season. They are the only Lakers with more than 20 points on the season, Dominic Osman and Nathan Ward are looking to joint the 20 point club this weekend with 18 and 19 points respectively.

LSSU Falls to Middle of the CCHA pack

Lake Superior State's hopes for a top-four finish in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association were all but dashed by Upper Peninsula rival Northern Michigan, which polished off its four-game sweep of the Lakers with a 5-1 win Saturday at the Berry Events Center. NMU (18-4-2 overall, 12-12-2 CCHA), which also won Friday's game in Sault Ste. Marie, 4-3 in overtime, scored four unanswered goals after Laker Troy Schwab tied it 1-1 at 4:08 of the second period. The Lakers, who went into the game in fifth place in the CCHA standings, dropped to 15-11-6 overall and 11-11-4 in the league. Mike Santorelli gave NMU a 1-0 lead at 14:38 of the first period. After Schwab tied it with a second-period power-play goal, Wilcats Nathan Oystrick, Matt Siddall, Santorelli and Nick Sirota scored four goals in a 7:26 span. NMU, which has a seven-game win streak against LSSU, moved into a fifth-place tie with the Lakers in the CCHA standings. Ferris State, which tied with Ohio State as of press time, had a chance to make it a three-way deadlock. The one positive note was that fourth-place Nebraska-Omaha was trailing third-place Michigan, 4-2. Michigan State won 3-1 on Saturday and improved its second-place standing by handing league leader Miami its first sweep of the season. LSSU goaltender Jeff Jakaitis totaled 18 saves through two periods and was replaced by senior Willie Ciccone in the third period. Ciccone had one save as the Lakers shut out NMU in the third period. NMU goaltender Bill Zaniboni stopped 23 of 24 shots on goal. The Lakers play host to Michigan State at 7:35 p.m. on Thursday at Taffy Abel Arena, then travel to the Joe Louis Arena to face off against the Spartains on Saturday afternoon, there is currently only 2 points seperating LSSU from 10th place in the CCHA.

Laker Comeback Falls Short

The 19th-ranked Lake Superior State hockey team battled back from a 3-1 deficit only to lose 4-3 with 55 seconds remaining in overtime to Upper Peninsula nemesis Northern Michigan on Friday at Taffy Abel Arena. NMU (17-14-2 overall, 11-12-2 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) extended its win streak against LSSU to six games when Darin Olver forced a turnover right in front of Laker goaltender Jeff Jakaitis and chipped in the game-winner. Earlier in the overtime period, Wildcat goalie Bill Zaniboni stopped two point-blank shots by Laker defenseman Kory Scoran. LSSU took a 1-0 lead at 1:00 of the first period on a goal by Matt Restoule, but NMU came back with three straight goals. The Wildcats' 3-1 lead stood until Laker Dominic Osman scored a power-play goal at 12:01 of the second period. Colin Nicholson tied it 3-3 with a short-handed goal at 11:41 of the third period. Alex Dunn, in the lineup for the first time second suffering a shoulder injury in December, drew an assist on Restoule's goal along with Troy Schwab. Dan Eves and Jason Miller assisted on Osman's goal, while Nicholson's goal was unassisted. LSSU (15-10-6 overall, 11-10-4 CCHA) finished 1-for-7 on the power play, while NMU was 0-for-3. Jakaitis totaled 30 saves, and Zaniboni finished with 32. Dirk Southern, Nick Sirota and Nathan Sigmund scored NMU's goals. Sigmund also had an assist for the night. The Lakers and Wildcats play Game 2 of this weekend's series at 7:35 p.m. Saturday at the Berry Events Center in Marquette.

Grahame to Start for Team USA

Lake Superior State University alumnus John Grahame (1994-97) has been named the starting goaltender for the United States Olympic team for Wednesday’s opener against Latvia. Grahame was not even invited to the Olympic orientation camp in September, but was named to the team after Ryan Miller was sidelined much of the first half of the NHL season with a broken thumb. USA head coach Peter Laviolette and general manager Don Waddell have said that player performance during the first half of the NHL season would determine the makeup of the team and determine who plays during the Olympics. Grahame has posted a 22-15-1 record, 2.68 goals-against-average, and .904 save percentage this season. Grahame also was one of two American players who made it to Italy on Monday, with the rest of the team not arriving in Torino until Tuesday. Grahame has also recorded a 7-2 record in January including 4 shutouts, and a 1.86 GAA and .934 SV%.

Lake Superior to play NMU in Home-and-Home

Lake Superior State University (15-9-6, 11-9-4 CCHA), who split with the University of Michigan last weekend in Ann Arbor will play a home and home series with Northern Michigan University (16-14-2, 10-12-2 CCHA). NMU is coming off of being swept in Omaha last weekend, who had swept LSSU the previous weekend. LSSU will start the weekend at home, and then travel to Marquette to finish off the home-and-home series at the Berry Events Center LSSU has lost their last five games to NMU, and have not won the season series since the 1999-2000 season, going 4-15-3 since then. LSSU trails the all-time series, 23-47-7, including a terrible 8-28-3 record in Marquette and 15-19-4 record at home. LSSU lost to NMU 3-1 and 2-1 earlier this season. This weekend's match-up will pit two closely matched teams against one another. Northern Michigan's offense has been ordinary this season averaging 2.81 goals per game, seventh in the CCHA, while allowing 2.69 goals per game, ranking them 5th in the CCHA. The Lakers are currently averaging 2.77 goals per game this season, 8th in the CCHA, while allowing only 2.20 goals per game, ranking them 6th in the nation. NMU's power play is ranked 10th in the CCHA connecting only .152 percent of the time giving them an average of .94 power play goals per game. The Wildcats penalty kill is ranked 4th in the CCHA with a .854 penalty kill percentage, and they are the 7th most penalized team in the CCHA averaging 21 minutes per game. The Lakers power play mean while is ranked 5th in the CCHA scoring a goal 18.0% of the time, 33 goals in 183 opportunities. The Lakers penalty kill is ranked 7th in the CCHA, allowing 26 goals in 158 opportunities, for a .835 penalty kill percentage. LSSU is also the least penalized team in the CCHA averaging only 15.93 minutes in the box each game. Michigan is offensively lead by, Dirk Southern and Daren Oliver, and former Laker Andrew Contois while former Soo Indian goaltender Bill Zaniboni has played in 26 of NMU games posting 12 wins with a 2.37 Goals Against Average and .913 Save Percentage. Southern has posted 10 goals and 30 points this season, while Contois is leading NMU with 13 goals (25 Points), and Oliver has 12 goals and 26 points this season. LSSU is lead by junior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis with his NCAA 9th ranked 2.05 goals against average, and 13th in the nation with a 0.924 save percentage. The Lakers offensive leader is Trent Campbell who has amassed 11 goals and 21 points this season appearing in all 30 of LSSU's games. LSSU has 8 players with 5 or more goals this season and 5 players with 10 or more assists.

LSSU Settles for Split in Ann Arbor

Bad bounces for the Lakers early in the game cost the Lake Superior State University a sweep over the University of Michigan on Saturday night. The University of Michigan jumped out to an early lead with Brandon Kaleniecki throwing the puck toward the net during a scramble for the puck early in the first period (3:49); the puck hit Laker goaltender Jeff Jakaitis in the leg and bounced into the net. Midway through the period (11:42) Kaleniecki found himself with the puck right in front of Jakaitis again, this time Kaleniecki’s tripped over his own stick sending him airborne, on his way to the ground he was able to shuffle the puck toward the Laker goal where it slipped by Jakaitis to give the Wolverines a 2-0 lead. Andrew Ebbertt added insult to injury, at 14:28, by whizzing a 60 foot slap shot past the Laker goaltender to give U of M the 3-0 lead. All three goals where goals that Jakaitis should have stopped and would probably like to have back. Michigan extended it lead to 4-0 with nice passing on the rush finding Tyler Swystun shooting the puck at an open net, at 17:31 of the first period. Lake Superior State battled back, getting 7 shots in the second half of the first period, after not having any shots for nearly the first 11 minutes. With less than 2 minutes remaining in the period Laker Captain Steve McJannet speed into the offensive zone and guided a pass across ice Kory Scoran who found the net behind Michigan goaltender Noah Ruden to get LSSU on the board at 18:29, the other assist went to Jeff Rainville. 34 seconds later Laker Dan Eves backhanded in his 6th goal of the season to cut the lead to 4 to 2, assists went to Derek R. Smith and Nathan Ward. Jim Roque pulled Jakaitis with less than 2 minutes to go in the game but LSSU was unable to mount a substantial offensive attack and fell to U of M 4-2. For the second night in a row Lake Superior went 0 for 2 on the power play while Michigan went 0-4 with the extra man. The Lakers return home Friday, Feb. 17, when they will face Northern Michigan. Then Lakers will travel to Marquette to play the Wildcats Saturday night the 18th. Photo courtesy of www.mgoblue.com

LSSU tops Michigan in Overtime Play

Lake Superior State University was able to rally from behind to beat the University of Michigan Friday night to snap a 10 game losing streak against U of M, including 6 in a row at Yost Ice Arena. The Lakers silenced the 6740 in attendance at Yost with Laker Captain Steve McJannet scoring his 6th goal of the season at 6:28 of the first period with assists going to Jeff Rainville and Kory Scoran. The University of Michigan countered with goals at 10:40 and 12:52 of the period by Jason Dest and T.J Hensick to give the Wolverines the 2-1 lead heading into the locker rooms after the first period. Trent Campbell was able to tie the game at 2-2 with a goal midway through the second period (9:19), his 11th of the season, off of a sweet pass from Troy Schwab, the other assist went to Dominic Osman. LSSU was able to control the flow of play for much of the third period putting 11 shots on goal and holding Michigan to just 8 shots, neither team was able to connect on the go ahead goal in the third period. Three minutes into an evenly played overtime period McJannet was able to notch his second goal of the game with Michigan goaltender Noah Ruden just able to get a piece of the puck as it headed into the net. Kory Scoran picked up the sole assist on the game wining goal. LSSU was able to maintain a slight, 55% (41 to 33), faceoff advantage over the Wolverines. Lake Superior went 0 for 2 on the power play while Michigan went 0-4 with the extra man. Referee Steve Piotrowski did not call any penalties after the second period. The win gives the Lakers their second win of the season when committing more penalties than their opponent (Bowling Green 27 Jan). Photo courtesy of Simone Shetler

Jason Blain to Skate for LSSU

Sault Ste Marie native Jason Blain, formally of Northeastern University in Boston, has enrolled in school at Lake Superior State University and will suit up for the Lakers starting in the second semester of the 2006-07 season. Blain was voted Northeastern’s Rookie of the Year in 2004-05 after playing in 34 of 38 games. Blain is a defensive forward that NU utilized on the penalty-kill and for key faceoffs. Blain recorded two assists in his freshman year and had recorded 1 assist in the 13 games he played for Northeastern this season. Prior to playing at Northeastern Blain for the Soo Indians under current LSSU assistant coach Joe Shawhan scoring 13 goals and 45 assists in the 2003-04 season. Blain played for the Bozeman Icedogs of the America West Hockey League from 2000-03 serving as captain in the 2002-03 season. Blain scored 46 goals and 57 assists in his three seasons. He was named the team’s Best Defensive Forward in 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. Blain had committed to Harvard but the school team was unable to get him through the admissions process before the closing deadline.

LSSU Starts February Swing

Lake Superior State University (14-8-6, 10-8-4 CCHA), who after a poor performance against the University of Nebraska-Omaha last weekend saw their national ranking slip to 19th will travel to Ann Arbor this weekend to take on 7th ranked University of Michigan (16-10-3, 11-7-3 CCHA). LSSU is 4-6-3 on the road this season while U of M is 11-4-1 in the unfriendly confines of Yost Ice Arena. LSSU is coming off of a disastrous weekend in Omaha while Michigan is coming back off a split against Ohio State and plays Western Michigan Tuesday night in Kalamazoo. Lake Superior State University has an all time record against Michigan of 44-47-6 including a 4-16-0 record in their past 20 meetings, dating back to 1999. Lake Superior has struggled against teams above .500 this season going 3-7-6 in these games, but have a record of 11-1-0 against teams below .500. Michigan offense has been spectacular this season averaging 3.79 goals per game, first in the CCHA and 3rd in the nation. U or M's power play is connecting at an amazing .209 percentage giving them an average of 1.45 power play goals per game, both tops in the CCHA. U of M's penalty kill is ranked 6th in the CCHA with a .837 penalty kill percentage, and they are the most penalized team in the CCHA averaging 23.86 minutes per game. U of M is currently allowing 3.00 goals per game, ranking them 9th in the CCHA. The Lakers power play is ranked 3nd in the CCHA scoring a goal 18.4% of the time, 33 goals in 179 opportunities. The Lakers penalty kill is ranked 8th in the CCHA, allowing 26 goals in 150 opportunities, for a .827 penalty kill percentage. The Lakers are averaging 2.79 goals per game this season while allowing only 2.14 goals per game, ranked 7th in the nation. Michigan is offensively lead by, T.J. Hensick and Kevin Porter, while Freshman Billy Sauer has played goal in 21 of Michigan's 29 games. Hensick has 11 goals and 28 assists this season for 39 points, Porter has 14 goals and 27 points in 27 games this season. Sauer has recorded a .898 SV% and a 3.01 Goals Against Average. Michigan's defense is lead by Ann Arbor native Jack Johnson who was selected #3 overall in last years NHL draft by the Carolina Hurricanes, Johnson made himself a household name with his physical play at the World Juniors in December. There is a chance this will be Johnson' only season at Michigan. LSSU is lead by junior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis with his NCAA 8th ranked 1.99 goals against average, and 11th in the nation with a 0.926 save percentage. Jakaitis is also ranked fourth in the nation with 1601:17 minutes played this season. The Lakers offensive leader is Trent Campbell who has amassed 10 goals and 20 points this season.

Lakers Salvage One Point on the Weekend

After a devastating 8-0 loss on Friday night the Lakers came out flying looking to split the weekend series against the University of Nebraska-Omaha. LSSU jumped out to an early lead with Kory Scoran connecting on the power play just 3:14 into the first period, with assists going to Troy Schwab and Steve McJannet. UNO’s Adam Bartholomay tied the game at 1-1 midway through the first period (10:51). The Lakers where able to regain the lead at 15:03 of the first period with Trent Campbell scoring his 10th goal of the season, with Colin Nicholson picking up the assist. Hobey Baker hopeful Scott Parse scored his 3rd goal of the weekend at 8:12 of the second period, marking the second time in the game that the Lakers were unable to maintain the lead. LSSU was out shot by UNO 40-32, including 18-9 in the third period and overtime. The Lakers have lost a game in which they have lead this season 14-1-5, the Lakers have failed to maintain a lead 16 times this season in 10 games, resulting in a 4-2-4 record in these games. The Lakers travel to Ann Arbor this weekend for the first meeting of the season against the University of Michigan, on February 10th and 11th. Saturday’s game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Detroit.

Lakers Sink back to Earth

Lake Superior State was unable to mount an offensive attack against the University Nebraska-Omaha Friday night, nor was their defense able to contain the Maverick’s high flying offense. The Lakers fell behind early giving up a power play goal to UNO’s Alex Nikiforuk just 2:59 into the game. The Lakers then gave up goals to Bill Thomas and Scott Parse before heading to the locker room down 3-0 at the end of the first period. LSSU was only able to get 5 shots in the first period. The Lakers where able to slow down the UNO attack in the second period but they still surrendered two goals. Thomas picked up his second of the game at 5:28, and Micah Sanford scored his first of the season. Head Coach Jim Roque pulled Jeff Jakaitis after the second period, after giving up 5 goals on 23 shots, marking the second time this season that Jakaitis has been pulled early from a game. Freshman goaltender Vince Wheeler saw action for the 3rd time this season; he faced 14 UNO shots in the third period and gave up goals to Nenad Gajic, Brandon Scero and Parse. The 8-0 loss is the worst loss for the Lakers since losing to Michigan State by the same score in January of 2005. LSSU surrendered 4 power play goals on 14 shots, in 6 opportunities. LSSU was only able to muster 4 shots in their 6 opportunities.