Soo BlueLiners Awards Banquet Scheduled

SAULT STE. MARIE - The 24th annual Soo BlueLiners Awards Banquet will be held Saturday, April 15, at the Cisler Center. Tickets for the dinner are $18 per person. Children age 10-and-under will be admitted for free. Registration begins at 5 p.m., followed by dinner at 6 p.m. Tickets must be purchased by April 10. Send RSVPs to BlueLiners, P.O. Box 697, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, 49783. Mike at Laker Hockey Fanz has a posting of his expected trophy winners.

McJannet Presented Terry Flanagan Memorial Award

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. - Lake Superior senior forward Steve McJannet was presented with the Terry Flanagan Memorial Award in recognition of his perseverance, dedication and courage in his battle with Crohn's Disease at the Central Collegiate Hockey Association Banquet on Thursday at Detroit's Fox Theater. The Lakers' captain was a team best +5 this season and led his squad to a sixth-place finish in the standings, their best season since 1999-2000. LSSU junior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis was one of the three finalists for player of the year, was the Lakers' CCHA Scholar-Athlete nominee and was recognized for being the Perani Cup points champion. Nebraska-Omaha junior forward Scott Parse was named the CCHA Player of the Year. LSSU rookie coach Jim Roque was among the coach of the year finalists, awarded to Enrico Blasi after leading Miami to their first regular season CCHA Championship since 1992-93.

LSSU’s Most Prolific Scorer on the Move Again

DENVER – The Colorado Avalanche announced Thursday that it has acquired, Lake Superior State University alumnus Jim Dowd from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for the club’s fourth-round draft choice in the 2006 Entry Draft. Dowd played for Lake Superior from 1987-91, amassing 91 goals and 183 assists, becoming LSSU’s all time scoring leader, in his four seasons wearing the famous anchored jersey. Dowd was named the team MVP for his play in the 1989-90 season in which he scored 25 goals to go with his team record 67 assists, and repeated as MVP in 1990-91 scoring 24 goals and 54 assists. Dowd still owns LSSU career records for assists with 183, points with 274, and games played 181. The 37 year old Dowd, a 6-1, 190-pound forward is a veteran of 571 NHL contests spanning 14 seasons, playing for New Jersey, Vancouver, the New York Islanders, Calgary, Edmonton, Minnesota Wild, Montreal, and Chicago. Dowd has scored 60 goals and 158 assists in his NHL career.

Jakaitis Named to All-Conference First Team

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. - Miami and Nebraska-Omaha each had a pair of players named to the Central Collegiate Hockey Association's First-Team All-Conference squad, marking the second time in three years that Miami has placed two players on the First Team and the first time since 2001 that the Mavericks have had two players on the First Team. Northern Michigan and Lake Superior each had a player named to the First Team. The teams, which include six sophomores, four juniors and two seniors, were selected by a vote of the league's head coaches and are based on performance in league games. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own players. It is the fourth straight year that five or more underclassmen (freshmen and sophomores) made All-Conference. Nebraska-Omaha junior forward Scott Parse, the CCHA's leading scorer with 42 points in conference play, and linemate and sophomore forward Bill Thomas, who led the conference in goals with 21, along with Miami sophomore forward Nathan Davis, were First Team selections up front. Parse was an unanimous pick. Miami junior defenseman Andy Greene, just the sixth player in league history elected to the First Team three times, was also an unanimous selection, while Northern Michigan senior blueliner Nathan Oystrick, a First Team honoree last year, received seven first-place votes. Lake Superior State junior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis, who was the Perani Cup overall Champion, is the first Laker All-Conference honoree since the 1999-2000 campaign. A trio of Miami sophomores, netminder Charlie Effinger, whose 1.85 goals-against average led the CCHA in conference play, defenseman Mitch Ganzak and forward Ryan Jones, were selected to the Second Team. The RedHawk quintet marks just the second time in 15 years that five teammates have earned All-Conference Honors. Two Wolverines earned All-Conference honors for the second straight year, as junior forward T.J. Hensick, a First Team honoree last season, and junior defenseman Matt Hunwick were voted to the Second Team. Bowling Green sophomore forward Alex Foster, who paced the CCHA with 28 assists, was selected to the Second Team, the first Falcon skater to be honored since three players were selected back in 1999. 2005-06 CCHA All-Conference Teams First Team Forward Scott Parse, JR, Nebraska-Omaha Forward Nathan Davis, SO, Miami Forward Bill Thomas, SO, Nebraska-Omaha Defense Andy Greene, SR, Miami Defense Nathan Oystrick, SR, Northern Michigan Goaltender Jeff Jakaitis, JR, Lake Superior

Schwab and Jakaitis Receive Honors

Troy Schwab has been named an honorable mention to the 2005-06 CCHA all rookie team. Schwab appeared in 34 of the Lakers 36 games this season scoring 8 goals to go with his 16 assists, second in the team in scoring to Trent Campbell. All eight of Schwab’s goals came during conference play and all but 4 of Schwab’s assists came during CCHA action. Jeff Jakaitis has been nominated as Lake Superior State University hockey team Scholar-Athlete of the year. The faculty athletic representative at each school, in consultation with the head coach, selected the institution's Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Each school's Scholar-Athlete of the Year serves as the school's nominee for CCHA Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Nominees must have a cumulative GPA of 3.25 through the fall term of the selection year to receive the school's Scholar-Athlete of the Year award. The CCHA Scholar-Athlete of the Year is selected by the 12 faculty representatives, voting is based on a system that awards five points for a first-place vote, three points for a second-place vote and one point for a third place vote.

Roque and Jakaitis up for CCHA honors

FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich. - The Central Collegiate Hockey Association announces the top three finalists of six of the major individual awards that will be presented on Thursday, March 16 at the historic Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit. The RBC Financial Group CCHA Player of the Year nominees include Miami senior defenseman Andy Greene, Lake Superior junior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis and Nebraska-Omaha junior forward Scott Parse. Greene is looking to become the first blueliner since Western Michigan's Wayne Gagne in 1987 to be named the league's best player. Laker netminder Jeff Jakaitis was the only CCHA goalie to start all 28 conference contests and was named a Perani Cup game star in 15 of those 28 tilts. The nation's leading scoring, Scott Parse, opened the season with a 15-game point streak and was the first player in the nation to top both the 50-point and 60-point plateaus. Behind every good team there is a good coach, and the nominees for the CCHA Coach of the Year award helped lead their clubs towards the top of the CCHA. For first-year Lake Superior head coach Jim Roque, he guided his alma mater to their first home-ice playoff berth in six years. MSU bench boss Rick Comley led the Spartans to a 14-7-7 mark and their best finish in his four seasons at the helm in East Lansing. The third finalist is Miami head coach Enrico Blasi. The youngest active coach in Division I hockey, Blasi will be looking to capture his third CCHA Coach of the Year award in seven seasons after guiding the RedHawks to a 16-point improvement in the standings and the first RedHawk regular-season championship since 1992-93. If the saying that "defense win championships" is true, then it is appropriate that upperclassmen from the CCHA's top three regular-season finishers earned the right to be finalists for the CCHA Defensive Forward ofthe Year. All three finalists excelled on the penalty kill, combined for a plus/minus of +32, and were usually matched up against the opposing team's top players as CCHA coaches nominated Miami senior Matt Davis, a converted defenseman, Michigan senior captain Andrew Ebbett and Michigan State junior captain Drew Miller, as the CCHA's top frontline defenders. Northern Michigan senior Nathan Oystrick, last year's Defensive Defenseman of the Year, is looking to repeat as the 'Cats captain is a finalist for the award for the third consecutive campaign. He is joined by Miami captain Andy Greene and Michigan junior Matt Hunwick. Greene led a Miami defense that surrendered just 57 goals in conference action while Hunwick led the Maize and Blue with a +14 rating. Andy Greene will look to become the second two-time champion of the CCHA Offensive Defenseman of the Year as he has been chosen as a finalist for the third consecutive season. The Miami captain led the conference in goals scored by a blueliner with eight, while adding 17 assists, but MSU junior Tyler Howells and Michigan rookie Jack Johnson will look to snare the award away from Greene. Howells placed third among defensemen in conference scoring while Johnson tied for the league lead with 30 points. Every season there are a handful of CCHA freshmen who make everyone around the league forget that they are, indeed, rookies. This season has proven to be no different as a pair of netminders from the first and second seeds join a forward who helped his team improve by 15 points in the CCHA standings. Miami goalie Jeff Zatkoff helped the RedHawks soar to the CCHA regular-season title by posting 11 wins in 14 conference starts and a 2.22 goals-against average. He is joined by Michigan State counterpart Jeff Lerg. The Livonia, Mich., native sparked a Spartans charge to second place in the league with 11 victories during the second half of the season. Joining the two backstops is Notre Dame forward Erik Condra. Condra led the league in rookie scoring and ranked among the Top 10 freshmen scorers in the nation. The CCHA Awards Banquet kicks off the CCHA Championship weekend on Thursday, March 16. The Banquet, an Academy Awards-style event with music videos, video highlights and special awards presentations, is held at the historic Fox Theatre in downtown Detroit, across from Comerica Park. The Banquet begins with a social hour presented by the RBC Financial Group at 7:00 p.m. during which a cash bar will be available and light hors' doeurves will be served. The Awards Program will be at 8:00 p.m. and will last approximately one hour and 20 minutes. Banquet tickets are $15 and can be purchased by calling the CCHA at (248) 888-0600 or at the door the day of the event.

LSSU Knocked of Playoffs in First Round, Again…

The anemic offensive play of Lake Superior State University failed the again, and for the last time this season failing to score a goal for the fifth time this season. LSSU has now lost their past 10 playoff games and are 1-18 dating back to 1997. Lake Superior played Western Michigan to a 0-0 tie through the first two periods of the game. Nathan Ward was forced to commit a tripping penalty, at 13:54 of the third period, after the puck got by Mark Adamek at the blue line to prevent a Western breakaway. Western Michigan’s Mike Erickson was able to score on the ensuing power play, at 14:00, to give WMU the 1-0 lead. Lake State was unable to convert the game tying goal despite peppering WMU goaltender Dan Bellissimo with 6 shots in the final 5 minutes, including 2 of which LSSU was on the power play. With the loss the Lakers say good-bye to seniors Kory Scoran, Alex Dunn, Ren Fauci, Mike Adamek, Nathan Ward, Colin Nicholson, Steve McJannet, B.J. Pelkey, Mark Adamek, Jon Booras, Eric Hill, and Will Ciccone. Please remember to check back to LSSUHockey.com through out the off-season, for all your Lake Superior State University Hockey off season news, including a season synopsis for the 2005-06 season, recruiting news, interviews with the LSSU coaching staff, and previews for the 2006-07 season. Congratulations to the LSSU Hockey team on a historic season, from everyone at LSSU Hockey.com. LSSU Hockey.com would also like to thank Candice Wade for all the great photos that she supplied to us during the 05-06 campaign.

Lakers Extend Winless Streak to Six

The Lake Superior State University hockey team fell 3-2 to the lowly Broncos of Western Michigan University in first round action of the CCHA playoffs, in front of a pathetic hometown crowd of just 1335. LSSU is winless in their last six games and and are now 1-6-2 in their last 9 outings. Lake Superior State got out to an early lead with Trent Campbell scoring his team leading 14th goal of the season at 12:20 of the first period, assists when to Troy Schwab and Matt Wheeler. LSSU was unable to maintain the lead, and gave up the game tying goal to Jason Moul less than two and a half minutes later, at 14:49. The Lakers took the lead again at 5:36 of the second period with Nathan Ward scoring on the power play with assists going to Trent Campbell and Troy Schwab. Western’s Brent Walton tied the game on the power play in the closing minute of the second period, scoring his 24th goal of the season. After a scoreless third period, the Lakers found themselves dominated in overtime by the Broncos. Westerns appeared to win the game when Walton found the back of the net in a scramble in front of the net at 5:58 into the first overtime. The disputed goal was disallowed by referee Stephen McInchak, after much discussion with the linesmen and the goal judge. Western’s Paul Szczechura won the ensuing faceoff over Troy Schwab, and Walton rang a shot off the pipe behind Jeff Jakaitis. Western was able to maintain control of the puck and got two more shots off before Walton found the net behind Jakatis. LSSU out shot Western 34-27 for the game, but the Lakers where only able muster 3 shots in the final 10 minutes of regulation and only 2 shots in overtime. Western was 1 for 5 on the power play while LSSU was 1 for 9 with the extra man registering 16 shots in almost 17 minutes of power play time. Lake Superior has not won a playoff series since the 1995-96 season; Western’s win marks the first time that LSSU has fallen to WMU in post season play. If the Lakers want to extend their season beyond this weekend they need to find a way to shutdown Western’s Brent Walton. History is not on the Lakers side, LSSU has never lost the opening game of the playoff series and came back to win the series.