Lakers Take Two Points from Nebraska-Omaha

Lake Superior State University’s hockey team was able to able to pick up their first two points in league play in Omaha, Nebraska over the weekend. On Friday night LSSU weather the Nebraska-Omaha Maverick storm with LSSU goaltender Pat Inglis facing 37 shots in the game while LSSU was only able to muster 15 shots. After a scoreless first period Steven Kaunisto scored his third goal of the season with a slap shot from the blue line, at 5:21 of the second period, to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead, Josh Sim and Troy Schwab had the assists on the power play goal. After taking the 1-0 lead into the locker room after 2 periods LSSU gave up a power play goal to UNO’s Tomas Klempa less than one minute into the third period. Neither team was able to scored a goal in the extra period, resulting in a 1-1 tie, and giving LSSU their first CCHA point of the season. LSSU’s goaltender Pat Inglis recorded 36 saves on the 37 shots he faced, while the Lakers were able to get one of their 15 shots past UNO goaltender Jerad Kaufmann. Both teams went 1-for-4 on the power play on the night. LSSU’s leading scorer Nathan Perkovich did not play Friday night, the Omaha World-Herald reported that he, “tore a knee ligament in the morning skatearound.” While conflicting reports have said that he missed the game due to suffering from the flu. Saturday night saw a much better outing from the Laker’s skaters who battled back from one goal deficits twice before settling for their second tie in consecutive nights. LSSU fell behind early in the first period with LSSU’s Brian Mahoney-Wilson giving up a power play goal to UNO’s Joey Martin at 5:12 of the first period. The Lakers where able to battle back with Simon Gysbers scoring his second goal of the season at 6:10 of the second period, with assists going to Tyson Hobbins and Jason Blain. UNO was able to regain the 1-2 lead after scoring a second power play goal of the game at 9:09 of the second period, but the Lakers where able to battle back again with Perkovich scoring on the power play, his 10th goal of the season, with only 8 second remaining in the second period, Troy Schwab received the only assist on the goal. LSSU was able to take their first lead of the game at 5:38 of the third period with Will Acton scoring his first collegiate goal, tipping in a shot from Matt Cowie; Perkovich got the other assist on the goal. UNO’s Dan Charleston tied the game up at 3-3 at 14:38 of the third period. Neither team was able to capitalize in overtime for the second night in a row despite a shot from Zac MacVoy making its way past UNO goaltender Jerad Kaufmann and toward the goal before Kaufmann was able to recover and know the puck safely away from the goal. Mahoney-Wilson made 33 saves on the 36 shots he faced while Kaufmann recorded 29 saves on the 32 Laker shots he faced. LSSU went 1-for-5 on the power play (2-for-9 on the weekend), while UNO scored two power play goals on their 3 opportunities (going 3-for-7 on the weekend). Lake Superior is off the next three weeks before heading to Michigan State University on January 4th and 5th. The Lakers are still in search of their first win in CCHA action.

LSSU Looks to Earn CCHA Points in Final Series of 2007

The Lake Superior State hockey team closes out the 2007 portion of the season with a road trip to Nebraska-Omaha. The Lakers (2-11-1 overall, 0-8-0 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) play the Mavericks (5-7-1 overall, 4-7-1 CCHA) at 8:05 p.m. ET on Friday and Saturday at the Qwest Center in Omaha. Both games will be broadcast live on Rock 101 FM and simulcast on www.lssulakers.com. Although UNO has nine points in the conference standings so far this season, the Lakers and Mavs have had similar fates against common opponents. Both teams were swept by third-ranked Michigan at home and by sixth-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend. Otherwise, UNO lost twice to top-ranked Miami during its season opener, swept Ohio State, split with Ferris State and took three of four points from Alaska. LSSU is coming off 3-2 and 5-2 home losses to fifth-ranked Michigan State, which was the Lakers’ sixth nationally-ranked opponent in eight weeks. Although MSU extended LSSU’s losing streak to eight games, the Lakers played an outstanding game against the Spartans on Friday and played even with them through about 45 minutes on Saturday. LSSU sophomore Nathan Perkovich snapped out of his four-game goal-scoring drought and tallied a goal in both games over the weekend. Freshman Rick Schofield also had a goal both nights, and junior Troy Schwab was 0-3—3 for the series. LSSU was 2-for-8 on the power play after finishing 0-for-15 the previous week against Michigan. LSSU senior Dan Eves, who leads the Lakers in points with 4-6—10, had a goal and two assists when the Lakers took three of four points from UNO last year in the Sault. Perkovich, who is second in scoring with 9-0—9 and tied for fifth in the CCHA in power-play goals with five, added two goals last year. Lake State is 1-0-2 in its last three games against the Mavs, but has not won in Omaha since Dec. 9, 2004. UNO is led by senior forwards Bryan Marshall (3-13—16, CCHA assist leader), Mick Lawrence (8-3—11) and Brandon Scero (5-5—10), and junior forward Dan Charleston (5-6—11). The Mavs have been using three goaltenders: junior Jerad Kaufman (2.91, .882), senior Eric Aarnio (2.94, .871) and sophomore Jeremie Dupont (4.99, .796). Following this weekend’s series, the Lakers will be off until Jan. 4-5 when they travel to Michigan State. Their next home series is Jan. 11-12 against Bowling Green State.

Lakers Losing Skid Reaches 7 Games

On Friday night, LSSU failed to score during a five-minute power play late in the third period, but cut a two-goal MSU lead in half when Rick Schofield scored at 19:41 with goalie Brian Mahoney-Wilson out of the net and an extra attacker on the ice. Troy Schwab and Matt Cowie drew the assists. Mahoney-Wilson stayed on the bench during the final 19 seconds, but this time the Lakers (2-10-1 overall, 0-7-0 CCHA) couldn't muster a game-tying goal. Michigan State (9-3-2 overall, 5-2-0 CCHA) jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period on power play goals by Bryan Lerg at 14:06 and Chris Mueller at 19:52. Spartan Michael Ratchuk assisted on both goals. MSU's Nick Sucharski made it 3-0 with an even-strength goal at 3:16 of the second period, while Matt Schepke picked up his second assist of the game. LSSU goal-scoring leader Nathan Perkovich tallied his eighth goal of the season at 10:39 of the second period during a Laker power play. He chipped in a rebound off Steven Kaunisto's initial shot, and Carter Lee drew an assist for his first point as a Laker. The Lakers' play during the final 40 minutes was their best second and third-period performance in five games. They out-scored the Spartans 2-1 and out-shot them, 21-11. Mahoney-Wilson totaled 19 saves, including nine in the first period and 10 during the final 40 minutes. MSU goaltender Jeff Lerg totaled 25 saves, including 12 in the second period and seven in the third. The Lakers were 1-for-4 on the power play, while MSU was 2-for-5. Saturday night, Michigan State's Michael Ratchuk scored the game's first goal at 17:34 of the first period. LSSU freshman Rick Schofield tied it, 1-1, with a power-play goal at 7:01 of the second period. Zac MacVoy and Simon Gysbers drew assists. MSU's Tim Crowder scored a power-play goal at 10:01 of the middle stanza, but Laker Nathan Perkovich answered with an even-strength goal 35 seconds later. Dillin Stonehouse and Troy Schwab assisted on Perkovich's ninth goal of the season and second of the series. MSU's Tim Kennedy scored the game-winner at 15:02 of the second period. Bryan Lerg's goals were scored at 2:32 and 11:39 of the third period. Matt Schepke assisted on both Lerg goals. MSU goaltender Jeff Lerg totaled 24 saves, while Pat Inglis had 36 saves for the Lakers in his first action in the past 14 days. The Spartans were 2-for-8 on the power play, and LSSU was 1-for-4. Lake Superior State picked up two penalties during the final four and one-half minutes, which thwarted attempts to score with an extra attacker. MSU out-shot LSSU 19-5 in the third period.