Lakers to Host Down Michigan State Spartans

This weekend Lake Superior State University will look to take advantage of a down Michigan State University, rocked this week by the suspensions and departure of Corey Tropp and Andrew Conboy. Currently LSSU and MSU are separated in the CCHA standing by only 3 points, so the 4-to-6 points up for grabs this weekend could push the Lakers up to 7th or down to 12th in the standings. Lake Superior State (7-11-8 overall, 4-8-6-1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) plays host to Michigan State (7-16-3 overall, 4-12-2-2 CCHA) at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Both games will be broadcast live on Rock 101 and simulcast on http://www.rock101.net/. A pay-per-view video feed is available on the B2 Network. With five weeks remaining in the regular season, Ferris State is seventh in the CCHA with 17 points, while the Lakers have 15 points and are tied for eighth place with Northern Michigan. Western Michigan is 10th with 14 points, followed by Bowling Green State with 13 and Michigan State with 12. The Lakers have a chance to control their own destiny with this weekend's series against the Spartans and upcoming series at home against WMU on Feb. 20-21 and at NMU on Feb. 27-28. They also have upcoming series against seventh-ranked Michigan and 10th-ranked Miami. The rest of this weekend's slate includes Ohio State at Alaska, Nebraska-Omaha at Ferris State, Bowling Green at Miami, Northern Michigan at Western Michigan, and Michigan home-and-home with Notre Dame. Michigan State, which last lost three games in a row, is in a similar situation. The Spartans still have to play Ferris State and BGSU. Last weekend they lost twice to Michigan, 6-2 and 5-3. U-M extended its win streak against MSU to six games - the longest run since the 1960-61 and 1961-62 campaigns. MSU struggled through an 11-game freefall shortly after starting out the 2008-09 season ranked 11th in the nation. However, the Spartans have some quality wins, including a three-point weekend against Northern Michigan, and splits with Alaska and Miami. Then there's senior goalie Jeff Lerg, who leads the CCHA in saves with 683 and is regarded as the most-respected player in the league by team captains. LSSU rebounded from last Friday's 4-3 loss at Bowling Green with an 8-4 victory. The Lakers scored the most goals in a game since beating Western Michigan 10-0 on Nov. 4, 2005. Sophomore forward Rick Schofield led the way with two goals and two assists. He was voted CCHA Offensive Player of the Week after totaling 3-2-5 for the weekend. Schofield, who has seven goals and three assists in the Lakers' last eight games, and senior Troy Schwab, with one goal and six assists in his last six games, are leading two hot lines for LSSU. Junior defensemen Steven Kaunisto and Simon Gysbers are enjoying point streaks of three and four games, respectively, and are both ranked among the top 10 in the league defenseman scoring. Senior Josh Sim has 5-5--10 during the Lakers' last eight games. LSSU is ranked fifth in the CCHA in scoring, averaging 2.92 goals per game, while MSU is 12th at 1.73. The Lakers and Spartans are ranked seventh and 11th, respectively, in average goals allowed per game, and are nearly even in penalty killing.

Lakers Split with BGSU

Friday night Lake Superior State overcame a two-goal deficit midway through Friday's Central Collegiate Hockey Association game at Bowling Green, but came up one goal short of repeating the feat during the third period. Bowling Green improved to 1-1-1-1 this season against LSSU with the 4-3 victory. It was the fifth time in six games that the Lakers (6-11-8 overall, 3-8-6-1 CCHA) played in a game decided by one goal or less. The Falcons (9-13-3 overall, 6-10-1-0 CCHA) built a 2-0 lead on goals by Tommy Dee at 1:29 of the first period and James Perkin at 12:02 of the second period. LSSU's momentum was slowed during that stretch when freshman Dan Barczuk was whistled for a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct at 16:41 of the opening period. LSSU's Troy Schwab scored at 14:18 of the second period to cut the Falcons' lead in half. Simon Gysbers and Josh Sim had the assists. Pat Aubry tied it, 2-2, with another Laker goal at 16:56. Tyson Hobbins had the only assist. Bowling Green regained the two-goal lead in the third period when Brandon Svendsen scored a power-play goal at 7:35 and Kyle Page added an even-strength goal at 11:10. Dan Sexton assisted on both BGSU goals. Rick Schofield scored LSSU's final goal two minutes later. Steven Kaunisto had the only assist on the power-play marker. Both teams were 1-for-4 on the power play. BGSU goaltender Jimmy Spratt picked up the win as LSSU out-shot the Falcons, 34-20. Brian Mahoney-Wilson was in net for the Lakers. Saturday night Lake Superior State hockey team defeated the Falcons convincingly Saturday. Sophomore forward Rick Schofield scored two power-play goals and had two assists to lead the Lakers to an 8-4 win. LSSU split the weekend series and finished 2-1-1-1 against BGSU during the 2008-09 regular season. Schofield scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 16:04 of the first period and tallied a 5-on-4 goal 27 seconds later to give the Lakers a 3-1 lead. LSSU went on to lead 4-1 at the end of a penalty-ridden first period and 6-3 after two periods. Josh Sim, with a power-play marker, and Dan Barczuk also scored first-period goals for the Lakers. Freshman Kyle Pobur tallied his first collegiate goal at 2:04 of the second period. Pat Aubry and Will Acton rounded out the even-strength scoring, and Nathan Perkovich finished it off for LSSU with an empty-net goal at 18:31 of the third period. LSSU's Steven Kaunisto, Simon Gysbers and Steve Oleksy also had two assists each, while Perkovich, Matt Cowie, Troy Schwab, Chad Nehring, Acton and Tyson Hobbins had one each. Lake Superior State (7-11-8 overall, 4-8-6-1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) out-shot BGSU 36-34 and held the Falcons to 1-for-5 on the power play. The Lakers were 3-for-5 with the man-advantage, including 3-for-4 in the opening period. They gave up a short-handed goal to Falcon Brandon Svendsen in the second period. Laker goalie Brian Mahoney-Wilson allowed three goals and totaled 16 saves before leaving the game with an injury at 16:23 of the second period. Pat Inglis totaled 14 saves, including 12 in the third period, and gave up one goal. David Solway led BGSU (9-14-3 overall, 6-11-1-0 CCHA) with two goals and one assist. Falcon starting goalie Jimmy Spratt stopped 12 of 16 shots in the first period. Nick Eno had 16 saves during the final two periods. BGSU was 0-for-3 on the power play in the third period. LSSU had no power-play chances during the final stanza.

Lakers travel to Bowling Green

Lake Superior State will take a 4-5-3 road record into this weekend's Central Collegiate Hockey Association series at Bowling Green State, a team from whom the Lakers took four points during an early November home series. LSSU (6-10-8 overall, 3-7-6-1 CCHA) plays at BGSU (8-13-3 overall, 5-10-1-0 CCHA) at 7:05 p.m. Friday and 7:08 p.m. Saturday at the BGSU Ice Arena. Both games will be broadcast live on Rock 101 and simulcast on www.rock101.net. Saturday's game will be broadcast live on the Buckeye CableSystem Sports Network. Lake Superior State blanked Bowling Green State 2-0 and won a shootout following a 4-4 tie on Nov. 7-8 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. LSSU hasn't taken four points in a series or won a shootout in six tries since then. But, the Lakers have been in the hunt in just about every game they've played this season. The Lakers have a +0.2 goal differential in 11 games since losing 4-1 at Alaska on Nov. 29. The only games decided by more than one goal during that stretch were a 6-2 victory over Harvard and a 6-1 win at Colgate. For the season, LSSU has a goal differential of +0.13. LSSU played two thrillers at home against No. 1-ranked Notre Dame last weekend, losing 3-2 on Friday and tying 3-3 on Saturday with a 2-1 shootout loss. Bowling Green State is coming off a split with eighth-ranked Michigan. The Falcons shut out the Wolverines 3-0 in Ann Arbor on Friday and lost 1-0 at home on Saturday. Senior Troy Schwab had two goals and an assist, senior Josh Sim and junior Zac MacVoy both contributed a goal and an assist, and junior Simon Gysbers added two assists to lead the Lakers during their November series against the Falcons. Last weekend, Schwab notched an assist in both games against Notre Dame and reached the 100-point career scoring milestone. He has 8-14-22 for the season and 28-72-100 for his career. He is tied for 11th in CCHA scoring this season. BGSU senior forward Brandon Svendsen had a goal and two assists in the 4-4 tie against LSSU and is ranked 14th in the CCHA in scoring with 6-15-21. His potent line includes sophomore forward Dan Sexton (11-15-26), who is tied for fourth in the CCHA in overall points, and sophomore forward David Solway (10-7-17). LSSU and BGSU have struggled on the power play this season, but had moderate success against last weekend's opponents. LSSU was 2-for-11 with the man-advantage last weekend against Notre Dame, whose penalty killing is ranked fourth in the CCHA and seventh nationally. BGSU was 1-for-10 against Michigan, whose penalty killing is ranked seventh in the league. The Lakers are ranked sixth (.862) and the Falcons ninth (.827) in penalty killing.

Lakers take 1 Point from First Ranked Notre Dame

Friday night Notre Dame came from behind scoring three unanswered goals in the first and second period to take the 3-2 win. LSSU took the lead on the #1 ranked Irish with a Josh Sim power play goal (9:56) in the opening period with Simon Gysbers and Troy Schwab assisting. Notre Dame then took over with Justin White, Calle Ridderwall, and Christiaan Minella each scored for Notre Dame in a 18 minute span split between the first and second periods. LSSU’s Will Acton scored his third goal of the season to bring the game back to a one goal game while the Lakers where unable to score with the 6th attacker in a scoreless third period. LSSU goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson recorded 24 saves in his 7th loss of the season while the Lakers put 33 shots on the Notre Dame’s Jordan Pearce, the Irish were 1-for-5 with the extra man while LSSU’s power play went 1-for-7. Saturday night Lake Superior’s jumped out to an early two goal lead on the back of a shorthanded Steven Kaunisto goal at 12:03 of the first period and Chad Nehring’s 5th goal of the season with Dan Barczuk and Dillin Stonehouse assisting. Lake Superior was again unable to maintain the lead giving up two goals to Notre Dame in a 4 minute span including a shorthanded goal of their own, which saw Laker Head Coach Jim Roque pull starting goaltender Pat Inglis. LSSU retook the lead with Fred Cassiani scoring his 10th goal of the season on the power play at 8:50 of the second period with assists by Simon Gysbers and Troy Schwab. Notre Dame tied it back up at 3-to-3 with a power play goal of their own at 13:15 of the second period. After a scoreless third period and overtime, the Lakers again headed to the shootout seeing Rick Schofield score before Kaunisto and Cassiani missed. Mahoney-Wilson was unable to stop either of the ND skaters to see the Lakers fall to 1-5 in the shootout. LSSU managed only 14 shots in the game after putting up 33 shots on Friday night, while LSSU goaltender Mahoney-Wilson recorded 22 saves after replacing Inglis who allowed 2 goals on the 13 shots he faced. Notre Dame was 1-for-6 on the power play 2-for-11 on the weekend while LSSU’s power play went 1-for-4, 2-for-11 on the weekend, scoring a power play goal in 3 straight games and 4 of the last 5. Each team also scored a shorthanded tally.

Lakers to take on No. 1 Notre Dame

Lake Superior State takes pride in knowing that it is one of only three Central Collegiate Hockey Association teams this season to take a point from the nation’s top-ranked team. LSSU (6-9-7 overall, 3-9-5 CCHA) has had plenty of opportunities over the years to host No. 1-ranked teams. It is rare, however, to see a team coming in with eight straight wins and an 18-game unbeaten streak. Notre Dame is 18-3-2 overall and 12-2-2 in the CCHA following last weekend’s 2-0 and 3-0 home sweep of Alaska. The Fighting Irish are hot, and the reason is their defense and special teams. UND ranks second nationally in defense, allowing only 1.48 goals per game, and beat another great defensive team, Alaska, at its own game last weekend. Coach Jeff Jackson’s squad is also ranked third nationally in power play and fifth in penalty killing. LSSU’s series in South Bend, Ind., occurred during the early stages of Notre Dame’s streak, but was considered a bit of a benchmark regarding what the Lakers need to do in order to finish in the upper half of the CCHA standings. Since that series on Nov. 14-15, UND has not given up more than four goals in a series. Only Miami has scored as many goals as LSSU against the Irish. Lake Superior State, which lost a shootout after tying Notre Dame 3-3 in the first game of the November series, suffered a 5-2 loss to the Irish in what was actually a close second game. LSSU and UND were tied 2-2 after the first period of that game, and the Irish led 3-2 after two periods. Notre Dame closed out the win by going 1-for-3 on the power play during the final period. Since then, LSSU has gone 0-3-3 in league games, including two shootout losses to Northern Michigan and two one-goal losses to Nebraska-Omaha at home. The Lakers, who haven’t played a CCHA series since mid December, are 2-4-4 on their home ice. While playing a solid series in front of the home crowd is an important goal, the Lakers have plenty to be pleased with regarding their play on the road. After splitting last weekend’s non-conference series at Colgate, they are 4-5-3 on the road, and their road win percentage of .458 ranks seventh in the league. Notre Dame has the CCHA’s best road win percentage of .909 (10-1-0). LSSU is led in points by junior forward Zac MacVoy (9-11—20) and senior forward Troy Schwab (8-12—20), who are tied for 13th in CCHA scoring. Forward Fred Cassiani, who earned CCHA Rookie of the Month Special Mention in December, is fourth on the team in points and seventh in CCHA rookie scoring with 9-5—14. Schwab, with 28 goals and 70 assists, is only two points shy of the 100-point career scoring milestone. He has a chance to become the first Laker to total 100 points since Joe Blaznek totaled57-54—111 from 1994-98. Notre Dame is led by senior forward Christian Hanson, who is ranked fourth in the CCHA in overall scoring and second in goals scored with 14-11—25. Sophomore forward Calle Ridderwall is second on the team in points with 9-12—21. They are two of the CCHA’s top three in power-play points. Ridderwall has seven power-play goals this season. Junior Brett Blatschford is second in the league in defenseman scoring with 0-18—18. UND senior goaltender Jordan Pearce leads the CCHA in goals-against average at 1.48 and is second in save percentage at .940. LSSU sophomore Brian Mahoney-Wilson is third in the league in save percentage at .929.

Lakers Offensive Light Continues to Shine

Lake Superior State sees their offence continue to click on all cylinders in a split on the road with Colgate in Hamilton, New York. Thursday night Lake Superior State University’s men’s hockey team fell behind early with Colgate’s Austin Smith scoring the first goal of the game against LSSU goaltender Pat Inglis. Lake Superior tied the game up at 1-to-1 with Brad Cooper scoring at 16:39 with Josh Sim and Dan Barczuk assisting. LSSU jumped out to a 3-to-1 lead in the second period on the backs of goals by Rick Schofield and Zac MacVoy, with Dillin Stonehouse and Steven Kaunisto assisting on Schofield’s goal just 1:38 into the period and MacVoy’s goal coming unassisted at 8:36 of the second period. Colgate battled back scoring two goals 21 seconds apart in the last 90 seconds of the second period, the first on the power play by Colgate’s Mark Anderson (18:34) and the second by Jason Fredricks at 18:55. Colgate took the lead at 5:34 of the third period with Fredricks scoring on the power play. LSSU was able to tie the game up at 4-to-4 on the heels of Fred Cassiani’s power play goal at 10:55 of the period with Troy Schwab and Simon Gysbers assisting. Colgate’s Austin Smith scored his second goal of the game giving Colgate the 5-to-4 win at 2:49 of the overtime period. LSSU goaltender Pat Inglis recorded 33 saves in the game while the Lakers put 29 shots on the Colgate net, Colgate was 2-for-3 with the extra man while LSSU’s power play went 1-for-3 scoring for the second time in three games following a 1-for-45 streak. Friday night Lake Superior’s offense continued to click as the Lakers put up 6 goals on Colgate to record their first win of 2009. LSSU jumped out to an early lead on Friday night with Rick Schofield scoring just 2:05 into the game with Troy Schwab assisting. Lake Superior added to their lead with Josh Sim scoring his 7th goal of the season on the powerplay at 10:45 of the second period with Schwab and Zac MacVoy assisting. Chad Nehring added another goal 15 seconds later with Olesksy and Nathan Perkovich assisting. The third Lakers goal chased Colgate’s Alex Evin from between the Colgate pipes. LSSU’s Will Acton gave LSSU a four goal lead scoring on the powerplay with 50 seconds remaining in the period with Olesky and Kaunisto assisting. Colgate notched their lone goal of the game 25 seconds later with Jason Fredricks putting the puck past Brian Mahoney-Wilson. LSSU added two even strength goals in the third period to record the 6-to-1 lead with Chad Nehring scoring his second goal of the game at 4:16 with Dan Barczuk and Carter Lee assisting. Rick Schofield scored at 11:46 of the period with Josh Sim assisting. LSSU put up 6 goals on three Colgate goaltenders putting up 54 shots in the win, while LSSU goaltender Mahoney-Wilson recorded 38 saves in the. Colgate was 0-for-4 on the power play 2-for-7 on the weekend while LSSU’s power play went 2-for-6, 3-for-9 on the weekend. scoring for the second time in three games following a 1-for-45 streak.

Lakers travel to Clogate

The Lake Superior State hockey team plays its final regular-season non-conference series of the season on Thursday and Friday at Colgate. The Lakers (5-8-7) and the Raiders (5-8-5) play at 7 p.m. both nights in Starr Arena. Both games will be broadcast live on Rock 101 via a feed and simulcast on www.rock101.net. Free live stats and pay-per-view video are also available on www.gocolgateraiders.com. LSSU has all-time records of 0-4-0 when playing in Hamilton, N.Y., and 1-5-1 overall against Colgate. The Lakers are making their first trip to Colgate since Oct. 15-16, 2004, when the Raiders swept a regular-season series, 3-2 and 2-1 in overtime. The teams also met on Oct. 14-15, 2005, in Sault Ste. Marie, and the Lakers claimed three of four points. LSSU forward Troy Schwab was a freshman when he notched two assists in that series. LSSU is 3-4-3 when not playing in Taffy Abel Arena this season. The Lakers’ road record includes a 6-2 victory over Harvard and a 1-1 tie with Wisconsin during the Badger Showdown on Dec. 27-28 in Madison, Wis. They were idle last weekend. The Lakers’ most-unusual road statistic is their power-play percentage of .140 (7-for-50). They are 3-for-63 (.048) on the power play on home ice and have an overall success rate of 8.8 percent. LSSU points leader Zac MacVoy, a junior forward, leads the Lakers in road games this season with 5-8—13. Schwab is second with 3-6—9, followed by freshman forward Fred Cassiani with 4-4—8 and senior forward Josh Sim with 4-3—7. Sophomore goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson is 2-3-2 with a 2.83 goals-against average and .918 save percentage, while junior goalie Pat Inglis is 1-1-1 with a 2.27 gaa and .930 save percentage. MacVoy, with 8-10—18 overall, is currently tied for 12th in the CCHA in points, while Schwab, with 8-9—17, is tied for 15th. Schwab heads into this weekend’s series with 95 career points and is on track to become the Lakers’ first 100-point scorer since Joe Blaznek totaled 111 points from 1994-98. Colgate, which has one win in its last 13 games, lost 6-4 at Vermont last Friday and tied Ferris State, 3-3, with a shootout loss last Saturday during the 13th annual Catamount Cup. Four of the Raiders’ last five games have been decided in overtime with Colgate going 1-0-3 in those contests. The Lakers have also had their share of overtime games this season, including four ties in their last seven games. They have collected a school-record seven ties during five of the last six seasons. Their last overtime victory was Feb. 22, 2008, at home against Alaska. Junior forward David McIntyre (9-10—19) and freshman forward Austin Smith (9-9—18) lead the Raiders in points and are ranked third and fourth, respectively, in ECAC scoring. McIntyre, Smith and sophomore forward Brian Day are all ranked among the ECAC’s top five in goals scored with nine each, and Smith is the league’s top-scoring rookie. Colgate junior goaltender Charles Long is ranked fifth in the ECAC in goals-against (2.40) and seventh in save percentage (.907).