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.