Tag: lssu

Bemidji State: 15-15-6

#20 Lake Superior State: 21-11-2

Beavers Bouncing Back

First, let me congratulate all the teams that made it to the WCHA tournament this year, from top to bottom. As for Ferris & Anchorage: Better luck next year.

The Beavers from Bemidji has certainly had some interesting series this year: Starting the year at #13 North Dakota and taking the first game of the series, to splitting with Northern Michigan to start a 4-game streak, sweeping Anchorage in the process and taking one against Merrimack. Then: A four game losing skid, starting with Merrimack, heading into a series against #2 St. Cloud State, before splitting with #3 Minnesota State. After this start, we would see them splitting most series.

Going into the post season, they are led in scoring by senior defenseman & co-captain Justin Baudry, with 8-22-30pts. Following him are two forwards: sophomore Charlie Combs (11-10-21) and junior Adam Brady (8-13-21). In addition to Combs, Aaron Miller and Owen Sillinger round out the top 3 goal scorers.

Their goaltending situation is similar to that of the Lakers: Zach Driscoll has been the go-to, with the freshman netminder playing in 25 games & posting a 10-9-4 record with a 2.296 GAA and a .910 Save %. Henry Johnson, a sophomore, has played 14 games, with an overall record of 5-5-2, with a 1.96 GAA and a .916 Save %. Jack Burgart has a single start & posted a loss in that contest.

These two teams have met once before this season, on January 25^th & 26^th, with the Beavers losing Friday night before winning 5-3 Saturday.

Lakers Face Familiar Foes in Familiar Waters

Well, Laker fans, what a turnaround this series has been, eh?

The fans at the Taffy Abel Arena were able to thank the outgoing seniors and wish them off, in what would be their final regular season game…and for the first time in a long time, not their final home game of the year. The Lakers would go to split the weekend, and Senior Night was ruined with the loss Saturday.

Your top scorers and goal-getters are of no surprise: They’ve been the ones we’ve been talking about all season. Co-Captain Diego Cuglietta leads the pack with 23-14-37pts and is currently only 4 points off the century mark. Following him is fellow Senior & Assistant Captain Anthony Nellis, with 14-17-31pts and Max Humitz with 14-16-30pts. Everyone wants to see Diego hit that mark, but I hope the team does not try to feed him this weekend: winning is much more important than an individual record.

Kossoff, again, owns the net. Playing in 23 contests, the senior netminder has a 15-6-2 record, with a 2.53 GAA and a .913 Save %. Sophomore Mareks Mittens did not play last weekend, so his 11 games & 6-5-0 record and 2.31 GAA and .919 Save % remain unchanged.

The Lakers will have to play much better than they did the last time they saw Bemidji, and better than we saw for most of Saturday night’s game last week. They also cannot take any stupid penalties; the Beavers are too good of a team to give them any help. Note: The winner of this series will go on to face the winner of the Minnesota State-Alabama-Huntsville series.

Potential Parting Thoughts

Win or lose this weekend, we as fans should be proud of the team, it’s been full of fun little tidbits & records: with 23 goals, Diego has the most goals of any Laker since Joe Blaznek & Jason Sessa had 22 back in 1996-1997 season. Only one player since has even reached 20: Domenic Monardo. Staying with Diego, he is tied for first in most goals in NCAA with Arizona State’s Johnny Walker, & finally he is a Hobey Baker nominee.

With 21 wins on the season, Damon Whitten ties Jim Roque for the most wins in the regular season since Jeff Jackson left the school. Roque did it in 2006-2007, and Jackson posted 30 wins in his final season in 1995-1996

For the first time in program history, the Lakers took home a Great Lakes Invitational win.

They have been ranked every week since January 7^th.

The Lakers have had 17 players be named for either Player of the Week or Player on the month between all categories:

Forwards: Gelsinger, Cuglietta, Humitz (x2), Nellis

Defenseman: Saccoman (x2 week, 2x Month), Ruggerio

Goaltender: Mitens & Kossoff

Rookie: Veillette, Nordqvist (1x week, 1x Month), Calder (x1 Week, x1 Month)

The puck drops at 7:07pm Friday and Saturday nights. If a third game is needed, it will be played at 4:07pm Sunday. Tickets are now available at the box office or online. If you are in the area, or can make to the arena, I implore you to, our boys will need all that energy. If you cannot make it, or are too far away, turn your dials to 99.5 YESfm, or online at yesfm.net, or use the Tunein App to listen to the game. Or you can watch the game online for a fee using FloHockey.tv, which is the official source to view every WCHA game.

Ferris State: 9-22-3

#19 Lake Superior State: 20-10-2

Beaten Bulldogs

Ferris: What happened? Who did this to you? It was only a few years ago that you guys were a nWCHA powerhouse that rocked our world on the regular, and now you’re fighting for a playoff spot? On the outside looking in, Ferris State need some miracles to happen if they want to make the playoffs. First: They need to not lose more than 1 point on the weekend, and Alabama-Huntsville can’t get more than one point (maybe…not sure on the tiebreakers).

They are led in scoring by a pair of defensemen: Freshman Cooper Zech (8-20-28) and Junior Nate Kallen (7-16-23). Rounding out the top three is Senior forward Corey Mackin (7-15-22). Zech also leads the team in +/- with a +4.

In net, expect to see #30, Freshman Roni Salmenkangas, who has appeared in 26 games with a 3.28 GAA and a .886 Save%. Backup goaltender is Junior Justin Kapelmaster, with a 3.52 GAA and a .903 Save% in 12 games.

Senior Weekend

After being swept last weekend by their U.P Rivals, the Northern Michigan University Wildcats, the Lakers look to rebound and maintain home ice going into the playoffs. As it stands now, if LSSU can win at least one game, and Bemidji gets only two on Friday, the Lakers will secure home ice to start the playoffs (as long LSSU wins the tiebreaker, which I think we do). The Lakers could get as high as second place in the WCHA, but with Bowling Green facing off against Alabama-Huntsville, that seems unlikely.

(tl;dr: Root for Alabama, Minnesota State & Michigan Tech..assuming we go to sweep the weekend that is)

Seeing as this is also Senior Weekend for our outgoing seniors, it seems fitting that two of them are on top of the scoring list, those being Diego Cuglietta (20-14-34) and Anthony Nellis(14-16-30), with Junior Max Humitz(14-16-30) bringing up third. Diego had a bit of a slump last weekend, not getting any points against the Wildcats, so he is still 7 points out of being a 100 point scorer. Luckily, he’ll have at least 4 more games to get there.

The last few weeks have seen a goalie rotation. I would expect to see Senior Nick Kossoff out there at least Saturday night, for Senior Night, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if he played the whole weekend. At this point in the year, both Kossoff and Mitens have similar Save %, but Mitens eeks ou ta slightly better GAA (but that is to be expected).

Rounding out our seniors this year is Steven Ruggerio, former US Gold Medalist for World Juniors, Providence Friar and current Anaheim Ducks draft pick. He has totaled 10 points thus far for the Lakers, and also leads the team in penalties, with 32 total penalties for 64 minutes.

And I can’t forget about Gage Torrel, though when the original article went up, I did. Right out of the gate anyone could see Gage was going to be something special for this team, and he was. Gage, Diego and Anthony were all on track to potentially get to that 100 point mark this season, but after being snakebitten for most of last season, Gage slowly fell out of that race, though he has posted an impressive 24 points this season.

Senior Night is always hard. Having watched most of these guys over the last four years, it can be hard to say goodbye, especially this year’s batch with and the talent that is leaving this team. Each and every one deserves the applause they’ll get during the ceremonies. Most years it is bitter sweet, however. Either because the team missed the playoffs, or because they’re headed to Mankato where we hadn’t won at, ever.

But this year is different. This year hope is in the air. We are looking to have home ice for the first time in years, and it feels like we can win a round too. We have a win against every team in the WCHA, so that locker room knows they can beat anybody. If I dare peek ahead, playoff wins also count towards Pairwise, so there’s still an outside shot that the Laker could make their first NCAA appearance in over 20 years even without a playoff championship, seeing as they are still #20 in the Pairwise. But let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, as we have to take each weekend one night a time – it just feels good to be optimistic.

As always, the puck drops at 7:07pm both Friday and Saturday nights. Senior night will also be held Saturday before the game. 99.5 YesFM will carry the game locally, as will their stream on  Yesfm.net, or through the TuneIn App. Flohockey.tv is your source for WCHA hockey this season, so those of you who can’t make it to the arena can watch the game live there.

Updated: Senior night celebrations are before the game Saturday night. Also included Gage Torrel as part of the senior crew since I somehow missed him last night.

#18 Lake Superior State: 20-8-2

Northern Michigan: 15-14-2

Father Cappo’s Cup Part Deux

This is the second part of the annual Cappo Cup series between Northern Michigan and LSSU. Going into this series, hosted in Marquette, the series is tied 1-1, with a +1-goal differential going to LSSU.

This year’s Wildcat team has gotten a lot of help from their blue line in scoring, as their top scorer is junior defenseman Philip Beaulieu, who in 30 games has amassed 5 goals and 23 assists for 28 points. Close behind him is senior Troy Loggins (15g 12a for 27tp) then by Adam Rockwood, another senior forward with 5 goals, 16 assists and 21 points.

The net has been owned by the excellent senior Finnish netminder Atte Tolvanen, who has played in every game this season, earning their 15-14-2 record, with a 2.31 GAA and .915 Save%. Freshman backup Nolan Kent has appeared in 2 games, but looks like mostly in relief as no wins or losses are attributed to him.

After last year’s run, this year has certainly been a disappointment to Wildcat fans, and there are certainly some questions concerning the future progress of the team, especially in net. Tolvanen has played very well in spite of some of the play in front of him over the years, even managing to score a goal this season. With the workhorse leaving after this season, I hope for the sake of their fans they have another workhorse or two coming in next season.

Cappo Cup 2: Electric Boogaloo

What can be said about this team that hasn’t already been said across the College Hockey world this last week? I’ll for sure be doing a writeup at some point as a retrospective on the season, but needless to say it’s been one for the ages. I can’t imagine what this year must be like for longtime fans, who’ve seen some of the worst seasons the Lakers have had.

This year, though, has been a dream. Another dream may be realized over the next few weeks: another 100 point scorer. That player is Diego Cuglietta, who has a total of 93 points heading into this weekend. (34 senior, 23 junior, 25 sophomore,11 freshman). After him looks to be Max Humitz, who has 73 points, of course he should be hitting it next season. Tied with Humitz, for this season’s point total, is Anthony Nellis with 30 points.

Kossoff again owns the net, though Mitens did post a huge win Friday night against rival Michigan Tech. It’s anyone’s guess as to what will happen in net over the weekend, and I’ve been wrong almost every time I’ve guessed this season, so use your imagination.

Puck drops both Friday and Saturday at 7:07 at the Berry Events Center in Marquette, MI. In the Soo, the game will be broadcast on 99.5 YESFm, and can be heard online at yesfm.net and on the TuneIn App. FloHockey.tv will also have the video for the game.

#20 Lake Superior State: 16-8-2

Ferris State: 7-18-1

Festering Ferris Falls Behind

What a season it has been for the Ferris State Bulldogs. Head coach of the Bulldogs is now in his 27^th season with the school and has an overall record of 444-466-101. During his tenure, they’ve had some massive success: making a tournament appearance in 2003, 2012, 2014 & 2016, winning the WCHA tournament in 2016, winning regular season titles in 2002-2003, 2011-12 and 2013-14. Heck, in 2012 they made their lone Frozen Four appearance. You wouldn’t know that if you asked the fanbase how they feel, or by looking at the standings, as they are now 7 points out of the playoffs, sitting above Alaska Anchorage.

With this in mind, they did shut out #9 Bowling Green last Saturday 3-0 after shutout Friday night 2-0. Despite all the above doom and gloom, they do have a bright light on their team, and that’s Freshman Defenseman Cooper Zech, who is tied at #7 in scoring in the conference, alongside LSSU’s own Max Humitz and Jared Spooner, all with 23 points. Another Defenseman, Junior Nate Kallen is second in scoring and senior forward Corey Mackin make up the top 3 Ferris State scorers.

Roni Salmenkangas is the go-to goaltender for the Bulldogs, having played in 20 games, but he does hold a 3.69 Goals Against Average and a .878 Save %. Justin Kapelmaster, a junior, is their backup, playing in 9 games and holding a 2.94 GAA and a .923 Save %.

Whitten’s Wonderful Traveling Circus

This team feels like a mystery wrapped in an enigma this season. They’ve won 12 games on the road (counting the GLI), and have lost 2. At home, in 6 series (12 games), the Lakers have won 4 games, all of them on Friday. This brings up a lot of questions, but that’s probably for another article.

After last weekend’s set of games, Diego Cuglietta is still a point-a-game scorer, with 26 points in 26 games. Close behind him are Anthony Nellis and Max Humitz. Now, Max Humitz has been on one hell of a scoring streak since the Great Lakes Invitational, being within one goal of a hat trick at least twice since the tournament.

The goaltending situation is still a bit muddled. Nick Kossoff had an amazing game last Friday night, but would probably want to forget his performance Saturday night (though, the rest of the team may follow suit). We’ll see if Whitten & Co will split the net this weekend, but I expect Nick to start at least Friday night.

Puck drops at 7:07 at the Robert L. Ewigleben Ice Arena in Big Rapids both Friday and Saturday nights, for those who are travelling to the game or who are in the area. Bill Crawford will have the call on 99.5 YESFm, or through YESFM streaming online on their website or on TuneIn. You can also watch the game through Flohockey.tv. For those in the Sault this weekend, the school will be hosting a viewing party Friday night at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Bemidji State: 12-11-3

#18 Lake Superior State: 15-7-2

Beavers Bouncing Back

After an on-and-off start to the season, the Beavers of Bemidji has strung some big-time wins together, having split their weekend series at Bowling Green and sweeping Michigan Tech outside on Lake Bemidji last weekend, albeit with some extra time Friday night.

In an interesting turn, the Beavers are led in scoring by senior defenseman Justin Baudry with 19 points, though their leading goal scorers are a pair of sophomore forwards Aaron Miller (10g) and Charlie Combs (9g) .

Freshman Zach Driscoll and sophomore Henry Johnson seemed to have split more weekends, with Driscoll starting 15 games, and Johnson starting 13. GAA and Save % are nearly identical, though the freshman does have 2 more wins.

Lakers Leaning Towards the Light

With 10 series left before the post season, the Lakers have positioned themselves to be in the final spot for home ice this season. They have the tie breaker, as of now, on Michigan Tech, and are only a point ahead of their opponents this weekend. Through the USCHO poll, the Lakers are ranked #18, however through the Pairwise rankings, they are at #20. They’ll need to start a good run this weekend in order to break into the top 15, and a chance at an at-large bid.

Our top three scorers are the same as they’ve been for a while – led by captain Diego Cuglietta (17-7-24), Anthony Nellis (11-12-23) and Max Humitz (9-12-21). Diego is officially a point-a-game player, with Nellis being 1 point behind that mark, the same with Humitz going into the weekend. 

The goaltending will be the story in the later half of the year. Nick Kosshoff has played in 16 games, with a record of 11-3-2, and Mareks Mitens following him with 8 games played and a 4-4-0 record, with all 4 of the wins being shutouts. This includes last weekend where Mareks made 29 saves. While I don’t think Nick has lost his net, I think Mareks is certainly lighting the fire – hopefully a bit of competition is a good thing.

Friday night, the Lakers will also try to battle domestic violence, providing a free t-shirt to the first 1000 fans so they can white-out the arena, so do try to come out to the arena this weekend to support your Lakers. However, if you can’t, it will be on over the air on 99.5 YESFm, streaming through Yesfm.net or through the TuneIn app. Flohockey.tv will have the video feed of the game.

LSSU: 14-6-2

MSUM: 18-5-1

Purple Posse

So, we meet again, Mankato. Since the realignment, the Mavericks have had the Lakers number. Of course, Lake State hopes that changes this weekend, but looking at Minnesota State’s record of 18-5-1, and a perfect 11-0-0 at home, that this weekend will be another battle.

Surprisingly, the Maverick’s top scorers are either juniors or sophomores. Junior forwards Marc Michaelis and Parker Tuomie top this list, with 26 and 22 points respectively, followed by sophomore forward Jared Spooner at 21 points.

In net, Freshman Dryden McKay has won the starting role, having played in 17 games with a 11-4-1 record, 2.05 GAA and a .919 Save %. Behind him is senior Mathias Israelsson who has played in 9 games this season, 7-1-0 record, with 1.74 GAA and a .908 Save%.

On a side note, they’ve out of the 12 series they’ve played as part of the regular season, half of them have been against ranked opponents (Ferris x2, Bemidji, UAA, Michigan Tech and Alaska were unranked). They dropped 1 game against any of those opponents, Saturday night at Bemidji.  The only series they were swept in was against the then #12 Bowling Green in December. They also lost against Minnesota Duluth and tied against Arizona State at the Desert Hockey Classic, and then #16 North Dakota early in the season.

Blue Bombshells Bombast the Best

Minnesota State-Mankato: The real test to any season. This season, however, having been ranked on and off throughout the season, becoming the new GLI champions, and being on a 8-game unbeaten streak, Mankato will be the ultimate gut check. Remember: Six of those wins came from opponents #52 or lower in the pairwise. The other two are #30 Michigan State and #31 Michigan Tech.

The top point getters stay the same, except Max Humitz breaks into the top. Diego Cuglietta and Anthony Nellis lead with 23 and 22 points respectively, with Humitz bringing up the rear at 19. Both Cuglietta and Nellis  have also been nominated for the Hobey Baker Award – you can vote for them here (https://www.hobeybaker.com/vote) , and they also have a shot at breaking 100 points, though by my math, Humitz should be the next 100 point scorer next season.

Puck drops at 7:07pm CST, so 8:07 pm both Friday and Saturday nights in Mankato. Locally it can be heard on 99.5 YESFm, or on it’s website stream or on Tunein. You can see the game on FloHockey.tv for a nominal fee.

Bowling Green: 7-2-2

LSSU: 5-2-1

Flying into #10

The Falcons this year have had an interesting schedule, having played 8 non-conference games, and only two series worth of WCHA play. Amongst those NC games, they split a home-and-home with Robert Morris, where the home team took the win, went up 3 points on #19 Western Michigan and dunked #4 Ohio State 8-2. This kind of play has landed them in the #10 spot this week, after splitting with Northern Michigan and forcing a tie & win with UAA.

They are led in scoring by a trio of sophomores: Max Johnson  (6-7-13), Brandon Kruse (3-10-13) and Connor Ford (6-5-11). Ryan Bednard looks to be their go-to netminder so far this season, having played in 9 of the 11 games. He currently has a 1.33 GAA and a .943 Save %. Eric Dop has similar numbers, though he does only have 3 goals against to Bednard’s 12.

Chris Bergeron returns for his 9th season as the Falcons head coach, with a record of 146-143-39.

“If it’s brown, lay down. If it’s black, fight back. If it’s white, goodnight.”

The Lakers learned the hard way the above phrase. They both fought back against the Nanooks and was fought against. Even though it was stated both on this website along with other online outlets, the Nanooks were a better team than their record gave them credit for, but it doesn’t make the sweep any easier to swallow.

Not only will the Lakers have to fight back against a very good Bowling Green team. The good news is that the Lakers tend to play pretty well against them, and have been some of the more fun games that I’ve been able to witness.

There is one takeaway from the last couple of weeks that the coaching staff will need to clean up: Using the bottom two lines more. I don’t have the numbers, but it certainly seemed to me that the fourth line had maybe 4 minutes total last weekend, with the third getting just a few more. Yes, it’s great that the top 2 lines are firing on all cylinders, but history has proven, both in the NCAA and the NHL that you need to be able to roll all 4 lines to win championships.

As always, the game will be on http://www.yesfm.net, or can be seen on Flohockey.tv. If you living near Bowling Green, please support your Lakers at the Slater Family Ice Arena. Puck drops at 7:37pm Friday and 7:07pm Saturday. Also, for those in the Sault, Laker Athletics will be hosting a viewing party at Buffalo Wild Wings starting at 7:30pm Friday.

Alaska: 0-7-1

LSSU: 5-1-0

Bad Intros and Bad Scoring

(Seriously, look up the Nanook’s old intro video).

Alaska has had a very tough schedule to open their season which has only allowed them to score 9 points in 8 games. Their top three in scoring have a total of11 points between them, and only 3 goals. After lighting up Simon Fraser for 13, the Nanooks have faced Arizona State, #5 St. Cloud State, #9 Denver & #7 Minnesota State on the road, save for St. Cloud, which was played in Fairbanks.

This week, they travel to the lower 48 yet again to Sault Sainte Marie. They bring in 10 Freshman, with only 4 seniors returning this season. Their head coach is a man named Erik Largen, who previously coached for Marian down in Division III hockey, where he went 18-4-4.

The University of Alaska skates on a large Olympic sized ice sheet at home, so they are nearly always a good skating team, and with all the traveling they’ve done as part of the early season, they are a team that the Lakers can’t underestimate. Hell, they only lost to Denver in regulation once, losing in Overtime that Saturday night.

All Aboard The Hype Train!

The Lakers have started their year out at 5-1, losing last Saturday to their former CCHA rivals, Michigan and their head coach Mel Pearson. They’ll be looking to built that momentum, and on paper, there doesn’t seem much that Alaska can really do to slow it down, but the team has to give it their all.

The Laker’s scoring leaders are led by two seniors, Anthony Nellis (5-5-10) and Gage Torrel(0-7-7), followed closely by upstart freshman Jacob Nordqvist (1-5-6). Add in Hampus Eriksson, and you have 4 point-per-game players.

The goaltending save % looks good for both Mitens and Kossoff, at .933 and .900 respectively. Their Goals Against Average is a bit subpar, as they’ve been getting peppered with shots. Whoever stands in net this weekend will have to try and stay awake and not let any soft goals in.

Puck drops both nights at 7:07pm. They can be heard locally at 99.5 YESfm, or online at www.yesfm.net or on TuneIn. You can see the action yourself at the Taffy Abel Arena, or online at Flohockey.tv.

It appears that some new banners went up around Abel Arena during the offseason, featuring the 5 championship teams, Hobey Baker finalists and some history on the Victory Bell. To see them in person, you’ll have to venture on up to the arena.

(#12) Michigan: 3-2-0

Lake Superior State: 4-0-0

From #4 to #12 – Hail to the…Victors?

Michigan started the year off at #4 in the national polls, but slipped after a drumming put on by unranked Vermont, maintained their rank after beating Waterloo, but slipped to #9 before losing 6-3 to a stacked USNTP U-18 Team, then to #11 for their match with WMU. After splitting with #19 Western Michigan, they dropped to #12, even after sweeping St. Lawrence at home.

The Wolverines return only two of their top 5 scorers this season: Defenseman Quinn Hughes and forward Jake Slaker. Their top scorer last season was Cooper Marody, a junior, but he decided to go pro, and is currently with the Edmonton Oilers organization. This will also be a homecoming of sorts for Luke Morgan, who decommitted from the Lakers after an outstanding freshman year. It just so happens that former Michigan Tech head coach, and Damon Whitten’s former boss Mel Pearson was tapped to replace longtime & Hall of Fame head coach Red Berenson.

While this will not be the first time the Wolverines and Lakers have faced each other since the dissolution of the former CCHA, this will mark the first time Michigan has been back to Abel Arena since the 2012-2013 season, where the two teams split the weekend.

Even Keel for the Lakers

There’s been some nervous optimism going through the fanbase here in the Sault going into this weekend, with the Lakers being 4-0 on the year and 6-0 counting the exhibition series.

Of course, we’re hoping that the record goes to 6-0, especially considering that this weekend is Great Lake State Weekend! And we will have two Laker Legends in the house, being inducted into the LSSU Hall of fame: Former goaltender Darrin Madeley (1989-1992) and Mark Astley (1988-1992). Madeley had a fairly long post- college career, filling in for the Ottawa Senators. Astley played primarily in Switzerland, but had a few stints with the Buffalo Sabres. He also has his own banner hung up in Abel Arena, as he played with the Canadian National Team for 54 games, ultimately winning silver in the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics.

This will be the first major test for the Lakers, going against a nationally ranked team.  I don’t know if anyone can say that Michigan has more to lose than the Lakers have more to gain. Either way, it will be fun to see the blue and maize return to the Sault, and the stands ought to be packed.

On Friday night, the puck will drop at 7:37pm at Taffy Abel Arena, and 7:07pm Saturday night. If you have not ordered your tickets, I would urge everyone to order ahead of time to 1) guarantee your seat, and 2) avoid the long lines. If you are not able to make it to the game, or you are out of town, you can listen to the Voice of the Lakers Bill Crawford on 99.5 YESfm over the air or online, or watch the game on FloHockey.tv.