Lakers need a winning weekend
They have lost five straight games and are in desperate need of victories as the Western Collegiate Hockey Association heads into the final four weekends of regular-season play.
Struggling to score goals, the seventh-place Lake Superior State Lakers will play host to the sixth-seeded Bemidji State Beavers this Friday (7:37 p.m.) and Saturday (7:07 p.m.) at Taffy Abel Arena in the Michigan Soo. Both games will be broadcast on Sault Ste. Marie radio station 99.5 Yes-FM.
The Lakers have a record of 6-10-4 in the WCHA and are 9-17-4 overall.
Just two points stand between Lake State and 7-9-4 Bemidji State in the WCHA standings. Both teams have eight games to play in the WCHA regular season. Eight of the 10 teams in the WCHA make the playoffs.
The fact that the Lakers are the youngest team in the WCHA doesn’t sugar coat the fact that lack of goal scoring is a major issue.
The Lakers have the worst offense in the WCHA with just 31 goals scored in 20 games. Overall, the Lakers have managed just 52 goals in 30 games thus far this season.
A further example of the Lakers goal-scoring futility is that they have been shut out six times in 30 games and in 10 others, have scored just once.
The last four games in particular have showed the Lakers inexperience in playing first-place Minnesota State and third-place Michigan Tech. In losing all four of those matches, the Lakers were out-scored by a resounding 19-2 margin.
Still, the Lakers control their own destiny as far as making the playoffs.
And in taking on Bemidji State this weekend, the Lakers play a team that they had success against on the road earlier this season in picking up three of a possible four points with a 3-2 win and 1-1 tie against the Beavers.
“We need wins,” Lake State head coach Damon Whitten told Lakers play-by-play announcer Bill Crawford. “We need to create more grade A scoring chances.”
Taking a look at the Lakers top six scorers, four are freshmen, one is a sophomore and the other is a junior.
Sophomore forward JT Henke leads the Lakers in scoring with 6 goals, 8 assists, 14 points followed by freshman forward Mitch Hults at 6-16-12, freshman forward Gage Torrel at 5-7-12, junior forward Gus Correale at 5-6-11, freshman forward Anthony Nellis at 3-8-11 and freshman defenseman Owen Headrick at 4-5-9.
Headrick, who is from Garden River First Nation, is the youngest player in the entire WCHA. He starred for the Soo Thunderbirds of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League in two prior seasons to this one.
Between the pipes, the Lakers have rotated goalies Gordon Defiel and Nick Kossoff of late and that could continue this weekend.
Defiel is a sophomore and Kossoff is a freshman.
Of note, only two Lakers have played in all 30 games thus far this season. They are the aforementioned Nellis and sophomore defenseman Aidan Wright.