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Cullen Maksimowski, LSSULakers.com
ANCHORAGE, Alaska. — In the midst of a 10-day road trip which began last weekend with a Western Collegiate Hockey Association series sweep at Bemidji State, the Lake Superior State hockey team will continue its road show this weekend with a two-game conference series at Alaska Anchorage.
The Lakers enter this weekend's series with a 8-20-4 record overall and a 6-15-3 mark in the WCHA. The Seawolves are 2-22-4, 2-17-3.
Puck drop for both games will be at 11:07 p.m. and will be streaming live on WCHA TV.
All-Time Series:
Lake Superior holds the advantage over Alaska Anchorage in the all-time series with an 11-6-1 record.
The Lakers and Seawolves spilt their first series of the season (Nov.3-4) inside Taffy Abel Arena with LSSU taking a, 3-2, overtime win in the opener and AUA wining the finale, 4-1.
About Last Weekend:
LSSU turned in their two best performances of the season last weekend with a pair of, 2-0, shutout victories over the Beavers.
J.T. Henke (9) and Anthony Nellis (10) notched goals in Friday's win and Max Humitz (12) and Diego Cuglietta (7) accounted for the Laker offense on Saturday.
Goaltenders Nick Kossoff and Mareks Mitens turned in back-to-back shutout performances in the sweep. Kossoff halted all 28 shots faced on Friday while Mitens turned away all 36 faced on Saturday for his first collegiate shutout.
Scouting the Seawolves:
AUA enters this weekend's series on a six game losing streak and have had a rough 2017-18 campaign with just two victories on the year.
Senior forward Austin Azurdia leads the team in total points (16) and goal scoring (11) this season. Tad Kozun and Jonah Renouf are second with 13 points respectively.
Senior goaltender Olivier Mantha leads the team in the net with a league-leading 828 saves to go along with a .900 save percentage on the year.
Laker Leaders:
Henke, a senior forward, has been Lake State's offensive facilitator this season with a team-leading 25 points (9 goals, 16 assists) so far.
Humitz, a sophomore, has been the leading goal scorer for the Lakers with 12 total goals (9 in the WCHA). Humtiz and Diego Cuglietta are second on the team, each having racked up 21 total points this season.
Kossoff, a junior, has been the leader in between the pipes this season for Lake Superior owning a 6-11-2 record with 631 saves for a .911 percentage.
WCHA Standings:
With four games left in the regular season, Lake State is fighting for a ticket to the WCHA Tournament. With 21 league points, The Lakers currently sit in ninth place in the conference standings trailing Ferris State (28 points) for the eighth and final Tournament spot.
With 12 points on the year, the Seawolves occupy last place in the standings and have been mathmatically eliminated from postseason contention.
On The Horizon:
After this weekend's series, the Lakers will close out the regular season with a road series at Ferris State (Feb.24-25).
Tickets:
Deposits for 2018-19 Laker Hockey season ticket packages will open in the coming weeks. Stay tuned for an official announcement and updates on lssulakers.com.