Hockey Travels to Bemidji for a WCHA Series

Hockey Travels to Bemidji for a WCHA Series

Game Notes

BEMIDJI, Minn. - 

FOR STARTERS:                                                                                                                   

● Lake Superior State will continue conference play on the road this weekend as the Lakers travel to Bemidji, Minn. to take on the Bemidji State Beavers on Friday, Nov. 8 at 8:07 p.m. EST and Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7:07 p.m. EST.

● The Lakers opened WCHA competition last weekend with a series sweep against the Ferris State Bulldogs at home, winning the first game by a score of 5-4 in overtime and closing the series with a 4-3 win. 

● LSSU's record sits at 4-6-0 overall and 2-0-0-0 in WCHA play after opening the season against some of the NCAA's stiffest competition including two games against No. 2 Denver, a pair of road games against the Michigan Wolverines as well as a road series against the No. 4/5 Notre Dame Fighting Irish. 

• Lakers Head Coach Damon Whitten is in his sixth season behind the bench in Sault Ste. Marie. Whitten has led the team to a 70-110-19 record, including 23 wins in 2018-19.

• Lake Superior is coming off of the program's best season in 23 years, posting a 23-12-2 overall record and finishing fourth in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA).

LAST WEEKEND RECAP:                                                                                                          

● In the first game of the series against Ferris State, the Lakers won in overtime thanks to a goal from senior forward Max Humitz. Humitz also notched an assist in the game bringing his season total to 10 points. 

Pete Veillette scored his first goal of the season when he opened the weekend's scoring on Friday, Ashton Calder would add a pair of goals in the third period, including one on the power play while Collin Saccoman would net his first goal of the series in the game.

● Five players registered multi-point games in Friday's win (Calder 2G, Humitz 1G-1A, Kaelble 2A, Saccoman 1G-1A, Eriksson 2A). 

Mareks Mitens earned his third win of the season with 25 saves in the overtime victory. 

● The Lakers would clinch the weekend sweep in Saturday's game, winning by a final score of 4-3. Saccoman would add a pair of power play goals, while Pete Veillette would score his second goal in as many games to extend his point streak to four games and freshman Louis Boudon would extend his point streak to five games with a goal and two assists in the game.

● Mitens recorded his fourth win of the season in Saturday's game, stopping 20 shots by the Bulldogs. Mitens leads all WCHA netminders with 221 saves this season, as no other goalie in the league has more than 200. 

PLAYER(S) OF THE WEEK:                                                                                                          

● The Lakers had three players receive WCHA Honors for their play during the weekend of Nov. 1-2. Collin Saccoman was named WCHA Defenseman of the Week, Ashton Calder was named WCHA Forward of the Week, and Louis Boudon was named WCHA Rookie of the Week. 

● Saccoman led the team with three goals and added an assist to notch four points against Ferris. The senior defenseman would record his third consecutive multi-point game and has now scored five goals in the past three games. Saccoman leads all NCAA defenseman in goals with six and sits in second place among all WCHA defenseman in points this season with nine.

● Calder led all players in the WCHA with five points this weekend, including a three assist effort in Saturday's game. The sophomore added two goals in Friday's game to bring his season total up to 11 points, which is tied for the team-lead on the Lakers. In addition, Calder is tied for second among all WCHA players in points with 11. 

● Boudon extended his point streak to five games (3G, 4A) as he netted a goal in Friday's game followed up by a three-point effort in Saturday's game. The Grenoble, France natve registered his first multi-point game of his collegiate career with a goal and two assists in Saturday's win.

LAKERS VS. BEMIDJI STATE:                                                                                 

● The Lakers and the Beavers will meet for the first time since last season's best-of-three WCHA Quarterfinals that the Lakers would win in two games. LSSU and Bemidji State met a total of four times last season with the Lakers winning the season series by a measure of three games to one.

●The series this weekend will be the first of two series between the Lakers and the Beavers this month. Bemidji State will travel to Sault Ste. Marie for a pair of games on Friday, Nov. 29 and Saturday, Nov. 30 to wrap up the regular season series between the teams. 

● In the all-time series between the two teams, the Lakers hold the advantage by an overall record of 33-26-14 against the Beavers. The Lakers have posted a 15-11-3 record on the Beavers' home ice. 

●Against Bemidji State, Max Humitz leads the teams with six goals, while Collin Saccoman also has recorded six points (2G, 4A) against the Beavers. Last season, Ashton Calder had four assists against Bemidji in four games played.

● In his only start against Bemidji, which came during his rookie season in 2017-18, Mareks Mitens posted a shutout.  

● The Lakers have won five of the last six meetings against Bemidji State.

SCOUTING THE BEAVERS:                                                                                         

• Bemidji State is led by Tom Serratore, who entered his 19th season as the hesd coach of the Beavers this season. Serratore is coming off of his 298th career win, making him the second-winningest head coach in Beavers program history.

• The Beavers have played six games so far, including two non-conference series against St. Cloud and North Dakota and a WCHA pair of games against Alaska. Bemidji State holds a 1-3-2 overall record and a 1-1-0-0 WCHA record heading into this weekend's series against the Lakers.

• Senior Adam Brady and sophomore Nick Cardelli have had success in putting up points against Lake Superior State. Brady leadsthe team with four points on four assists in eight games versus the Lakers, while Cardelli has a team-best three goals in four career appearances versus Lake Superior State.

• Aaron Miller totaled two assists versus the Nanooks to increase his team-best assists total to five and leads BSU with six points (1G, 5A). 

• Zach Driscoll has played the bulk of minutes for the Beavers this season and started both games in Fairbanks, Alaska. He turned aside a career-high 39 shots Friday to record the first shutout of his junior season. He leads the team with a 1-2-1 record and a 1.96 goals against average and a .932 save percentage.

• Bemidji's penalty kill has been solid this season, as the team has allowed two power play goals in 16 total opportunities for a success rate of 87.5%. 

• The Beavers power play is running at a 5.9% as the team has one power play goal in 17 opportunities this season while also allowing three shorthanded goals.

• Entering the 2019-20 season, Bemidji State was picked to finish third in the WCHA in the Mankato Free Press WCHA Coaches Poll and fifth in the WCHA Preseason Media Poll.

CONFERENCE PLAY AHEAD:                                                                                                   

•Following this weekend's series, the Lakers will continue with Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) games through the next stretch of play.

• The remainder of November will see the Lakers alternate between home and away series with the team traveling to Bemidji State, hosting Michigan Tech, traveling to Bowling Green and closing out the month with a home series against Bemidji State. 

BALANCED ATTACK:                                                                                

• The Lakers have five players among the top 15 scorers in the WCHA. The Laker offense has been evenly distributed this season as 17 players have recorded at least a point, 11 players with four or more points, seven players with six or more points and three players recording ten or more points.

• 13 different players have scored a goal for Lake Superior this season and all four game winning goals have been scored by different players. 

• In the Lakers first weekend of conference play, 10 different players notched at least a point in the series with eight players recording two or more points during the pair of games. 

•13 Lakers notched at least one point against Merrimack, 10 players had two or more points, four players had three points and one had five points. Nine different players recorded at least one point in the Lakers Oct. 26 game against Notre Dame.

•Last season the Lakers had 13 players record 10 or more points with nine of those players returning this season. Eight players registered at least 22 points and five of them are returning members of the 2019-20 squad. 

• The Lakers also return one of three 30-plus point scorers from 2018-19 in Max Humitz (33 points). 

• 13 different players netted the game winning goal for the Lakers in 2018-19 - with 10 of those players returning to the lineup this year. 

ANCHORED DOWN:                                                                               

• The Lakers returned five of their top six defensemen from last season as well as two goaltenders to provide a solid back end presence for the team heading into the 2019-20 season. 

• Lake State's defense has been active with six  d-men recording at least two points through the first ten games of the season.  Collin Saccoman leads all Lakers defenseman with nine points (6G, 3A), and notched his first multi-goal game of his career last weekend against Notre Dame. 

• Saccoman has scored five goals in the past three games and leads the Lakers as well as all NCAA defensemen in goals this season.

Will Riedell has posted two goals and two assists this season.

• In the opening weekend of the 2019-20 season, the Lakers defensemen proved to be the same steady force that they were last season with five defensemen all tallying a point against the Warriors and five of them having multi-point weekends. 

•  Two game-winning goals this season have been scored by Laker d-men (Nordqvist, Saccoman). 

• Four of the last year's regulars recorded at least 11 points - Will Riedell (11), Nordqvist (18), Kaelble (23) and Saccoman (25). 

BETWEEN THE PIPES:                                                                                           

• Laker netminder Mareks Mitens earned his second set of back-to-back wins this season as he backstopped the team to a pair of wins against Ferris State at home last weekend. Following the sweep over Ferris State, Mitens record this season improves to 4-5-0. 

• Mitens leads all WCHA netminders with 221 saves this season, as no other goalie in the league has more than 200. 

Roman Bengert got the start in goal for the Lakers in the Oct. 26 game against Notre Dame. The game, which ended in a 6-4 Laker defeat, marked Bengert's his first career start for the Lakers. Bengert would stop a career-high 24 shots in the contest.

• Mitens started the first seven straight games this season for the Lakers, which included a home series against Merrimack, a pair of home games against No. 2 Denver, a road series against Michigan and the first game of a two-game series at Notre Dame. Mitens posted a 2-5-0 record through that stretch. 

• In the opening series of the season, goaltender Mareks Mitens was solid in net for the Lakers as he stopped 52 of the 57 shots he faced from the Warriors, including a penalty shot save in the first game. It marked the first time in Mitens' career that he has posted back-to-back wins in a weekend series. 

Mareks Mitens appeared in 11 games for the Lakers in 2018-19, including a shutout on the road against Minnesota State.