FOR STARTERS
● The Lakers will travel to Plymouth, Mich. for an exhibition game against the U.S. National Team Development Program Under 18 Team on Friday, Jan. 31 at 7:00 p.m. at the USA Hockey Arena.
● Last weekend, the Lakers played at home for the first time in over a month as the team hosted the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves in a series that had crucial Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) points at stake as the playoff race heats up. The Lakers notched a 3-2 victory on Friday followed by a 3-3 tie on Saturday night, with Pete Veillette scoring in the three-on-three overtime to give the Lakers the extra league point.
• LSSU's record sits at 8-19-3 overall and 6-11-3-3 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.The Lakers opened conference play with two wins against Ferris State on Nov. 1 and 2, and have rotated between home and road WCHA series since, including an away series against No. 1 Minnesota State. In the month of December, five of the six games the Lakers played in were against ranked opponents.
• Lakers Head Coach Damon Whitten is in his sixth season behind the bench in Sault Ste. Marie. Whitten has led the team to a 74-123-22 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 series opener, the Lakers fell behind by a pair of goals to the Seawolves in the first period but would score three unanswered goals in the final two periods of play to secure the win.
● Senior captain Max Humitz recorded a pair of points in the game as he opened the Lakers scoring with a power play goal and assisted on the game winning goal.
● For the second time this season, the Lakers recorded two power play goals in a game as freshman forward Louis Boudon scored to tie the game at two with less than four minutes left in regulation.
● Sophomore Pete Veillette netted his team-leading third game winning goal of the season at 18:57 of the third period when he gave the Lakers their first lead in the game to seal the win.
● Seven players registered a point in the game, with Humitz and sophomore defenseman Jacob Nordqvist each notching multi-point games.
● The Lakers played a strong game defensively against the Seawolves, as they limited their opponent to a season-low 17 shots on goal in the game.
● In the second game of the series, the Lakers scored the first two goals of the game against Alaska Anchorage thanks to goals from Humitz and Hampus Eriksson.
● The goal marked Humitz' 100th career point as a Laker as the goal also tied his previous season-high in goals (16).
●The Laker captain leads the team in goals with 16 and points with 24 this season. Humitz is tied for second in the WCHA in goals as well as tied for third among all NCAA players in goals.
● Eriksson's goal was his fifth of the season which set a new season-high for the junior forward. Eriksson would record the secondary assist on the third goal of the game to bring his weekend total to three points.
● The Lakers scored the go-ahead goal at 4:11 of the second period when Ashton Calder added the team's third power play goal of the weekend. Calder set a new career-high in goals as he found the back of the net for the sixth time this season.
● The game would end in a tie but for WCHA purposes the second overtime was played to determine which team would receive the extra league point. Veillette, once again proving his status as a clutch player for the Lakers, would score in the three-on-three to give the Lakers the league advantage. In addition to his three game winning goals this season, Veillette has also scored twice in the second overtime for the Lakers this season.
● With an assist in the game, Veillette extended his current point streak to three games (2G, 1A) and has set new career highs in goals (8), assists (9) and points (17).
●Laker goaltender Mareks Mitens finished the weekend with 34 saves against the Seawolves. Since Nov. 30, the junior has allowed two goals or fewer in 10 of the 13 games that the Lakers have played.
● Mitens has faced 786 shots and made 708 saves this season, which both rank first in the WCHA. In the NCAA, Mitens has made the third most saves while ranking second in total shots faced. The Laker goalie has played more minutes (1687:03) than any other NCAA goaltender in 2019-20.
● Eight different players recorded at least a point against the Seawolves last weekend with five players registering at least a point in both games. Humitz, Eriksson and Boudon shared the team-lead in points in the weekend series with three each.
LAKERS VS. USNTDP
• In the all-time series between the two teams, the teams are tied with a 4-4-3 record in 11 meetings. The Lakers have won the last two games between the two programs.
•10 current Lakers have recorded at least a point against the National Team Development Program with Max Humitz leading the team with four points in two games (2G, 2A).
• Mareks Mitens has faced the NTDP twice in his career, registering a win in both matchups.
SCOUTING TEAM USA
• The National Team is led by Head Coach Seth Appert, who is in his second season in the role after a long tenure as the Head Coach of the NCAA's Division I men's hockey program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
• The U.S. team has compiled a 22-15-1 overall record in the United States Hockey League (USHL) this season. Team USA enters the game against the Lakers on a four game win streak.
• Team USA has three players who have surpassed the 30 point mark this season including Thomas Bordeleau (15-20-35), Brett Berard (15-18-33) and Matthew Beniers (14-18-32).
•The goaltending duo of Drew Commesso and Noah Grannan have evenly split the time in net this season. Commesso has a 13-5-0 record with a 1.96 goals against average and .924 save percentage. Grannan has recorded a 9-8-0 record with a 2.53 goals against average and a .889 save percentage.
• The NTDP's power play is running at a 16.8 percent success rate while the team's penalty kill percentage sits at 83.9%.
WHAT'S NEXT
• The Lakers will resume conference play next weekend as they travel to Houghton, Mich. to take on their Upper Peninsula rival, Michigan Tech in a WCHA series with important league points on the line. The series opener is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 7 at 7:00 p.m. and the series will close with a 5:00 p.m. game on Saturday, Feb. 8.