FOR STARTERS
• The Lakers will resume conference play this 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 7:07 p.m. and the series will close with a 5:07 p.m. game on Saturday, Feb. 8.
• Last weekend, the Lakers played a single exhibition game against the U.S. National Team Development Program Under-18's in Plymouth, Mich. The game ended in a shootout with Team USA winning by a score of 5-4.
• The Lakers last conference series came during the weekend of Jan. 24 & 25 when the team hosted the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves. Lake State 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
• Against the NTDP, the Lakers would score the game's opening goal which was credited to Pete Veillette. The team would then fall behind 3-1 in the third period before scoring three straight goals from Max Humitz, Miroslav Mucha and Louis Boudon to hold a 4-3 lead. Team USA would tie the game at four late in the third period to force overtime, and eventually a shootout.
• Humitz (1G, 1A), Boudon (1G, 1A) and Dustin Manz (2A) each tallied multi-point games against the NTDP.
• Mareks Mitens and Roman Bengert split the appearance in goal with the tandem combining for 31 saves in the game.
MILESTONES, CAREER HIGHS & LEAGUE LEADERS
• In the game on Jan. 25 against UAA, Humitz recorded his 100th career point as a Laker with a goal. The goal tied his previous season-high in goals (16). Humitz leads all current Lakers in career points with 100 (58G, 42A) in 138 career games, which also ranks first among his teammates. The Livonia, Mich. native leads all WCHA players in shots on goal this season with 113.
•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 fourth among all NCAA players in goals.
• Sophomore Pete Veillette netted his team-leading third game winning goal of the season at 18:57 of the third period on Friday, Jan. 24 when he gave the Lakers their first lead in the game to seal the win. Saturday's 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 point streak to three games (2G, 1A) and has set new career highs in goals (8), assists (9) and points (17).
• Hampus Eriksson would set a new career high in goals when he scored his fifth of the season on Jan. 25 against the Seawolves. Eriksson has set new career highs in points (19) and assists (14) as well.
• Eriksson and freshman forward Louis Boudon are tied for the team-lead in assists with 14 each this season. Boudon who has 18 points in his first collegiate season is sixth among WCHA freshmen in points.
• Ashton Calder also set a new career-high in goals in the Saturday game against UAA as he found the back of the net for the sixth time this season.
• Since Nov. 30, Laker goaltender Mareks Mitens 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 eighth most saves while ranking fourth in total shots faced. The Laker goalie has played more minutes (1687:03) than any other NCAA goaltender in 2019-20.
• Junior forward Yuki Miura leads the Lakers with 27 blocked shots this season and leads all WCHA forwards in the category.
• Freshman Dustin Manz leads the team with a .592 faceoff win percentage this season as he has won 164 of the 277 draws he has taken. Manz has the fourth best faceoff win percentage in the WCHA. Eriksson leads the team in faceoff wins with 281, which ranks sixth among all WCHA players.
• The Lakers have four players among the top 34 scorers in the WCHA. The Laker offense has been evenly distributed this season as 22 players have recorded at least a point, 11 players with seven or more points, seven players with ten or more points and five players recording 16 or more points. 16 different players have registered a goal for the Lakers this season.
LAKERS VS. MICHIGAN TECH
• The Lakers and Michigan Tech Huskies will meet for their second series of the season this weekend. Last season, the teams played each other three times, with the Lakers winning all three games, including the Great Lakes Invitational on Dec. 31, 2018 and a two-game home series later in the season. The Huskies swept the opening series of the 2019-20 season earlier this year by scores of 4-2 and 2-1.
• Humitz had goals in four of the five most recent games against the Huskies including both game winning goals in the road series against Michigan Tech last season. Humitz leads all Lake State skaters in career points against the Huskies with five goals and four assists in 13 games played.
• Against Michigan Tech this season, Will Riedell (2A) and Yuki Miura (2A) are tied for the team lead in points against the Huskies. Humitz, Niko Esposito-Selivanov and Pete Veillette have each netted goals against Michigan Tech.
•Mareks Mitens made 42 saves in the pair of games against the Huskies at home earlier this season.
• In the all-time series between the two teams, the Huskies hold the advantage in the series against the Lakers with a 48-24-7 record.
SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
• Michigan Tech is led by Joe Shawhan, who is in his third season as head coach of the Huskies. Shawhan, who is a Sault Ste. Marie native and attended LSSU, served as assistant coach at Lake Superior State from 2005-08.
• Shawhan was a goaltender for the Lakers from 1982-87, and totaled 1,130 saves in his career. He led the CCHA in both goals against average and save percentage during the
1985-86 season and left the program tied for first all-time in career GAA at 3.83.
• The Huskies have played 31 games this season, compiling a 15-13-3 overall record and 10-10-2 record in the WCHA. Most recently, the Huskies split a road series against Alabama Huntsville.
• The Huskies are led offensively by the due of Alec Broetzman (19 points) and Trenton Bliss (19 points). Broetzman leads the team with 12 goals this season.
• In goal, the Huskies have relied on junior Matt Jurusik who has started 26 games for Tech, posting a .921 save percentage and a 2.04 goals against average.
• The Huskies power play is running at a 16.5% success rate while the team's penalty kill sits at 81.3%.
WHAT'S NEXT
• The Lakers will be back home in Sault Ste. Marie next weekend for a two game series against the University of Alabama Huntsville Chargers. The opening game will be played on Friday, Feb. 14 at the Taffy Abel Arena in Michigan with the game scheduled for a 7:07 p.m. start while Saturday's game is set to be played in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario at the GFL Memorial Gardens. The game, which will count as a home game for the Lakers, is set for a 7:07 p.m. puck drop.