Game Notes

For Starters                                                                                                                                                                                  

• No. 18 Lake Superior State (15-6-3, 9-5-0 WCHA) is set for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Postseason to begin this weekend as the Lakers, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, host the No. 7 seed University of Alabama Huntsville Chargers in a best-of-three series that opens on Friday, March 12 at 7:07 p.m. in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. in the Taffy Abel Arena. The second game is set for a 5:07 p.m. start on Saturday, March 13 at 5:07 p.m. and if necessary, game three will be played on Sunday, March 14 at 5:07 p.m.
• Last week, the Lakers played three games in the final week of the WCHA regular season including a pair of road games in a midweek series against then-No. 17 Bemidji State Beavers and a single home game on Saturday afternoon against Ferris State. The Lakers secured four of a possible six points against the Beavers in a win and an overtime loss, and closed out the regular season with a 2-1 victory against the Bulldogs. 
• Lake Superior State finished the regular season with 27 points in league play, which is tied with the Bowling Green Falcons. The Lakers swept the season series against the Falcons to win the tiebreaker to earn the second seed in the 2021 WCHA Playoffs. 
• It marks the highest regular season finish for Lake Superior State since the 1995-96 season when the team finished tied for first place in the CCHA standings. Lake Superior State's highest finish in the WCHA regular season standings was fourth place in 2018-19. It marks the second time since joining the WCHA that the Lakers have hosted a playoff series (2018-19). 
• Since Feb. 1, the Lakers have compiled an 9-3-0 overall record and two of the team's three losses have come in overtime. 
• For the seventh time this season, the Lakers are nationally ranked as LSSU holds the No. 18 spot in the USCHO poll. For the 16th straight week, the Lakers have received votes in at least one of the two national polls (USCHO and the USA Today). Previously this season, the Lakers have been ranked five times in the USCHO National Poll (No. 20, No. 19), marking the first national ranking for the program since the 2018-19 season.
• The Lakers returned for the program's 55th season in 2020-21 following a seventh place finish in the WCHA standings during the 2019-20 season as the team posted a 14-23-4 overall record and an 11-14-4 record in conference play. LSSU qualified for the WCHA postseason for the second consecutive season and would fall to the second seeded Bemidji State in the first round of the playoffs.
• Lakers Head Coach Damon Whitten begins his seventh season behind the bench in Sault Ste. Marie in 2020-21. Whitten has led the team to a 95-132-27 record, and playoff appearances in all but one season. 
• The Lake Superior State hockey program is approaching 1,000 all-time wins as the team earned its 997th all-time win on Saturday against Ferris State.

In the Last Week....                                                                                                                     

• In the opening game of the series against Bemidji State, junior forward Pete Veillette would tie the game with his 10th goal of the season for the Lakers in the second period. Will Riedell and Ashton Calder would record the assists on the goal. 
• With the game tied at one at the end of regulation, the Lakers would fall in the early minutes of overtime to the Beavers to get one point in the overtime loss.  Goaltender Mareks Mitens finished the game with 22 saves for LSSU.
• On Wednesday evening, the Lakers responded with a 5-2 win over the Beavers to secure three points in the WCHA playoff race. Louis Boudon scored his career-best seventh goal of the season in the first period to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead over BSU. Veillette and Lukas Kaelble would add the assists on the goal.
• With the assist, Veillette extended his point streak to five games (3G, 4A) and has posted points in nine of the last ten games. Kaelble's assist marked the 49th of his collegiate career, and his next helper will make his the 86th Lakers all-time to record at least 50 career assists. 
• Ashton Calder scored his first goal of the game at 8:12 of the second period to give the Lakers a 2-1 lead. Defensemen Mitchell Oliver and Jacob Bengtsson recorded the assists on the goal. 
• With the two teams tied at two heading into the third period, freshman defenseman Jacob Bengtsson scored his first career goal, which would stand as the eventual game winner at 10:57 of the period. In addition to scoring his first goal and first game winning goal, Bengtsson would also record his first career multi-point game with a goal and an assist. 
• Freshman forward Benito Posa would record the primary assist on his classmate's goal and enters the playoffs tied for eighth in freshmen scoring in the WCHA with eight points (4G, 4A).
• Calder would seal the win for the Lakers with the final two goals of the game as the junior forward scored his first collegiate hat trick in the victory. It marked the first Laker hat trick since the 2018-19 season (Brayden Gelsinger). With the trio of goals, Calder has tied his previous season-high in goals with 12. 
• Boudon assisted on the final two goals, to finish the game with three points (1G, 2A), tying his single-game best.
• Oliver also recorded a multi-point game in the victory as he tallied assists on Calder's first two goals, to register his second mulit-point game of the season. 
• Mitens finished the game with 36 saves to record his 10th win of the season. The 36 stops marked the highest number of saves in a single game for the senior goaltender this season. 
• On Saturday afternoon, Veillette scored the game's first goal to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead with Calder and Boudon notching the assists. The goal would extend Veillette's point streak to six, setting a new career-high for the junior forward. 
• Riedell would net the eventual game winner with a power play goal late in the second period as the Lakers held on for the 2-1 win over the Bulldogs. Posa and Brandon Puricelli would notch the assists on the game winning goal. 
• Mitens closed out the regular sesaon with 16 saves on 17 shots by the Bulldogs in the game for his 11th win of the season, and the 33rd of his Laker career, which is 10th place all-time in program history.
• For their play in the three Laker games, Calder, Riedell and Bengtsson were recognized as WCHA Players of the Week. Calder was named Forward of the Week, Riedell was named Defenseman of the Week, Bengtsson was named Rookie of the Week.
• This season, the Lakers power play has gone 9-for-94, totaling a 9.6% success rate while the team's penalty kill has killed off 71 of 85  power play opportunities (83.5%). 

In the Polls                                                                                       

• For the seventh time this season, the Lakers are nationally ranked as LSSU holds the No. 18 spot in the USCHO poll. For the 16th straight week, the Lakers have received votes in at least one of the two national polls (USCHO and the USA Today). Previously this season, the Lakers have been ranked five times in the USCHO National Poll (No. 20, No. 19), marking the first national ranking for the program since the 2018-19 season.
• In the WCHA Preseason Polls,  Lake Superior State was picked to finish in the sixth spot in both polls, receiving 49  total points in the 2020-21 WCHA Preseason Coaches Poll and 44 total points in the 2019-20 WCHA Preseason Media Poll.

Comin' In Hot                                                                                        

• The Lakers enter the 2021 postseason as one of the hottest teams in the country with a 9-3-0 overall record since Feb. 1. Only one of the team's losses in that span have come in regulation.  
• Lake Superior State finished the regular season with a .688 win percentage in overall play, which ranks 11th in the NCAA, and a .643 win percentage in WCHA competition. The .688% mark is the program's highest since the 1995-96 season and the .643 conference percentage ties the 1999-00 Lakers mark in CCHA play. 
• Since Feb. 1, the Lakers have totaled a .750 win percentage which is third in the NCAA among teams who have played 10 or more games since then (Minnesota State, Wisconsin). The Lakers are tied for first in wins (9) in the NCAA with Minnesota State and Michigan Tech since Feb. 1. 
• Veillette and Calder are two of five players in the NCAA to score seven or more goals since Feb. 1.

All-Conference Recognition                                                                        

• Four Lakers received all conference honors following the end of the WCHA regular season. Forward Ashton Calder, defenseman Will Riedell, and goaltender Mareks Mitens earned All-WCHA Second Team honors while forward Pete Veillette earned All-WCHA Third Team honors.
• Calder finished the regular season leading the Lakers with 23 points (12G, 11A) in 24 games played. Calder ranked first on the team with 12 goals, which ties his previous season best, and second on the Lakers in assists with 11 this season. At the close of the regular season, Calder ranks tied for sixth among WCHA players in points this season and  tied for third among conference players in goals.
• Riedell finished the regular season with 15 points (5G, 10A) in 24 games this season. The defenseman ranks tied for third among his teammates and leads all Laker defensemen in the category this season. Riedell, an alternate captain for the Lakers, finished the regular season ranking third among WCHA defenseman in points and was one of four conference defenders with two or more game winning goals this season.
• Mitens ended the regular season with an 11-5-3 record in 21 starts for the Lakers. The senior netminder finished with a .934 save percentage which ranks second among all WCHA goaltenders, and a 1.86 goals against average, which is third best among his conference peers. Mitens finished the season ranking fourth in minutes played in the WCHA (1164:05) and third in saves (509). The senior is one of the nine finalists in Division I hockey for the Mike Richter Award, which is given to the top goaltender annually. In all but three of his 21 appearances in the regular season, Mitens has allowed two or fewer goals.
• Veillette posted 21 points (11G, 10A) in 24 games for the Lakers this season to rank second on the team in points and second in goals among the Lakers. Veillette ended the regular season riding a six game point streak (4G, 4A) and posted six multi-point games this season. Veillette finished the regular season tied for eighth in points in the conference and tied for fourth in goal scoring in the WCHA this year. The junior sits in fifth place among all WCHA skaters in plus/minus with a +17 rating.

Keys to Success                                      

• With an 8-2-0 record on the road this season, the Lakers were the last Division I program with an undefeated road record this season. The Lakers dropped a 4-1 game on the road to Michigan Tech on Feb. 23 but previously posted three consecutive road wins, all against ranked teams (No. 12 Bowling Green, No. 18 Michigan Tech). 
• Among teams with 10 or more road games this season in the NCAA, the Lakers have the second best win percentage (.800%), behind only Minnesota. 
• When the Lakers have scored the game's first goal, the team holds a 9-0-1 record this season. LSSU has posted a 7-0-1 record when leading after one period and a perfect 8-0-0 record when leading after two periods of play.
• For the first time since the 2018-19 season, the Lakers have recorded a five game win streak (12/17/2018 - 1/11/2019, 8 wins). The win streak began with a road sweep of the then-ranked No. 12 Bowling Green Falcons. With a 2-1 win in overtime in Friday's game and a 5-2 victory on Saturday night, the Lakers earned a sweep over a ranked team for the first time since the 2013-14 season. The Lakers, the road team in that series, swept then-ranked No. 16 Union by final scores of 6-5 (OT) on Friday, Oct. 18 and 3-2 on Saturday, Oct. 19.
• With a .643 win percentage this season in WCHA play, the Lakers rank second among WCHA teams in the category, trailing only Minnesota State. 

Balanced Attack                                                       

• 21 Lakers have notched at least a point this season and nine players have recorded at least 10 points through the first 20 games of the season. 15 skaters have scored a goal for the Lakers this season with nine of them scoring four or more goals. Two Lakers have 10 or more goals this season (Calder, Veillette). 
• The Lakers 14 game winning goals this season have been scored by 10 different players (Bengtsson, Boudon, Calder, Eriksson, Jeffers, Mucha, Oliver, Posa, Riedell, Veillette). 
• Lake Superior State's skaters will return 60% of last season's goal scoring (58 of 96 total goals), 81% of last season's assist totals (142 of 176 total assists) and 74% of the total points recorded (200 of 272 total points). 
• Four of the Lakers top five goal scorers from last season are back this season (Calder, Veillette, Boudon, Eriksson), nine of the top 10 assist scorers (Boudon, Eriksson, Calder, Veillette, Riedell, Miura, Nordqvist, Kaelble, Oliver), and nine of the top 10 point getters (Calder, Boudon, Veillette, Eriksson, Riedell, Miura, Nordqvist, Kaelble, Manz). 
• LSSU had five players among the top 33 scorers in the WCHA last season, with all but one returning to the lineup this season. 
• Last season the Lakers had nine players record 10 or more points with eight of those skaters returning this season. Five players registered at least 24 points and four of them are returning members of the 2020-21 squad. 
• Nine different players netted the game winning goal for the Lakers in 2019-20 - with six of those players returning to the lineup this year. 

Other Information                                                                                          

• Every week Bill Crawford and Matt Pocket along with Head Coach Damon Whitten, the assistant coaches and players take a look at the Laker Hockey program.  A review of past games, a look ahead to future action and more information and insight on the team and players.  The show airs live every Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. on ESPN 1400. 
• All Laker home and away games during the 2020-21 season will be available to watch live on FloHockey, the WCHA's streaming partner. For more information or to sign up for a subscription, visit https:/www.flohockey.tv. 
• Bill Crawford and Matt Pocket will be calling the Laker games this season. The radio call will be available to listen to on 99.5 Yes FM, the official radio station of Laker hockey. The broadcast stream can also be accessed at www.yesfm.net