LSSU Lakers

[sm3pk]

Laker players need to go home for holidays..set up a net in front of their homes and just shoot the puck until they cant shoot anymore.Then get up the next day and do it for the whole time they are off.Its getting sad to hear shot after shot after shot is wide,over the top.hit the crossbar.miss the open net.miss the pass out front.had the net wide open but hit the goalie.There also was a time when Lake State would hit with anyone but you dont hear that either anymore. Sorry guys and girls.but after 3 months and they seem to going backwards again,it gets frustrating.

[Bill]

Yah, it's kind of like I said before the season started. They are improving and may move up the standings a bit, but until we start seeing some fairly significant increase in their ability to put the puck in the net, they aren't going to move up a whole lot. At least these were non-conference games, so it doesn't hurt them in the CCHA standings.

On the plus side, it at least sounds like they have one or two scorers lined up for next season, and they are center icemen to boot.

If we're lucky, maybe some of the guys will step up their game after the holidays. No one has significantly done that yet from last season to this, although Matt Restoule has shown some improvement and Jon Booras has been able to score some goals lately.

[TimU]

Laker players need to go home for holidays..set up a net in front of their homes and just shoot the puck until they cant shoot anymore.Then get up the next day and do it for the whole time they are off.Its getting sad to hear shot after shot after shot is wide,over the top.hit the crossbar.miss the open net.miss the pass out front.had the net wide open but hit the goalie.There also was a time when Lake State would hit with anyone but you dont hear that either anymore. Sorry guys and girls.but after 3 months and they seem to going backwards again,it gets frustrating.

I listened to the Sunday game on the radio, and LSSU did get quite a few shots through to the net. Pesony had a good game for SLU. So it's not like they didn't get their chances. They spent plenty of time in the SLU zone.

On the other hand, they had a pretty big advantage in terms of penalty calls (after Anzalone felt like it went SLU's way on Saturday, I think) - including two different 5-on-3s - and they lost the special teams battle pretty decisively. This against a team whose special teams play has been pretty bad up to this point - although, to be fair, SLU's big guns did come through yesterday.

Anyway, it sounded to me like Lake Superior played a pretty good game offensively, at least in terms of shooting the puck on net. They just couldn't finish, and they gave up too many good opportunities the other way, to the wrong guys. And this game sounded pretty physical, as well. If anything, it was dangerously close to turning dirty in the third period, but cooler heads prevailed.

[Lakerblue]

It sounded like many of the Lakers started their Christmas break a weekend too early.

Tough trip up to the Northland . . . and the Non-conference games continue to give the Lakers fits.

But a good first half of the season in the league. Slowly crawling up the table, taking points on the road . . .

Lots of home league games coming up -- lots of good chances for some sweeps. Home playoffs could be in our future! (Despite the non-effort of this weekend).

[Laker Hockey Girl2]

I'm hoping that this Christmas Holiday is just what the Lakers need. I think that they need some time with their families, time away from each other, time to regroup themselves. I hope that after a bit of relaxing and getting some things off their mind for a few days might help them. They can come back with focus and work as a team.

It's nice that they get a couple more days this year than last year. I know, after talking to a couple of the guys, that they were REALLY excited about their time off. The common response was that they couldn't wait to spend some quality time with their families and leave school behind for a bit! :-D

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!! In just a couple short weeks I'll be back up (along w/ a few other rowdy sidekicks for the Sat. night Notre Dame game) in the Great White North, LOVE the snow, but I realized just how much I DO miss this nice southern weather ;-)

[sm3pk]

Everyone have a Mery Christmas and lets hope the team does even better in second half then first.Even when we disagrree on here and get frustrated,it just means we are all die hard Laker fans and in the good times and the bad,we will always be.Merry Christmas and all have a Happy and safe New Year.

[Bill]

Yes, Merry Christmas to all Laker fans. And not just Laker fans, but Merry Christmas to all college hockey fans.

[michiganmidge]

Happy Holidays to all!

[thepuck57]

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL THE LAKERS!!!!
KEEP UP THE HARD WORK. IT SHOWS!!!!! :D

[thepuck57]

IS ANYONE WATCHING THE JUNIOR WORLD TOURNAMENT GAMES? WOW, LAST NIGHT AGAINST SWITZERLAND WAS A WILD THIRD PERIOD. IT HAD TO BREAK SOME RECORDS.

[Mogerfan]

IS ANYONE WATCHING THE JUNIOR WORLD TOURNAMENT GAMES? WOW, LAST NIGHT AGAINST SWITZERLAND WAS A WILD THIRD PERIOD. IT HAD TO BREAK SOME RECORDS.

I switched to Monday night football during the intermissions. When I was 3 minutes late changing it back to the hockey game, I had missed 5 goals!

It is great to have hockey back on TV for those of us who live far from their college teams. That game against Russia was one of the best games I've seen in a long time. Montoya looks weak though.......

[sm3pk]

Heard a nice thing last week at a store.Had a Laker sweatshirt on and some young guy asked if it meant Lake State.The guy played for Bowling Green last year and he told me he thinks Lake State will be back to the top and the reason he said was Anzalone.He told me Anzalone is tough on the players at times but Anzalone is a very good coach and if the players and fans and school stay with him,he will make them champions again.It was nice hearing that from another player from another school. So lets keep backing Frank and lets let the players know they couldnt have a better coach to take them back up.

[Bill]

Yes, I agree that's nice to hear, but we also need to get us a couple of snipers, and/or hope that a couple of the current guys turn into snipers soon.

[michiganmidge]

Wow, we slipped to page 3! :p

Happy New Year to all Laker fans. Are we ready and looking forward to ND this weekend? I know I am. This drought of home games has been too long, and I'm looking forward to the action resuming.

[LSSU57]

Good news to start 2005! Appears that both Mark Adamek and Barnabas Birkeland are being reinstated to the team. I hope this holds out to be true. They are both on the roster on the website so it appears to be true. Maybe LSSU can take out both Notre Dame and Alabama-Huntsville and go on a 4-game winning streak. GO LAKERS!!

[Bill]

The return of Birkeland and Adamek on defense, aside from strengthening the Lakers at that position, should also help the offense by freeing up Dunn and McJannet to retrun to their forward positions, and also allow all the forwards to concentarte more on offense without having to worry quirte so much about getting back to help out the thin defense.

Improvements from last season, now that we are halfway through this season:

1. Overall team scoring is up. They are averaging 2.75 goals per game in the CCHA.

2. Special teams play is better. They are in the middle of the pack in both power play and penalty kill percentage, rather than being at or near the bottom.

3. They are tied for 6th place in the CCHA.

Where we haven't seen enough improvement to make more significant strides is still the Lakers ability to put the puck in the net:

1. Looking at the top 20 CCHA scorers at the midpoint, there are no Lakers listed. This has been the norm since the early Borek years when he still had some good holdover players from Jeff Jackson.

2. Only 2 Lakers have hit double digits in total points. Jon Booras at 7-5-12, and Matt Restoule at 4-6-10.

3. Only 2 Lakers are on a pace to reach double digits in goals by season's end. Jon Booras with 7 and Nathan Ward with 6.

I think there is still potential to make more progress on improving this latter set of stats in the second half now that the defense isn't so thin. But that also depends upon how much some of the guys can step up their game now that they are getting more experience. I look (or at least hope) to see continued offensive improvement in the second half, although in all honesty it's difficult to see a whole lot of improvement. It would be great to see the Lakers prove me wrong on this point and really start lighting it up.

I think Matt Restoule has been the most improved player this season. Dan Eves has been a pleasant surprise among the freshmen, and Derek Smith (freshman D-man) has shown some signs of being the offensive defensemen that the Lakers have been lacking for a long time.

[Proud2baLaker]

It is official that Adamek and Birkeland have been reinstated. The Laker web site has an article that states that they have been reinstated. This is good news as it will bring back some experience to the D and Dunn and McJannet can move back to fowards.

Im happy for Adamek and Birkeland they are two great guys.

[jnacc]

It is official that Adamek and Birkeland have been reinstated. The Laker web site has an article that states that they have been reinstated. This is good news as it will bring back some experience to the D and Dunn and McJannet can move back to fowards.

Im happy for Adamek and Birkeland they are two great guys.


Great news!!!!! Our depth was stretched way to thin which was going to lead to serious problems in the second half. Things are looking much better now!

[Lakerblue]

Great news.

The lakers could ill afford to lose two quality players, especially on the blue line. This really helps the team depth.

[Laker Hockey]

whooo hooo....... #35 in the RPI