From: Bri Farenell <[log in to unmask]>
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>I was wondering what's the deal with Lake Superior St? Everyone had them
>as one of the top teams in the country. I certainly expected them to
>be very good and a phinal phour contender. They seem to be very
>inconsistent as of late. Needing a late rally to tie not so hot Ohio
>St. I believe they lost to Kent on Friday. I think I heard that
>Lacher was injured but that doesn't seem to explain everything. I was
>wondering if Laker (or CCHA) fans knew what was up with LSSU?
I attribute some of LSSU's disappointing season to Lacher's injuries, and
much of it to the lack of a go-to forward. The 1990s have been filled with
players such as Jim Dowd, Doug Weight and Brian Rolston. The Lakers no
longer have such a player. I look at the LSSU roster and see incredible
depth, but no one line or one individual is stepping up and leading. I
didn't see this as a problem before the season started -- when LSSU is
clicking the beat you 7-1 with seven different goal scorers, and I saw this
season as being no different. However, the top line is now full of
point-a-game players rather than 1.5-2.0 points-per-game players. I guess a
great supporting cast isn't enough to win consistently.
At the blueline, sophomore Keith Aldridge is having a great season and
should be the next LSSU All-American on defense (following Mark Astley and
Michael Smith). However, Steven Barnes has suffered through a hand injury
that has limited his effectiveness. Barnes has received All-CCHA
recognition each of the past two seasons, and is the quarterback on the
Laker power play. He has appeared in 23 games, but he hasn't been healthy
in all 23.
Among the seniors, I really had a good feeling about Kurt Miller, more so
than Clayton Beddoes. I expected 60+ points from Miller, which doesn't look
likely.
Here are the Laker's current overall stats. Be your own judge.
NAME YR NHL GP G A PTS PEN MIN PP SH HAT WG EN DQ
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Tallaire,Sean SO VAN 29 13 19 32 10 20 6 0 0 3 0 0
Beddoes,Clayton SR --- 28 13 18 31 15 30 4 0 0 1 0 0
Miller,Kurt SR STL 27 11 18 29 21 40 7 1 0 1 0 1
Strachan,Wayne JR NYR 29 14 13 27 26 52 6 1 1 3 0 0
Aldridge,Keith SO ** 29 6 18 24 26 52 4 0 0 0 0 0
Valicevic,Rob JR NYI 29 11 12 23 14 28 4 0 0 1 0 0
Morin,Mike JR --- 28 9 14 23 17 35 5 0 0 1 1 1
Barnes,Steven SR --- 23 3 13 16 10 20 2 0 0 1 0 0
Ness,Jay SR --- 29 5 10 15 1 2 1 0 0 0 1 0
Tallaire,Gerald FR --- 20 3 9 12 6 12 1 0 0 0 0 0
Trzcinski,Jason SO --- 27 7 3 10 10 20 0 0 0 2 0 0
Matteucci,Mike SO --- 29 5 5 10 20 48 1 0 0 1 0 0
Alvey,Matt FR BOS 26 3 7 10 5 10 0 0 0 0 0 0
Willner,Brad JR NJ 29 2 8 10 9 18 0 0 0 0 0 0
Galarneau,Danny FR --- 19 3 3 6 8 16 0 0 0 1 0 0
McCabe,Scott FR NJ 12 2 4 6 5 10 1 0 0 2 0 0
Angelelli,Dan JR --- 28 3 2 5 24 48 0 0 0 1 0 0
Pulente,Gino FR --- 18 2 3 5 2 4 1 0 0 0 0 0
Wetherill,Darren SR BOS 28 1 4 5 30 76 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sass,Paul FR ** 11 0 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Felsner,Brian FR --- 6 1 1 2 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sharpe,Ryan FR --- 8 0 1 1 4 8 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bilben,Josh FR --- 10 0 1 1 6 12 0 0 0 0 0 0
Koiranen,Mike FR * 10 0 1 1 4 8 0 0 0 0 0 0
Lacher,Blaine JR --- 14 0 1 1 8 22 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kulick,Sean FR --- 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
GOALIE TEAM YR NHL GP GA AVG PCT W L T SAV MIN
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Lacher,Blaine LSS JR --- 14 34 2.52 0.895 7 4 2 291 809:58
Kulick,Sean LSS FR --- 8 18 2.62 0.895 4 2 0 154 412:37
Sass,Paul LSS FR ** 11 25 2.78 0.872 7 3 0 170 539:19
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John H
U Mich
P.S. Someone mentioned to me that the Lakers seemed to have folded since the
early January sweep at the hands of Michigan. I don't know if there is a
connection here or not, but that series was LSSU's opportunity to make a
race out of the CCHA and they came up empty. (And they'd played well enough
to win on Friday.) Usually, such a set back would motivate LSSU into
steamrolling everyone from there on out, but they seem to be going in the
opposite direction this year.
P.S.S. Don't close the door on the Lakers, yet. They are 18-9-2 overall and
well within striking distance of 2nd place in the CCHA. LSSU has finished
2nd and 3rd in the CCHA the past two seasons, and both teams wound up in the
NC$$ Championship Game.
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