FACEOFF WITH JEFF JACKSON
by John Haeussler
 
Lake Superior State University.  For college hockey fans
it brings to mind anchors on jerseys, foghorns following
goals and exuberant ringing of the victory bell.  And, of
course, CCHA and NCAA titles.  With three straight
national championship game appearances, the Lakers are
somewhat of a college hockey dynasty.  But, has the LSSU
ship sailed, or even sunk?  The crew from Sault Ste.
Marie, Michigan haven't enjoyed a banner campaign in
1994-95.  In fact, even with an eleven game unbeaten
streak near the close of the regular season, the Lakers
could do no better than fourth in the CCHA.  I recently
had the pleasure of chatting with LSSU Head Coach and
Athletic Director Jeff Jackson regarding the Lakers
season and a few other topics.
 
U.S. COLLEGE HOCKEY MAGAZINE: The Lakers suffered through
an uncharacteristic 3-6-3 start to the season.  Can you
isolate why the team struggled early?
 
JACKSON: I think the biggest reason is that we started
off the season real young up the middle.  We had a
freshman goaltender, four freshman defensemen and a
freshman and two sophomore centers.  That youth up the
middle took some time to gain some experience and really
understand our system.
 
USCHM: At any point did you or the team think, 'Jeez,
we've dug a hole too deep to come out of'?
 
JACKSON: We've had a lot of heartbreaking losses and
those are tough to take, but I think they toughen you up
as long as you don't lose confidence in those tight
situations.  Our team has played better in tight
situations in recent weeks.  I'm proud of the way they've
developed as a team and they've played extremely well
over the last month.
 
USCHM: How did the local fans react to the slow start?
 
JACKSON: Not bad.  Our fans are like any fans.  They
expect us to be a championship caliber team every year.
They've grown to expect excellence.  I think the slow
start...they understood.  Losing a junior goaltender
(Blaine Lacher) to the National Hockey League, they
understood that we were going to go through some growing
pains.
 
USCHM: What has been the primary factor in the team's
recent unbeaten streak?
 
JACKSON: The gained experience by those young people.
John Grahame has improved a lot from the first half of
the year and gained a lot of valuable experience.  He's
the youngest goaltender we've had in here in years and
he's replacing another All-American, so it's a tough
situation.  I think his development and that of our young
defensemen has propelled us forward to being a contender,
at least, to get to Joe Louis Arena (site of the CCHA
finals).
 
USCHM: Sophomore forward Brian Felsner has to be one of
the pleasant surprises of the season.  Were you counting
on him for as much offensive production as he's provided?
 
JACKSON: I don't think early on we expected him to do as
much as he's done, but he lit fire the opening weekend
and he's gone forward since then.  He's been a very
pleasant surprise and has really helped us overcome the
loss of two outstanding senior centers from last year,
Jay Ness and Clayton Beddoes.  His development really
helped because it took a little longer than we expected
for Terry Marchant to grow.
 
USCHM: I'm going to mention a few of the Laker freshmen.
Assess their play this season and future expectations.
Let's start with goaltender John Grahame.
 
JACKSON: I think he has a brilliant future.  He's a big
kid that handles the puck extremely well and he has a
good demeanor for a goaltender.  He's learned to take
care of some weaknesses in his style and once he's
adapted a little bit he's going to be a great collegiate
goaltender.
 
USCHM: Forwards Bates Battaglia and Joe Blaznek.
 
JACKSON: Battaglia is going to be a tremendous player.
He has great savvy, with and without the puck.  He's an
extremely smart player and he's the one freshman that has
stepped in right away and played as an upper classman.
He needs to gain some strength and once he does that he's
going to be a great player.  Joe Blaznek is a walk-on
that we didn't anticipate anything from and because of
his work ethic in practice, his speed, and his ability to
shoot the puck he's gotten his opportunity to push some
other people out of the line-up.
 
USCHM: Defensemen Dave Lambeth and Ted Laviolette.
 
JACKSON: In my opinion, Teddy Laviolette should make the
All-Rookie team for our conference.  He's an outstanding
young defenseman.  We picked him up in August and what an
important pick up as far as recruiting that was because
he's one of our top defensemen.  He's got some offensive
skills and can play defense as well as anybody in one-on-
one situations.  He's really made a big difference on our
defense.  Dave Lambeth is another young kid that we
thought could be a good player and has grown fast.  He's
very smart with the puck and is also a good defender.  He
doesn't look like anything spectacular, but he's so smart
he makes everything work for himself.
 
USCHM: What about the rest of this year's class?
 
JACKSON: The freshman class has been outstanding for us.
Terry Marchant (forward) has come a long way in the last
half of the season.  We have a redshirt freshman in Ryan
Sharpe, and another freshman, Christian Graham, that have
both contributed on defense.  Bryan Fuss (forward) is
going to be a good player for us down the road.  We're
happy with our freshman class.  They've made a big
difference in the second half with their gained
experience.
 
USCHM: Who are the key additions among next year's
newcomers?
 
JACKSON: We can only announce two that have signed
letters of intent.  Trevor Demmans is the leading
defenseman in the Saskatchewan junior league.  He has
about 70 points and is a real solid defender.  From
Compuware (NAJHL), Mike Kucsulain is a big, physical left
winger with pretty good hands and has the potential to
put the puck in the net.  Those are the only two that we
can announce at this point.
 
USCHM: How much do you miss NHLers Blaine Lacher and
Brian Rolston, who would both be seniors this year, on
and off the ice?
 
JACKSON: When you have success, you're going to lose
people.  Not only have we lost players to the National
Hockey League, but we've lost coaching staff as well
(assistant Paul Pooley took the top job at Providence
College over the Summer).  If you put Brian Rolston and
Blaine Lacher in our line-up, you think of our team
(chuckles).  But, who knows who we wouldn't have because
of their scholarships.  We have to look at it in a
positive way, too.  I'm proud of those guys having a
chance to play in the National Hockey League.
 
USCHM: What are your thoughts on the return to the one-
referee system in the CCHA this season, and what
adjustments will CCHA teams have to make, if any, for the
NCAA tournament?
 
JACKSON: I think that one referee is without question the
only way to go.  When you have quality officials, it
allows the linesmen to do their job calling icing and
offside.  When you have good officials, one (referee) can
do the job.  Good officials have the ability to look over
their shoulder and see things behind the play and now
that the back linesman has that authority (to call
penalties) I think it's the best system in the world.  I
don't think it'll be a major adjustment (for CCHA teams
in the NCAA).  We've been in the two man (referee) system
before.  If there are penalties, there are penalties.
It's just a matter of how many eyes see them.
 
USCHM: What was the motivation for playing a couple of
Detroit area games this season, namely Notre Dame in
Auburn Hills, Michigan and Ferris State in Fraser,
Michigan?
 
JACKSON: If you look at our roster we have a lot of
Detroit boys.  I'm from Detroit, so is Ron Rolston, my
assistant coach.  We've become popular in the down-state
area, especially with our success in recent years at Joe
Louis Arena.  I think we have a big fan base and a lot of
alumni in the Detroit area.  We're very happy and proud
to play down there.  It gives our kids a chance to play
close to home.
 
USCHM: Put your AD hat on for a moment and comment on the
"Gem of the North" project at Lake Superior and what it
will mean for the hockey team and the athletic program in
general.
 
JACKSON: It's been an ambition of mine over the last
several years to see us take the next step as far as
maintaining one of the top programs in the country.  To
do so you have to make steps forward and we can't
necessarily make all of those steps on the ice.  The Gem
of the North (which includes renovation of the ice arena
into a multi-purpose facility for hockey, concerts,
special events and conventions) is something that will
propel us into the 21st century and give us an
opportunity to compete recruiting-wise.  I think it's a
positive for our campus and our community.  It's a
positive for the students of Lake Superior State.  In the
long run we're hoping it will enhance our revenue to the
point where athletics will have very little cost to the
university and it will really secure Laker hockey for the
future.
[end article]
 
The above interview appeared in US COLLEGE HOCKEY
MAGAZINE.
 
 
John Haeussler
Univ of Michigan
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