Second place Lakers off to Omaha

Two of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association’s hottest teams will meet this weekend as No. 15/16 ranked Lake Superior State travels to Nebraska-Omaha. The teams play at 8:05 p.m. EST on Friday and Saturday at the 14,700-seat Qwest Center.

The Lakers (14-7-5 overall), who are currently second in the CCHA standings with a 10-7-3 record, are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games and 4-1-1 since the holiday break. UNO (14-11-3 overall, 8-9-3 CCHA) picked up its first victory ever at the Carlson Center in Fairbanks, Alaska, last weekend, totaled three points in the series, and is 3-1-2 in its last six games.

The Mavs also boast the nation’s leading point getter, junior forward Scott Parse, who has 14 goals and 32 assists through 28 games this season. He and CCHA No. 3 scorer Bill Thomas (20-18—38) will be a formidable challenge for LSSU’s dynamic defensive duo of Kory Scoran and Ren Fauci, who held the CCHA’s No. 2 and 4 scorers, Alex Foster and Jonathan Matsumoto, without a goal in last weekend’s 6-1 and 4-2 Laker victories.

Several LSSU players enjoyed a stellar series against the Falcons and led their team to its fifth series sweep of the season. Senior forward Colin Nicholson totaled three goals and one assist and was +2 for the. Junior forward Dominic Osman added one goal and three assists and was +2, while senior forward Nathan Ward contributed a goal and two assists and was +4.

The Lakers will continue to miss the services of injured utility man Alex Dunn, who scored goals in four of the six games (4-2—6) against UNO in 2004-05. LSSU was 1-4-1 against the Mavs last season, including back-to-back, season-ending 4-3 losses in the first round of the CCHA Playoffs. The Lakers, in fact, suffered one-goal losses in five of their last six games.

LSSU scoring leaders heading into this weekend’s series are junior forward Trent Campbell (9-10—19), senior forward Nathan Ward (6-12—18), freshman forward Troy Schwab (7-10—17) and junior forward Dominic Osman (8-8—16). Junior defenseman Barnabas Birkeland is tied for 13th in the CCHA in plus/minus rating at +11. He was +3 against BGSU last weekend.

Junior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis improved his season goals-against average to 1.85 after stopping 59 of 62 shots (.952) against the Falcons. Jakaitis is currently ninth on LSSU’s career saves list with 2,114. He is already the program’s leader in all-time save percentage at .924 and is currently ranked fourth in the CCHA in overall gaa and save percentage (.930).

(Submitted by Linda Bouvet of the LSSU Sports Information Department)