Lakers Sail to Win over Broncos

Sophomore Matt Restoule helped
the Lakers to a big win in Kalamazoo

KALAMAZOO, MICH--- The Lake Superior State Lakers made a little history on Friday night as the downed the Western Michigan Broncos, 3-2, at the Lawson Arena. The win was the Lakers first road win over the Broncs since February, 2000.

Forward Bo Cheesman and defenseman Kory Scoran each scored to push LSSU (9-17-7, 8-11-6 CCHA) out to a 2-0 lead by the 4:54 mark of the second period.

The Broncos (11-18-2, 6-17-2 CCHA) charged back and tied the game with goals by Brent Walton and Jeff Pierce.

The Lakers held off the Broncos attack from there on and at 8:26 of the third period, sophomore Matt Restoule scored his seventh of the season for the game winner.

Laker goaltender Jeff Jakaitis started the game and totaled 22 saves. Matt Violin replaced Jakaitis after Pierce’s goal at the 1:18 mark of the third period and made 11 saves.

Vince Bellissimo stopped 25 shots on the other end for the Broncos.

LSSU finished the evening 0-6 on the power play and WMU went 1-3 with the man-advantage.

The Lakers and Broncos will conclude their two game bill with a 7:35 face-off back in K’Zoo on Saturday night.

Also on the ice Friday night…

Darin Olver scored a pair of goals as Northern Michigan rolled past Ferris State, 5-2, in Big Rapids.

Michigan State lost for the fourth time in five games as they dropped a, 2-1, loss on the road at Bowling Green.

The Michigan Tech Huskies skated to a 2-2 tie against the Seawolves at Alaska-Anchorage.

The Wayne State Warrior Women dropped a 3-1 decision to the Niagara Purple Eagles in Detroit.

Big Weekend for MTU, WCHA

Michigan Tech goes into the second to last weekend of the regular season needing points to get out of the basement in the WCHA. There are three different races in the toughest league in the nation that will be fun to watch play out, the top 3, the middle 3, and the bottom 4.

Current Standings:
1-Colorado College 38
2-Denver 36
3-Wisconsin 33
4-Minnesota 27
5-Minnesota-Duluth 23
6-North Dakota 23
7-Alaska-Anchorage 19
8-Minnesota State 18
9-St. Cloud State 16
10-Michigan Tech 15


This weekend has MTU visiting Anchorage Alaska, who is currently in 7th, only 4 points ahead of the Huskies. UAA is also done with WCHA play after this weekend's series with Tech. One can see the importance of the series for both teams. What does this mean? Well, if MTU can get the sweep up in Alaska, they will gaurantee themself out of the cellar of this unbelievable conference. Below is the remaining schedule for the rest of the WCHA.

Feb. 25-26
Michigan Tech vs. Alaska-Anchorage
Denver vs. Minnesota State
St. Cloud State vs. Minnesota

March 3-6
North Dakota vs. St. Cloud State
Minnesota vs. Michigan Tech
Colorado College vs. Denver
Wisconsin vs. Minnesota-Duluth

I know that we say "This is a big weekend", but it really is the biggest series of the year for the Huskies, who will bring a 5 game road winning streak into this weekend. If they can get past this, one can speculate that next weekend will then become "the biggest weekend of the year."

Turcotte garners weekly CHA honors

Wayne State University freshman goaltender Valery Turcotte has been selected as the College Hockey America Defensive Player of the Week for her performance in WSU's sweep at Quinnipiac this past Friday and Saturday.

Turcotte has been selected CHA defensive player of the week twice this season and rookie of the week on two other occassions.

In Friday's 2-1 Warrior victory over the Bobcats, Turcotte stopped 21 shots and only allowed a third period power-play goal.

Despite being outshot 38-23 on Saturday, Wayne State recorded a 2-1 triumph thanks to a 37-save performance by Turcotte. With the score tied at one after 20 minutes, she turned aside all 19 Quinnipiac shots in the middle period (including eight power-play shots on goal). The Warriors scored the lone goal in the middle stanza and held on for the win.

Turcotte finished the weekend with a .967 save percentage (58 saves on 60 shots). She made 16 saves while QU had a man-advantage and held the Bobcats to a one-for-nine on the power play.

Woolley joins UHL brigade

Former Michigan State (1989-91) defenseman Jason Woolley has joined the growing list of NHL players jumping to the United Hockey League.

The Flint Generals signed Woolley last week and the 35-year-old scored a goal in Flint's 5-2 loss to the Kalamazoo Wings last Saturday.

Woolley played the last two years with the Detroit Red Wings. He enjoyed an outstanding collegiate career at MSU before being selected by the Washington Capitals in the third round of the 1989 Entry Draft.

Most recently, Woolley was a volunteer assistant coach with the Spartans.

“Jason Woolley adds the experience, leadership and touch of professionalism that is a great boost to the United Hockey League,” said Flint head coach Robbie Nichols. "We know he will make an immediate impact on our hockey club as we prepare for the last two months of the season. He has been a quality defenseman in the National Hockey League for a long time. We are pleased that he has joined our organization. We are happy to have him here with the Flint Generals Hockey Club.”

The Generals are trying to sign other players from the Red Wings for the remainder of the 2004-2005 campaign.

Trenton native commits to WMU

Omaha Lancers defenseman Kevin O'Connor (Trenton) is the latest Lancer to commit to a Division I school for this fall as the 20-year-old has given the nod to Western Michigan University of the CCHA.

“It's great to see the strides that Kevin has made in his two seasons with the Lancers, both on and off the ice," Omaha head coach Mike Hastings said. "I expect Kevin to be an impact player for the Broncos right away."

In 39 games this season, O'Connor has 21 points (5g, 16a). He is the 12th Lancer to commit to college hockey for next year.

Other Omaha players with Michigan college ties:
Goaltender Jeff Lerg (Livonia) - Michigan State University
Forward Jeff LoVecchio - Western Michigan University
Forward Tim Miller (Davisburg) - University of Michigan
Forward Brandon Naurato (Livonia) - University of Michigan
Defenseman Ryan Turek (Northville) - Michigan State University

Tambellini takes CCHA weekly honor

Jeff Tambellini recorded six points
in the Maize and Blue sweep of Notre Dame

Michigan's Jeff Tambellini was named the CCHA's Offensive Player of the Week after recording six points last weekend in the Wolverines two wins against Notre Dame. Tambellini had two assists in Friday’s 9-2 win over ND before a career-high two goal, two assist outing in Saturday’s 6-3 home-ice win.

It is the third time this season the junior forward has been honored as CCHA's Player of the Week.

Tambellini currently ranks second on the Wolverines in points (42) and goals (16) and is first in assists (26) and plus/minus (+24).

Michigan (24-7-3, 21-3-2 CCHA) leads the conference by three points over second place Ohio State and will get a week off before closing out the regular season with a home-and-home series against Bowling Green on March 4 and 5.

Article by Matt Mackinder and Tom Balog

Lakers Sinking in the Sault

SAULT STE. MARIE, MICH--- The Lake Superior State Lakers steady downward slide continued over the weekend as Nebraska-Omaha invaded the Taffy Abel Arena and stole three of four points.

Friday night the Lakers took a two-all tie into the third period before surrendering three unanswered goals and falling 5-3.

Alex Dunn and Trent Campbell each scored and Matt Violin made 33 saves for LSSU.

Mick Lawrence scored a pair for the Mavericks and Chris Holt stopped 26 shots for the win.

The sad theme of the Lakers season showed up again in Saturday’s finale as the two teams skated to a 2-2 draw.

Once again the Lakers carried a lead, 3-1, into the third period, but a late let down forced them into their nearly unheard of seventh tie game of the season.

Dunn, B.J. Pelkey, and Nathan Ward lit the lamp for the Lakers and Jeff Jakaitis made 34 saves.

Bryan Marshall led the Mavs by scoring the game tying goal with the extra attacker on and just nine seconds left on the clock. He also assisted on the Mavs first goal.

In net, Chris Holt got the start again for UNO and stopped 26 of 29 shots on goal.

The Lakers (8-17-7, 7-11-6 CCHA) now sit in ninth place in the CCHA with a pair of games at Western Michigan looming next weekend.

Broncos Busted Again

BOWLING GREEN, OHIO---Western Michigan scored the first goal.

For Broncos fans, that was about the only bright spot as the Bowling Green Falcons posted a 4-1 win at the BGSU Arena on Friday night.

Sophomore winger Kevin Labatte notched the lone goal at 7:31 of the first period and Daniel Bellissimo made 38 saves, but it wasn’t enough as the Broncs lost for the sixth time in eight games (1-1-6).

Alex Foster led the Falcons with a goal and assist while feel good story Jordon Sigalet stopped 27 pucks.

Another day, another three goal loss as the Broncos were swept out of Ohio with a 5-2 loss to the Falcons on Saturday night.

This time James Unger did most of the Falcon’s damage with a pair of goals and an assist. Sigalet was solid again in net, stopping 24 shots for his 15th win of the year.

Jeff Pierce and Brent Walton scored for the slumping Broncos and little used junior Eric Marvin made 24 saves.

The pair of losses south of the border drops the Broncos to 11th in the CCHA standings, just three points ahead of cellar dwelling Notre Dame.

Western (11-17-2, 6-16-2 CCHA) will try to regroup as they host 9th place Lake Superior for a pair at the Lawson Arena in Kalamazoo next weekend.

‘Cats Get it Done in Houghton

Ramada Cup Stays with Northern

by Brandon Craig

MARQUETTE and HOUGHTON, Mich. – One wild weekend of hockey spelled victory for Northern Michigan, which along with U.P. rival Michigan Tech went at it again in a home and home series to decide the Ramada Cup – traditionally the symbol of college hockey supremacy in the Upper Peninsula.

Northern (16-9-7) hoisted the hardware after Saturday night’s 5-3 victory over the Huskies (8-20-3) in Houghton, a come from behind win for the visiting ‘Cats but a familiar story to the lately hot Tech squad.

Despite carrying a 2-0 lead well into the second period, MTU could not hold on and NMU struck at all the right times, defeating their old rival in front of an array of fans, including traveling Wildcat fans.

MTU scored two power-play goals in the first two periods of play, one at 4:34 of the first by Tyler Shelast and then another at 4:57 of the second by Chris Conner. Nathan Oystrick got Northern on the board at 16:03 of the second period.

Pat Bateman, Andrew Contois and Dirk Southern also scored for the Wildcats, all in the third period.

Lars Helminen scored the third goal for MTU with 15 seconds left in regulation but Bateman found the empty net with a second left in the game to seal the deal for the Wildcats.

Thursday’s game in Marquette saw the Wildcats and Huskies play an entertaining all out U.P. style brawl that ended up a 3-3 tie.

A brawl indeed as Northern Michigan set a new record for penalty minutes in a game - 91 penalty minutes on 24 penalties. The old record was 87 minutes against Ohio State on Jan. 30, 1981.

Conversely, the Huskies were called for 23 penalties for a total of 100 minutes.

“That is the kind of things that happens,” said NMU coach Walt Kyle.

“They are a good hockey team and work hard. I thought it was a real good game tonight.”

The entertainment was not lost on many. NMU also set a new attendance record at the 5 year old Berry Events Center as 4,216 U.P. hockey fans packed in to watch the beloved schools go at it.

Northern Michigan is back in CCHA play this weekend as they take on the Ferris State Bulldogs in Big Rapids, with what could prove to be a prelude to a possible playoff matchup.

Wolverines sweep the Irish

Michigan (24-7-3, 21-3-2 CCHA) stayed on top of the CCHA standings with a home-and-home sweep of Notre Dame last weekend.

The No. 5-ranked Wolverines are three points up on second-place Ohio State, who split with Michigan State.

T.J. Hensick (two goals, assist) and Matt Hunwick (three assists) had three-point nights and seven different Wolverines tallied goals in U-M's 9-2 blowout victory over Notre Dame Friday night in Fort Wayne, Ind.

"It helps out tremendously if guys can get goals that usually don’t score who are role players," said Hensick. "That’s great for our team and it’s great confidence for them. It helps us out a ton when those guys are scoring goals. I don’t have to go out there and make sure I score on the power play. It’s a great relief for us to have those guys score some goals."

Kevin Porter, Milan Gajic, Chad Kolarik (two), captain Eric Nystrom, Andrew Ebbett and Mike Woodford scored the other Michigan goals.

Al Montoya made 14 saves in 51:22 of work before Noah Ruden took over and stopped all three shots he saw in the final 8:38.

Saturday night back in Ann Arbor, Jeff Tambellini had two goals and two assists to lead the Wolverines to a 6-3 victory.

Montoya needed to make just 11 saves for the win. David Moss also scored a pair to go along with singles from Porter and Ebbett.

"We control our destiny the whole way," said Tambellini. "As long as we keep that in our sights, that's fine, and we just have to keep playing. We're not worried about what they're doing. As long as we play well next weekend everything should be fine."

Michigan hosts the U.S. Under-18 Team at Yost on Saturday at 7:35 p.m. before playing Bowling Green in a home-and-home set March 4-5.

The Under-18 Team boasts future Wolverines in forwards Jason Bailey, Danny Fardig and Zac MacVoy and defensemen Jack Johnson and Mark Mitera.

Michigan State splits with Ohio State

Michigan State seemed to use up all their goals Friday night at home against No. 7 Ohio State. Winning that game 6-3, the Spartans could only muster one the next night in a 5-1 loss.

Freshman Jim McKenzie posted a hat trick Friday night and Colton Fretter, Ethan Graham and captain Jim Slater added to the barrage. Dominic Vicari made 34 saves for the win.

"For two periods, I thought it was very intense, very tight," said MSU head coach Rick Comley. "I thought we played very well. I had a feeling going in that we matched up well five-on-five. It was just going to be a question of special teams. Our power play got some goals early and we killed a couple of penalties. We got a nice lead that we didn't give up."

But Saturday, Slater's power-play goal early in the second period was all for the Spartans (14-14-4, 9-12-3 CCHA). Vicari stopped 31 shots.

"Our pride is about the only thing that is hurting right now," said Slater. "When you beat a team like we did last night then come back tonight and get beat by four, it hurts. But at the same time, they are a real good team."

Up next for the Spartans is a home-and-home series with Bowling Green this Friday and Saturday. MSU will travel to Bowling Green on Friday and will return to face the Falcons in East Lansing on Saturday at 7:35 p.m.

Warriors sweep Quinnipiac, still in second

The Wayne State women remained in second place in the CHA with a sweep at Quinnipiac last weekend in Hamden, Conn.

Winning each game by a 2-1 mark, the Warriors (13-12-3, 6-2-0 CHA) are just three points behind league leader Mercyhurst.

Friday afternoon, co-captains Kelly Zamora and Jessica Snelgrove each scored to back goalie Val Turcotte's 21-save outing.

Then Saturday, Laura Monk had a goal and an assist and Turcotte stopped 37 shots for the win. Emily McGrath-Agg notched WSU's other goal, the game-winner 13:43 into the second period.

The Warriors host Niagara this Friday (7:00 p.m.) and Saturday (2:00 p.m.) at the City Sports Arena in Detroit.