LSSU continues roll, sweeps WMU

Lake Superior State University completed the season sweep over Western Michigan University with a 6-1 win on Friday and 4-0 shutout on Saturday night. Jeff Jakaitis recorded his fourth shutout of the season with Saturday night's win.

Friday night, six different players scored for the 19th-ranked Lakers.

LSSU led 1-0 on a power-play goal by Trent Campbell during a close first period. The Broncos outshot the Lakers 12-11 in the opening period and tied it 1-1 on a Mike Lesperance goal at the beginning of the second period.

Senior Mike Adamek broke a 1-1 tie with a shorthanded unassisted goal midway through the of second period and ignited a Laker surge. Derek R. Smith scored two minutes later to make it 3-1 and Troy Schwab, Dan Eves and Dominic Osman added goals in the third period.

Jakaitis stopped 21 of 22 Bronco shots and the Laker defense held WMU scoreless on four power-play chances.

Dan Bellissimo gave up five goals and totaled 21 saves through 42:32. He was replaced by Eric Marvin, who stopped three of four shots.

Saturday night, Lake Superior senior forward Colin Nicholson opened the scoring for the Lakers at 6:27 of the first period scoring what would end up being the game winning goal. Campbell added his team-leading eighth goal of the season midway through the period.

The second period started with a significant scrum in the corner that saw 40 minutes in penalties called at the 2:28 mark. Jeff Rainville and the Broncos' Brent Walton each received four minutes for roughing and 10-minute misconduct penalties. Eves was given four minutes for roughing and Western’s Matt Clackson and Brian Bicek each got two minutes for roughing as well as Smith being given two minutes for elbowing.

Nathan Ward was able to score his fourth goal of the season less than two minutes later, on the power play. Kory Scoran added an empty-net goal in the closing minutes of the game.

Jakaitis recorded 30 saves in the shutout.

The Lakers are off this weekend before heading to Ferris State Jan. 20-21. Western Michigan plays a home-and-home with Bowling Green this weekend. Friday night's game is on the road while Saturday's contest is at Lawson Ice Arena.

Photo courtesy of LSSUHockey.com