By SooToday Staff
SooToday.com
Friday, November 27, 2009

NEWS RELEASE

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

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The Lakers are off to New York for Thanksgiving weekend

SAULT STE. MARIE – Lake Superior State University will play Union at 4 p.m. Friday and either Bentley or RPI Saturday at the RPI Tournament in Troy, N.Y.

The Lakers (6-7-1 overall, 3-6-1-0 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) and Union (5-3-3 overall, 2-0-2 Eastern College Athletic Conference) will face off for the first time. LSSU hasn’t played an ECAC team this year, but was 2-1 last year against ECAC teams.

LSSU defeated ECAC opponent Harvard 6-2 at last year’s the Badger Showdown. The Lakers also split with ECAC foe Colgate, losing 5-4 and a winning 6-1. They had nine goal scorers against ECAC teams, seven of which returned to the team this year.

Union, which is playing a CCHA opponent for the first time this season, lost 2-1 in overtime to Nebraska-Omaha during last year’s Maverick Stampede.

RPI and Bentley will play in the other semifinal game Friday. Win or lose, RPI will play at 7 p.m. Saturday. LSSU will play at either 4 p.m. or 7 p.m. Saturday depending upon Friday’s outcome. LSSU’s games will be broadcast live on 99.5 YES FM. Pre-game show will start at 3 p.m. on 1400 WKNW. Saturday’s pre-game show will be one hour prior to game time with the game following on 99.5 YES FM.

Tournament host RPI (7-5-1 overall, 3-1-0 ECAC) and LSSU last met in 1997. The Lakers are 1-6-1 all-time against the Engineers, including a loss and a tie during the 1985 NCAA Tournament. The 1985 team included Coach Jim Roque as one of the players. Bentley enters the weekend 4-5-2 overall and 4-3-2 in Atlantic Hockey. The Lakers are 2-0 against Atlantic Hockey teams after sweeping Canisius at home on Oct. 16-17.

RPI and Alaska tied 1-1 at the Brice Alaska Gold Rush in October, while LSSU is coming off a CCHA split with the Nanooks. In December, RPI will travel to Detroit to take on CCHA powerhouse Michigan in the Great Lakes Invitational.

The Lakers top goal scorer, junior forward Chad Nehring, tallied two goals against ECAC teams last season. This season, Nehring is tied for fourth in the CCHA in goals scored against league opponents with six and is tied for first in overall power-play goals with five. LSSU’s overall points leaders are Nehring (8-3—11), senior forward Zac MacVoy (2-9—11), tallied one goal and four assists last season against ECAC opponents, and junior forward Rick Schofield (5-6—11), who netted four goals and one assists against Harvard and Colgate in 2008-09.

Union senior forward Mario Valery-Trabucco (5-9—14) is sixth in the ECAC in points, while sophomore forward Kelly Zajac (6-2—8) is tied for second in the ECAC in goals against league opponents with six. RPI junior forward Chase Polacek (9-8—17) is No. 3 scorer in the ECAC, while senior forward Marc Menzione (7-5—12) leads Bentley in points.

The Lakers head to Bowling Green State Dec. 4-5 and will be home December 11-12 to face off against their Upper Peninsula rival Northern Michigan.

Note - LSSU was part of a story in the November 09 issue of USA Hockey Magazine. The story deals with traditions in college hockey. To read more visit the following link.
http://www.usahockeymagazine.com/article/2009-11/great-traditions-college-hockey

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