LAKER NOTES: Lakers take three of four from Fighting Irish

Notre Dame (6-11-1, 4-7-1 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) ended the Lake Superior State hockey team's seven game unbeaten streak when it defeated the Lakers 4-3 on Sunday afternoon.

Notre Dame's Tim Wallace put his team on the scoreboard 41 seconds into the game when he scored on a pass from Noah Babin.

Wallace gave the Irish a two-goal lead by scoring his second goal of the game on a power play at 14:35. Brock Sheahan and T.J. Jindra assisted on the goal.

Notre Dame took advantage of a power-play opportunity halfway through the second period to build a three-goal advantage. Babin scored the power-play goal, which was assisted by Wallace.

Junior forward Trent Campbell scored the Lakers' first goal of the game at 14:09 of the second period. Nathan Ward and Steve McJannet drew the assist.

At 2:46 of the third period, Mike Walsh increased Notre Dame's lead to 4-1, scoring his team's third power-play goal.

Mike Adamek scored his second goal of the weekend at 10:02 of the third period, trimming UND's lead to 4-2. Barnabas Birkeland and Troy Schwab assisted on the goal. Adamek has scored three goals in the Lakers' last four games.

With five minutes left in the game, the Lakers pulled goalie Jeff Jakaitis in order to have an extra attacker. Jakaitis went back in net after the linesman whistled play to a stop, thinking LSSU had too many men on the ice and not realizing the Lakers had pulled their goalie. The Lakers (10-6-4 overall, 6-6-2 CCHA) had an empty net again with 2:53 to go, Ward scored his third goal of the year to bring them within a goal of the Irish. Kory Scoran and McJannet had the assists.

The Lakers again pulled Jakaitis, but failed to tie the score during the game's closing minute.

The Lakers were 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Irish were 3-for-7. Notre Dame out-shot LSSU, 31-27.

The Lakers will take the rest of this week off and resume action Dec. 28, in Thunder Bay, Ont. They will meet Lakehead at 7:30 p.m. EST.

SATURDAY:

The Lake Superior State hockey team shut out Notre Dame 4-0 Saturday in Game one of a Central Collegiate Hockey Association series. Junior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis earned his third shutout win of the season, and the Lakers increased their unbeaten streak to seven games and moved into third place in the league standings.

Despite being the two least-penalized teams in the CCHA, Lake Superior State (10-5-4, 6-5-2 CCHA) and Notre Dame (5-11-1, 3-6-1 CCHA) were penalized nine times in the first period alone.

At 8:46, LSSU's Derek A. Smith scored his second goal of the season during a 5-on-3 power-play advantage. Barnabas Birkeland and Troy Schwab assisted on the goal.

With six seconds left on LSSU's fourth power-play opportunity, Colin Nicholson scored to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead. Kory Scoran and captain Steve McJannet assisted on Nicholson's fourth goal of the season, which came at 10:30 of the opening period.

Irish defender Tom Sawatske left the game at 16:40 of the first period after receiving a five-minute major penalty for hitting from behind and a 10-minute game misconduct penalty.

Less than a minute into the major penalty Derek R. Smith was penalized two minutes for tripping, taking the game to four-on-four. Referee Mark Wilkins called for a penalty shot, but Notre Dame declined the penalty shot in order to have the Laker penalty take two minutes off of Lake Superior's five-minute power play.

Notre Dame received its second power play of the game when Alex Dunn was sent to the penalty box for a delay of game penalty after accidentally knocking into the Irish net. The Irish were unable to convert during the 4-on-3 advantage.

Entering the second period, the Lakers were still on the power play from Sawatske's major penalty. Dunn increased his team's lead to three by scoring 30 seconds into the period. Nathan Ward drew the assist as LSSU was 3-for-8 on the power play for the game.

Senior forward Mike Adamek scored the Lakers' first even-strength goal of the game at 12:01 of the third period, giving LSSU a 4-0 lead. Schwab and Josh Sim assisted on the goal.

Lake Superior State out-shot Notre Dame, 30-14. Notre Dame was scoreless on four power play opportunities.

Jakaitis was named the Perani Cup first star of the game. Derek A. Smith earned a second star and Adamek a third star.

*** LAKERS GET RANKED:

The Lake Superior State hockey team, which has made its way into a national media poll for the first time in nearly a decade, put its six-game unbeaten streak on the line during last weekend's series at Notre Dame.

Based on strength of schedule and success against ranked teams, LSSU is also surprised to find itself among the top 10 teams in the Pairwise and RPI computer rankings. If the Lakers stay there throughout the season, that means they will be in a good position to earn a NCAA Tournament bid.

However, it is much too early to be thinking about playoff bids, and LSSU will have enough to deal with this weekend regarding the emotions of maintaining its unbeaten streak and taking on former Laker coaches Jeff Jackson and Paul Pooley.

Jackson, who was the Lakers' head coach from 1990-91 through 1995-96 and led LSSU to NCAA titles in 1992 and '94, took over the Notre Dame program this summer. He reunited with former LSSU assistant coach Pooley, who left a head coaching position at Providence to serve as an assistant at Notre Dame.

Between collegiate coaching stints, Jackson spent four years helping establish the U.S. National Team Development Program, was a head coach for the Guelph Storm for three years and an assistant with the New York Islanders for two seasons.

LSSU current head coach Jim Roque was an assistant under Jackson at LSSU in 1990-91 and 1994-95.

*** SCHWAB TAKE ROOKIE OF THE WEEK HONOURS:

Lake Superior State forward Troy Schwab earned his second Central Collegiate Hockey Association Rookie of the Week honor this month after compiling three assists in last weekend's split at Notre Dame.

The freshman forward, who was plus-3 for the series, assisted on Derek A. Smith's power-play goal and Mike Adamek's even-strength goal in Saturday's 4-0 win over the Irish. He also drew an assist on Adamek's goal in Sunday's 4-3 loss.

Schwab is the Lakers' No. 2 scorer with four goals and eight assists.

He also earned rookie of the week honors after LSSU's win over Alaska Fairbanks Dec. 2-3.

Lake Superior State junior goaltender Jeff Jakaitis (Rochester, Minn.) earned his second Central Collegiate Hockey Association Goaltender of the Week honor for 2005-06 after blocking 66-of-69 shots (.956) during the non-conference series at Bemidji State two weekends ago.

Jakaitis, who had his first 40-save peformance since last February, totaled 25 saves in Friday's 2-1 victory and 41 saves in Saturday's 2-2 tie.

Jakaitis was also named CCHA Goaltender of the Week on Nov. 7 following the Lakers' sweep at Western Michigan. He has received the award three times.

(Information supplied courtesy of the LSSU Sports Information Department.)