Lakers earn first conference points of the season

NEWS RELEASES

LAKE SUPERIOR STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS

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Lakers and Mavs skate to another OT deadlock

LSSU closes out 2007 portion of season with two points on the road

OMAHA, Neb. - For the second straight night and fourth time in five meetings, the Lake Superior State and Nebraska-Omaha hockey teams skated to an overtime tie.

LSSU (2-11-3 overall, 0-8-2 Central Collegiate Hockey Association) followed Friday's 1-1 deadlock at UNO with a 3-3 tie on Saturday. The Lakers and Mavericks (5-7-3 overall, 4-7-3 CCHA) have played to overtime in five of their last seven contests against each other. LSSU is 0-4-1 in the overtime games and 1-2-4 in its last seven games against UNO.

Lake Superior State picked up two key points on the road to close out the 2007 portion of its season. The Lakers are off until their Jan. 4-5 series at Michigan State.

LSSU came back from one-goal deficits twice before taking a 3-2 lead on Will Acton's even-strength goal at 5:38 of the third period. UNO's Dan Charleston tallied the game-tying goal at 14:38.

The Lakers out-shot the Mavs 3-2 in overtime, but failed to convert on a power play during the extra period. They were 1-for-5 on the power play for the night, while UNO was 2-for-3.

The momemtum swung in LSSU's favor when UNO took a string of penalties late in the second period. The Lakers had 5-on-3 advantages for :36 and :23 seconds during a brief stretch. Nathan Perkovich scored a power-play goal with two seconds left in the second 5-on-3 and tied the game, 2-2. Troy Schwab had the only assist on Perkovich's goal, which was scored at 19:52.

Laker Simon Gysbers scored at 6:10 of the second period to sandwich a goal between UNO power-play goals by Joey Martin at 5:12 of the first period and Bryan Marshall at 9:09 of the second period.

Tyson Hobbins and Jason Blain assisted on Gysbers' goal, while Matt Cowie and Perkovich drew assists on Acton's goal.

LSSU goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson totaled 33 saves, including 14 in the first period and 11 in the third. Jared Kaufmann had 29 saves for UNO, including 12 in the first period and 10 in the second.

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Lakers tie Mavs 1-1 to pick up first CCHA point

Inglis fends off UNO attack

OMAHA, Neb. - The Lake Superior State hockey team snapped an eight-game losing streak and picked up its first point in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association standings by tying Nebraska-Omaha 1-1 in overtime Friday at the Qwest Center.

The Lakers overcame the loss of leading goal scorer Nathan Perkovich, who was one of three players battling the flu. They got a stellar game out of sophomore goaltender Pat Inglis, who fought through a rocky start this season and put forth a solid performance last Saturday against Michigan State.

Inglis was the difference-maker Friday.

Inglis (1-5-2), who entered the game with a 4.43 goals-against average, totaled 36 saves for the night, including 13 in the first period and 13 in the second. He stopped a point-blank shot by the Mavs' Chris Wilson with 1:15 remaining in the extra period. Inglis was named the game's first star.

Defenseman Steven Kaunisto scored LSSU's lone goal on a shot from the slot at 5:21 of the second period during a Laker power play. Troy Schwab won the faceoff to set up the play, and Josh Sim drew the other assist.

UNO (5-7-2 overall, 4-7-2 CCHA) tied it, 1-1, on a Tomas Klempa power-play goal 51 seconds into the third period. LSSU (2-11-2 overall, 0-8-1 CCHA) killed off a Schwab penalty during the final three minutes of the second period, then played short-handed again when Steve Oleksy took a penalty at :24 of the third.

UNO goaltender Jared Kaufmann totaled 14 saves, including a big save on another Kaunisto shot with 40 seconds left in overtime. Both teams were 1-for-4 on the power play for the game.

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