Lakers suffer two setbacks against Northern Michigan (7 photos)

After going undefeated through their first four games with a victory and three ties, the Lake Superior State Lakers had a tough weekend against the Northern Michigan University Wildcats.

The Wildcats also entered the series on a good note with victories in three of their four starts this season.

On Friday evening in Marquette, the Lakers ran into penalty trouble which cost them a chance at earning two points. Northern Michigan scored two unanswered goals, both on the power play, as they defeated Lake State 3-1.

Jamie Milan, Darin Oliver, and Dirk Southern, with a shorthanded marker, completed the Northern Michigan scoring. Josh Sim scored his second goal of the season for the Lakers.

Saturday night saw the Lakers find themselves on the other side of the coin slightly as they managed nine power plays but could not get things going offensively. Included in the nine man advantages were a major penalty and a five-on-three advantage.

The Lakers found themselves in a hole in the second period as the Wildcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead as Andrew Contios and Pat Bateman scored power play goals.

It wasn't until 14:29 of the third period that the Lakers found a way to beat Northern Michigan goaltender Bill Zaniboni, who had an outstanding weekend. Matt Restoule beat Zaniboni late to give the Lakers some life, but it wasn't enough as the Wildcats held on for a 2-1 victory.

"It's tough to win games when you're only scoring one goal per game, said Lakers coach Jim Roque in reference to his club's offensive output on the weekend. "We knew going into the season that goal scoring was going to be one of our biggest challenges. We need some guys to score some goals.

"We had a couple of great chances in the last couple of minutes there (on Saturday) and just couldn't bury it," Roque continued. "We going to have to work on finding ways to get the puck to the net and get some ugly ones."

Roque did note one difference between the two teams on the weekend.

"I think the one thing about their team that's a little different than ours is that their juniors and seniors scored big goals," Roque said of Northern Michigan. "They made the big plays at the right time."

Despite the hard luck on the power play, Roque was confident that his team will eventually break out.

"I know with the guys in the room that we have, the Jeff Rainville's, the Trent Campbell's, the Troy Schwab's, they're going to score eventually," Roque said. "They're going to have their ups and downs. Every team goes through them."

The Lakers now prepare for a pair of road games next weekend as they visit Kalamazoo, Michigan to take on the Western Michigan Broncos. Next home action for the Lakers will be on Nov. 11 and 12 when they host the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks. Game time is 7:35 p.m. on Friday and 7:05 p.m on Saturday.