Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. – The Lake Superior State Lakers hockey team opened regular season action with a pair of non-conference games against a team it was very familiar with from its days in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.
The Lakers swept a weekend series against the Michigan State Spartans, now in the Big Ten conference after the demise of the CCHA, at Taffy Abel Arena.
For Garden River product Owen Headrick, the weekend was one to remember as the sophomore defenceman assisted on three goals in Saturday night’s 7-3 victory over the Spartans. It capped off a six-point weekend for the blueliner.
“I just feel way more confident out there,” Headrick said. “I trust myself more. I trust my speed and my strength more being a year older.”
Lakers Coach Damon Whitten commended Headrick’s play in the opening two games of the season.
“His puck touches were phenomenal this weekend,” Whitten said. “We switched where he is out on the power play. He’s more of a shoot-first orientation. He’s got that great one-timer. It’s so important that you can have defencemen that generate offence and get pucks to the net and he did a tremendous job of that. That will be a tremendous weapon if he can continue to do that.”
In Saturday’s win, senior forward Gus Correale scored a pair of goals while J.T. Hencke had a goal and two assists. Gage Torrel added a goal and an assist while Max Humitz and Mitch Hults also scored.
Gordon Defiel stopped 30 shots.
Headrick and Brayden Gelsinger had a goal and two assists each in Friday’s 6-1 win while Torrel and Kris Bindulis had a goal and an assist for the Lakers. Henke and Humitz had the other Lake State goals while Hults assisted on three goals.
“To start off the season with two wins, that’s huge for what we’re trying to do,” said Whitten. “There are a lot of things we’ve got to improve and get better on but it’s a big step.”
On Saturday night, freshman forward Logan Lambdin had a goal and an assist for the Spartans while Jerad Rosburg and Zach Osburn had the other goals. Thomas Ebbing assisted on two goals for Michigan State. John Lethemon stopped nine shots in the opening period while Ed Minney came in for the final 40 minutes, stopping 14 shots.
“We had a lot of young guys playing and gaining experience,” said Michigan State Coach Tom Anastos. “We were scratching and clawing but our game wasn’t at a level where we needed it to be. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Villiam Haag had the lone Michigan State goal on Friday night.
The Lakers roster includes a pair of other players with local ties in junior defenceman Aidan Wright and freshman goaltender Cooper Lukenda.
“It was definitely the outcome we wanted,” Wright said of the weekend sweep. “We want to be a tough rink to play in and I think we did that.”
Wright said the Lakers depth played a role in the offensive success in the series.
“We’ve got a lot more depth than previous years,” Wright said. “The guys have pretty good chemistry right now and it seemed to click this weekend.”
The Lakers now prepare for Western Collegiate Hockey Association action next weekend that sees the team travel south to take on Alabama Huntsville.