Lakers salvage a point against Mavs

Lake Superior State's nationally-touted defense came back to life following Friday's 8-0 loss and kept the Lakers within reach of Nebraska-Omaha in Game 2 of their Central Collegiate Hockey Association series.

The Lakers (14-8-6 overall, 10-8-3 CCHA) fended off UNO's attack in the third period and overtime to salvage a 2-2 tie and remain in the top four in the CCHA standings.

Kory Scoran scored a power-play goal at 3:14 of the first period to give LSSU a 1-0 lead. The Lakers also led 2-1 on an even-strength goal by Trent Campbell at 15:03 of the opening period.

The nation's point leader, Scott Parse of Nebraska-Omaha (15-11-4 overall, 9-9-4 CCHA), tied it 2-2 with an even-strength goal at 8:12 of the second period.

The Mavs out-shot LSSU 15-9 in the third period and 40-32 for the game. LSSU goaltender Jeff Jakaitis was tested throughout the night and totaled 38 saves. Jerad Kaufmann totaled 30 saves for UNO.

The Lakers was 1-for-4 on the power play and killed off all four Mavs power plays.

Troy Schwab, Steve McJannet and Colin Nicholson were credited with assists for LSSU.

The Lakers travel to Michigan on Feb. 10-11. Saturday's contest will be broadcast live on Fox Detroit.

*** FRIDAY:

The Lake Superior State hockey team's 8-0 loss at Nebraska-Omaha was just part of what was a disasterous Friday evening for the top three teams in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

First-place Miami suffered a 4-3 home loss to Alaska Fairbanks. Michigan, which was tied for second place with LSSU, fell 7-5 to Ohio State.

Michigan State beat Notre Dame 3-2 and moved ahead of Lake Superior State and U-M in the CCHA standings. The Spartans are currently second behind Miami and have 24 points, while the Lakers and Wolverines dropped to a third-place tie with 23 points each.

Nebraska-Omaha (15-11-3 overall, 9-9-3 CCHA) blew the game open early, scoring a power-play goal at 2:59 of the first period and building a 3-0 lead through the first 18 minutes. It was 5-0 after two periods.

The Mavs finished 4-for-6 on the power play, while LSSU was 0-for-6. LSSU goaltender Jeff Jakaitis totaled 17 saves through two periods. Freshman Vince Wheeler relieved Jakaitis in the third period and gave up three goals. He also had 11 saves.

UNO netminder Jerad Kaufmann stopped all 26 shots to earn the shutout victory.