It might sound cliche or simple, but it’s hard to overstate just how easily winning can cure even the worst case of the blues.
Take Lake Superior State. The Lakers opened their 2023 season with a trip to Michigan State, where they lost both games of the series in front of a packed house at Munn Ice Arena.
Considering how the Lakers started last season — winning just once in their first 12 games — there was perhaps a danger of letting the losses spiral out of control again.
But that didn’t happen. Since dropping that first series to the Spartans, the Lakers have gone 5-1-0, with their lone loss being against Alaska Anchorage the weekend after the MSU series.
“I think confidence is such a fragile thing,” LSSU head coach Damon Whitten said in a phone interview on Tuesday, following the Lakers’ series sweep of Bemidji State this past weekend. “You know, we had a tough opening weekend in Michigan State against a really quality team and in a full building. So we didn’t come away with a win, but fortunately we were able to bounce back and get an early win [against Alaska Anchorage on Oct. 13], and I think that that showed our young team some of the ability we have. And it’s critical.
“I think you’re seeing it with some other teams across the country and across our league, where it’s hard to get an early win and it could snowball a little bit on you. But we’ve been a little bit the opposite.”
Whitten knows a little bit about the snowball effect: It’s what happened to the Lakers last season. They went 1-9-2 in the first two months of the season, so despite a vast improvement down the stretch, they finished last in the CCHA with a 9-25-2 overall record.
Whitten said he thinks there’s a little bit of carryover from the strong end to the season, but mostly he credits a bit of an offseason locker room refresh that has given the team a slightly new feel.
“I think there certainly is a carryover the way we finished the year, but also we’ve had a little bit of a refreshed locker room culture, which has been outstanding with this group,” Whitten said. “We’re getting good leadership, and the young guys have come and bought in. Sometimes you need good followers along with your good leaders. And we have I think a better group following the right guys this year. And that’s made a huge impact into the way we play, the confidence we play with and the culture we have in our locker room.”
LSSU’s leadership group has been taking the lead on the ice so far. Captain Harrison Roy, a senior forward, has a four-game point streak and scored key goals against Clarkson (the overtime game winner) and Bemidji State. Defenseman Artyom Borshyov, another captain, plays in most situations for the Lakers. Dawson Tritt, an alternate captain, scored in both games against Bemidji State.
And upperclassmen who don’t have letters on their sweaters — senior Jared Wescott and junior Timo Bakos — lead the team in scoring. Wescott has 11 points, which ties for the CCHA lead in scoring, while Bakos has seven points thanks mostly to his six assists. That’s important for a team with 13 newcomers.
“I think there’s no question in college hockey you live or die by your upperclassmen,” Whitten said. “And so we’ve needed our upperclassmen to play well, and they’ve done that. But then we’re also getting some really significant contributions from our freshmen, and it’s spread out in a lot of ways.”
Most notable so far have been forward John Herrington, who put up three points in LSSU’s 4-3 win over Bemidji on Friday, and a trip of defenseman in Evan Bushy, Cam Kungle and Ross Roloson, all of whom have three points.
“They’re contributing offensively, but even more so they’re playing at a really high level defensively,” Whitten said. “We don’t get the benefit of matching some experienced defenseman against older lines, especially on the road. But the young D have done a good job at both ends of the ice and that’s a big part of what we’ve done.”
The final piece of the puzzle this year has been great goaltending from senior Ethan Langenegger. After a few years as the member of a platoon tandem, Langenegger has taken over the No. 1 spot and has played in all eight of the Lakers’ games this season, going 3-5 with a .923 save percentage and a 2.66 goals-against average.
“He has a phenomenal finish to last season, and he’s picked up from that,” Whitten said of Langenegger. “That’s the goaltending we expect for him, and I think he has that same expectation of himself at this point. And he’s certainly capable of doing it. We’ve been a little bit more of a platoon situation in previous years, but right now it’s Ethan’s role, and he’s playing at a very high level, so we’ll ride him here a little bit as he plays at this high level.”
The Lakers, who are now 5-3-0 overall and 2-0-0 in CCHA play, take on Upper Peninsula rivals Northern Michigan this weekend. Whitten said he knows the conference season will be more of a grind than the non-conference schedule, which was difficult enough as it is with trips to East Lansing and New York’s North Country.
“We had a decent non-conference session, but it changes. League play is so challenging, so difficult every single night in our league, and anybody can beat anybody on a given night. So you have to be ready. There’s a different intensity, a different compete level when you switch to league play,” Whitten said. “Our attention is on Northern Michigan right now. It’s a great rivalry series between the two proud UP programs.
“They have a misleading record [NMU is 1-6-1 overall], but they’re a dangerous team. You know, a little bit like Bemidji, where they’ve got a couple of players who can really change the game. So we need to be on our toes.”
