Two weeks ago, Lake Superior State came back from their trip to Columbus, Ohio, in something of a daze.
The Lakers were swept by Ohio State and took both games on the chin, losing 9-3 and 6-2.
That caused a little soul searching for everyone involved with the program.
“We talked about it that Ohio State week: Who are we? We don’t really know,” LSSU coach Damon Whitten said in a phone interview on Thursday. “We’re just trying to figure out chemistry, continuity and who we are.”
The Lakers, now 3-5-0, responded the next weekend, sweeping rival Northern Michigan in turn, 5-0 and 5-1 in Marquette. But Whitten said he’s still unsure exactly how the team is going to play from week to week.
“When we have guys playing the right way, we’re pretty damn good, and if we don’t have the right bodies and we’re not into it, it could be a long weekend,” he said. “So I think we are excited about where we can get to and who we can’t be. We just need to be more consistent in getting there.”
One reason for LSSU’s issues come down to injuries and illnesses. Star forwards Connor Millburn, Timo Bakos and Carter Batchelder have all missed time, as have two of the team’s three goalies in senior Easton Hesse and sophomore transfer Grant Riley.
“It seems like every day we show up, we don’t know who we have for practice and who’s available,” Whitten said, noting that the team wasn’t using that as an excuse. Good teams, he said, are able to overcome those injuries no matter who’s out. “That is what it is. You’ve got to overcome it. You’ve got to play through that, get different guys to step up.”
One who has stepped up big time is freshman goaltender Rorke Applebee. The Chateauguay, Quebec, product has been the only goaltender available to the Lakers for every game this season, and he has stepped up admirably. He’s played in seven of LSSU’s eight games and has given up 19 goals and made 209 saves. Applebee has two shutouts this season, one against Stonehill earlier this season and the second came against NMU last weekend.
“I’ve always been a big believer that you want to put guys in positions to be successful, and I don’t think what we’ve had to do to our freshman goalie has been ideal, but fortunately, Rorke he’s extremely confident and he’s extremely capable. I think he’s outstanding,” Whitten said. “It’s not been easy. We’re trying to manage practice workload, because we’re down to one goalie or two goalies, and so it’s really been disruptive to our team to try to practice in a normal fashion, but Rorke has been really good through it all.”
Another bright spot for the Lakers has been a pair of defensemen. Nate Schweitzer and Evan Bushy have led LSSU in scoring with six points apiece. Schweitzer had four points in last weekend’s series with NMU (a goal and three assists). Bushy had a pair of assists.
“They’re 1-2 on our team in scoring, and we’ve been a little slow out of the gates with our scoring, but our ‘D’ core has played well. It’s been the same lack of continuity,” Whitten said, noting that blueliners like Mike Brown and Johnny Druskinis have both missed time recently with injuries as well. “Bush and Schweitz have played every game, and that’s allowed them to be a little bit more game ready, and they’ve done a good job.
“You can’t get rid of the Ohio State weekend, it’s there, but I think beyond that weekend, we’ve been pretty darn good defensively overall as a team, but that one weekend was really, really out of whack, and you got to make sure that isn’t happening again.”
The Lakers hope their next performance is much closer to the NMU series than it was in the OSU series, but even this weekend’s series is going to be a little out of the ordinary. LSSU takes on Ferris State in a two-game series. The first game will be in Sault Ste. Marie, but the second game of the series will be in a brand-new location for both teams: Traverse City, Mich. The teams will be playing at the Centre Ice Arena, which is the home of the Detroit Red Wings annual prospects and training camp.
“Traverse City is a great hockey town, going from the Red Wings hosting their camp there for many, many years now, they’ve made a great investment in that arena. There used to be a North American Hockey League junior team out of that arena. So it’s a great little venue there,” Whitten said. “And we’ve got a couple of great alumni who all coach hockey down in that area as well. It’s maybe a little bit kind of a hidden gem of a hockey town, just because of its location up in northern Michigan.”
This is believed to be the first Division I college hockey game played in the Traverse City area. Traverse City is approximately 175 miles from Sault Ste. Marie and 90 miles from Big Rapids.
“All of northern Michigan is so important to our university, and playing Ferris there, geographically, it was a natural fit,” Whitten said. “On the ice, it’s been an intense rivalry with them. It’s probably not ideal in our schedule, giving up a home game. We’ve got one home game the whole month of November because we took the game down there. So it took a little bit of finessing from our point of view, but this is the right partner for this event, and they shared the excitement. So we’re really excited about the opportunity to meet up there.”
