MARQUETTE — Lake Superior State competed stride for stride with the second-place team in the WCHA over the weekend.
The Lakers came up just short however, dropping a pair of one-goal games at Northern Michigan University. On Saturday night, the Wildcats downed the Lakers 3-2 at the Berry Events Center to complete a weekend sweep and clinch the Cappo Cup.
The Lakers (6-18-4 overall, 4-13-3 WCHA) remain ninth in the league. LSSU came away from the weekend in the same position it started — seven points out of eighth place for the final WCHA playoff sport, while also staying three points ahead of 10th-place Alaska Anchorage.
“It’s tough when the guys worked and competed so hard,” Lake Superior State coach Damon Whitten said. “You’d like for them to get the reward at the end, but we didn’t get the result. I do have to credit the guys for playing their tails off for Lake State. We have to stick together, keep working, and find a way to get the results.”
NMU (15-10-3 overall, 13-5-2-2 WCHA) won the Cappo Cup by an overall goals differential over the Lakers of 13-10 in four games this season. The Wildcats also won their fourth straight game overall and clinched a WCHA playoff berth. NMU is only two points behind first-place Minnesota Saturday.
Failure to score on the power play doomed the Lakers chances against stingy NMU goalie Atte Tolvanen. For the game, LSSU finished 0-for-4 on the power play, while the Wildcats were 1-for-4.
“Special teams is always such a huge impact on the game,” Whitten said. “If you don’t win special teams, it’s tough to win. I thought we did a really good job on the penalty kill after giving up that first power play. And we did have our (power play) chances — but we just weren’t able to get one.”
Despite being outshot 12-6 in the opening period, the Lakers struck first, with Max Humitz scoring his 11th goal of the season, assisted by Diego Cuglietta just 1:14 into the game.
NMU answered, as defenseman Phillip Beaulieu scored a power-play at 4:43 of the period.
The Wildcats took a 2-1 lead when Troy Loggins scored just 26 seconds into the second period.
LSSU tied it, 2-2, as Brayden Gelsinger redirected a shot by defenseman Tyler Anderson, also assisted by Cuglietta, at 4:52 of the second.
Beaulieu scored what proved to be the game-winner at 8:19 of the third period with a shot from the point, assisted by Adam Rockwood and Loggins.
The Lakers still had more golden chances, including a power-play at the end. LSSU pulled goalie Nick Kossoff and had a 6-on-4 power play for almost the last two minutes.
Kossoff finished with 23 saves, while Tolvanen made 17 saves and improved to 13-5-1 this season.
“Tolvanen is so good,” Whitten said. “ He’s an all-league performer and almost set the NCAA shutout record last season. We knew it was going to have to be a low-scoring game for us to have a chance.”
Laker Senior Night
The Lakers play host to Bowling Green in their final home games of the regular season this Friday and Saturday night. It will be Senior Night on Saturday at Taffy Abel Arena. The Lakers will honor seniors J.T. Henke, Aidan Wright, Ryan Renz and Kyle Chatham.