60 Days. 60 Teams. 600 Words (or Less): Lake Superior State

Lake Superior State

2018-19 Record: 21-13-2 (16-10-2, 4th in WCHA)
Head Coach: Damon Whitten, 6th Year
Top returning scorer: Max Humitz (16G-17A)
Top returning goaltender: Mareks Mitens (Jr.)

Time to conclude the west to east journey across the Upper Peninsula with a trip to the Soo. (No, not you North Dakota. The Fighting Hawks profile runs Friday.) Lake Superior State topped 20 wins for the first time since 2006-07 thanks in part to a second-half run that left the Lakers in the hunt for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.

LSSU was 7-6-1 on December 1st following being swept by Minnesota State. Over the final 24 games, only five teams were better than the Lakers 16-7-1 record. During the stretch, Diego Cuglietta had 18 of a national-high 25 goals while Max Humitz had 13. Nick Kossaf had a .922% save percentage compared to a .908% during the opening two months.

More than anything, Lake Superior State can claim to be one of the top schools in the state. Damon Whitten's team won the Great Lakes Invitational, defeating Michigan Tech and Michigan State for its first GLI title. The Lakers swept Tech at home, Ferris State on the road and even split with Michigan. (Northern Michigan going 3-1 against LSSU and not facing Western Michigan are the exceptions to the rule.)

What's New: Everything and nothing all at once.

The above sentence describes so much about Lake Superior State. It's the same old Lakers. Not much changes with this year's team except for dealing with raised expectations. Only five players graduated yet all five played key roles for the team.

Among the first-year players coming into Taffy Abel Arena is the grandchild of Phil Esposito and son of NHLer Alexander Selivanov, Niko Esposito-Selivanov. Esposito-Selivanov had 19 goals last season for Cowichan Valley (BCHL). Minnesotan Seth Eisele could have an opportunity in goal after a successful season with Lone Star Brahmas (NAHL).

Lake Superior State's non-conference schedule features an opening month of big names. The Lakers host Denver and Merrimack before trips to old CCHA friends Michigan and Notre Dame.

Closing Thoughts: It doesn't seem right that Lake Superior State is 23 seasons and four head coaches removed from its last NCAA Tournament berth. Seriously, Jeff Jackson remains the last coach to take the Lakers there. We're quickly nearing a point where no one who plays for the team was alive when he coached LSSU.

At this point, Lake Superior State being discussed among the WCHA's top half and returning to the NCAA Tournament can be considered a win. Now the question is whether that journey and work continue for another year. The Lakers lose the nation's leading goalscorer, top D and starting goaltender. Not an easy trio to replace.

On paper, the easiest would be in goal. Mitens had success, posting a .919% save percentage in 11 games last season. Also helping is the rest of the defense returning besides (a finally graduated) Steven Ruggiero.

Cuglietta graduating obviously hurts, but he's not the only catalyst for Whitten's offense finishing in the top-10 of the country (3.24 goals per game) despite being outshot on average. Lake Superior State's senior class was fifth nationally in goals per game while its underclassmen were 53rd of 60 teams. Does that high PDO total regress to the mean? Who steps up besides Humitz?

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