Lakers still in fifth place heading into UNO home series

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. - The Central Collegiate Hockey Association's fifth-place team, Lake Superior State (12-8-4, 7-7-2-1 CCHA), will take on cluster opponent and seventh-place Nebraska-Omaha (10-9-5, 6-8-2-1 CCHA) in a series this weekend at the Taffy Abel Arena.

Earlier this season, the Mavericks and Lakers split a series at Omaha, Neb. UNO defeated LSSU 4-0 in the Friday game, and the Lakers came back to beat the Mavericks 3-1 Saturday. Junior forwards Will Acton (5-10-15) and Rick Schofield (11-10-21) both tallied one goal and one assist in Saturday night's victory.

Including the loss to the Mavericks on Nov. 13, LSSU has a record of 8-3-3 overall and 6-3-1 in the CCHA since its pivotal trip to Omaha, Neb. UNO's record since the first meeting with the Lakers is 6-8-3 overall and 5-7-0 in the CCHA.

UNO is 3-5-0 with nine points against cluster opponents in 2009-10, while the Lakers are 4-2-0 with 12 points.

UNO's Eddie Del Grosso (4-12-16) leads the team in points and assists. Schofield leads the Lakers with 21 points and is a co-leader in goals with 11, while senior forward Zac MacVoy (5-14-19) leads the Lakers in assists.

LSSU's junior forward Chad Nehring (11-5-16) and senior defender Simon Gysbers (5-8-13) are tied for eighth in power-play goals against conference opponents with three each. Nehring is tied for seventh in the CCHA goal scoring with eight, while Schofield is tied for fourth with nine goals. Schofield is tied for fifth place in the CCHA in point scoring with 16. Freshman forward Ben Power (3-11-14) sits in seventh place in scoring among the CCHA's rookie.

Nebraska-Omaha's Del Grosso is tied for third in defensive scoring in the conference at 2-9-11.

LSSU is in fourth place in the CCHA on the power-play with a .191 percent. UNO is in ninth place with at .162.

Lake Superior snapped a six game winning and an eight game unbeaten streak when MSU defeated LSSU 4-2, Jan. 8. Senior forward John Scrymgeour netted both Laker goals. Saturday LSSU and MSU played to a 3-3 tie at the end of regulation play. The Lakers came back to win the shootout 2-1 in five rounds. MacVoy and freshman forward Domenic Monardo scored in the shootout for the Lakers.

Sophomore Dan Barczuk will be out of Friday's game after taking a game misconduct penalty Saturday at Michigan State.

Catch the Laker action live with the pre-game show starting at 6 p.m. both Friday and Saturday night at its new channel for the rest of the season -- 99.5 Yes FM. Live play-by-play action starts at 7:05 p.m. both nights on 99.5 Yes FM with a free audio feed on www.yesfm.net. A live pay-per-view video feed is available on the B2 Network.

Lake Superior will also be home Jan. 22-23 to play host to the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame.

Note: Junior goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson made ESPN's Top 10 Highlights following Friday's performance at MSU. Mahoney-Wilson's late-game save against the Spartans was No. 2 on the list.