Lakers' sweep a 'slap to the face' of Blue icers

The clock on the Yost Ice Arena scoreboard read all zeroes, and as if to add insult to injury, Lake Superior State goalie Jayme Platt took a bow. In fact he took several - a mocking salute to the fans at Yost, and a personal acknowledgement of his team's effort this past weekend. His Lakers swept the Wolverines, winning 3-0 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday.

It was just one final smack to the Wolverines. You could see it in their faces after the game. Frustrated, dejected and battered, the Michigan hockey team looked for reasons to explain this weekend's performance. The sting left by the Lakers' sweep of the Wolverine icers is one that will eventually subside, but the mark that it has left will not be forgotten.

DANNY KALICK/Daily Josh Langfeld, and the Michigan hockey team in general, were denied by Lake Superior State this weekend.

"I hate to say it but it might be good for our team to get a slap in the face," Michigan coach Red Berenson said. "Our whole team has to step up and they have to learn from this weekend. Team's sometimes become less coachable when they win and you need a loss to bring you down to Earth sometime. This certainly will get them down to Earth."

Saturday night they were brought down quickly. The Lakers went right after L.J. Scarpace, who was making his first start as a Wolverine. With an extra attacker on the ice because of an ensuing penalty, Lakers right winger Jeff Cheeseman sent a shot past Scarpace just 6:31 into the game. The goal put the Wolverines in the unenviable position of playing catch up all game - something they were never able to do.

But after the early score, neither team would put the biscuit in the

basket until late in the second period - when they overflowed it. In a span of 1:31 the teams exchanged goals twice to make the score 3-2. LSSU forward Mike Vigilante took things into his own hands with a power play shot from outside the left circle to put the Lakers up by two, but Michigan forward Mike Cammalleri's backhand through the legs of Platt one minute later cut the lead back down to one.

Just :21 later Vigilante continued his one man wrecking crew with another goal, only to have it cut once again by Michigan's Scott Matzka :16 after that.

The Lakers would add an empty net goal with less than :06 remaining to round out the scoring.

But Saturday's loss was a significant improvement from the night before. On Friday the Wolverines looked out of sync, and were shut-out at home for the first time since 1988 - a 3-0 beating at the hands of Michigan State.

Lakers' forward Jeremy Bachusz led the way with two goals, and Platt was excellent in stopping all 33 Michigan shots. The shut out was the first of the season for the Wolverines, and the first they had suffered since last January against Ferris State. The Wolverines have now dropped four straight to Lake Superior - a fact that hasn't gotten past Lakers' coach Scott Borek.

"I don't know when their gonna stop thinking it's a fluke," Borek said of Michigan. "We've obviously won four in a row. They're a young team. Andy Hilbert, Mike Cammalleri, and even Mike Comrie are all still very young, and they're going to have nights where the puck just isn't clicking. But I think this weekend was a combination of us and them."

The poor play of the Wolverines may be a combination of a bad week of practice and a lack of veterans as well.

"I think our team was enjoying last weekend too much," Berenson said. "I sensed that in practice all week. I thought we were too loose, and still enjoying the goal of a sweep at Miami. We should know better than that. Maybe we don't have enough veteran players to understand that. Certainly players that played against Lake state last year remembered how tough they were to play against.

"We have to learn from this. Our power play has to improve, our penalty has to improve, our hustle has to improve. Every player in our lockeroom can play better than they did this weekend. And that is now the challenge for this team."

they win and you need a loss to bring you down to Earth sometime. This certainly will get them down to Earth."

Saturday night they were brought down quickly. The Lakers went right after goalie L.J. Scarpace, who was making his first start as a Wolverine.

With an extra attacker on the ice because of an ensuing penalty, Lakers right winger Jeff Cheeseman sent a shot past Scarpace just 6:31 into the game. The goal put the Wolverines in the unenviable position of playing catch up all game - something they were never able to do.

But after the early score, neither team would put the biscuit in the basket until late in the second period - when they overflowed it.

In a span of 1:31, the teams exchanged goals twice to make the score 3-2. Lake Superior forward Mike Vigilante took things into his own hands with a power play shot from outside the left circle to put the Lakers up by two, but Michigan forward Mike Cammalleri's backhand through Platt's legs one minute later cut the lead back down to one.

Just 21 seconds later Vigilante continued his one-man wrecking crew with another goal, only to have it cut once again by Michigan's Scott Matzka 16 seconds after that.

The Lakers would add an empty net goal with less than six seconds remaining to round out the scoring.

But Saturday's loss was a significant improvement from the night before. On Friday the Wolverines looked out of sync, and were shut-out at home for the first time in eleven years - a 3-0 beating at the hands of Michigan State.

Lakers' forward Jeremy Bachusz led the way with two goals, and Platt was excellent in stopping all 33 Michigan shots.

The shutout was the first the Wolverines had suffered this season, and the first they had suffered since last January against Ferris State. The Wolverines have now dropped four straight to Lake Superior - a fact that hasn't gotten past Lakers' coach Scott Borek.

"I don't know when they're going to stop thinking it's a fluke," Borek said of Michigan. "We've obviously won four in a row. They're a young team. Andy Hilbert, Cammalleri, and even Mike Comrie are all still very young, and they're going to have nights where the puck just isn't clicking. But I think this weekend was a combination of us and them."

The poor play of the Wolverines may be a combination of a bad week of practice and a lack of veterans as well.

"I think our team was enjoying last weekend too much," Berenson said. "I sensed that in practice all week. I thought we were too loose, and still enjoying the sweep at Miami. We should know better than that. Maybe we don't have enough veteran players to understand that. Certainly players that played against Lake State last year remembered how tough they were to play against.

"We have to learn from this. Our power play has to improve, our penalty killing has to improve, our hustle has to improve. Every player in our lockerroom can play better than they did this weekend. And that is now the challenge for this team."

11-22-99