2021–22 Lake Superior State Lakers men's ice hockey season

The 2021–22 Lake Superior State Lakers men's ice hockey season was the 56th season of play for the program, the 49th at the Division I level and the 42nd season in the CCHA conference. The Lakers represented Lake Superior State University and were coached by Damon Whitten, in his 8th season.

Season[]

Lake Superior State joined with six other members of the WCHA to restart the CCHA for the 2021–22 season.

The Lakers were hoping to build upon their first NCAA tournament appearance in 25 years with a strong performance. Unfortunately, they lost three critical games in the first two weeks. While they went undefeated in their succeeding seven games, the strength of their opponents kept them out of the polls. A bad stretch in November also cost Lake State and put the Lakers on the wrong side of .500.

The defense looked like it had recovered during a weekend split with top-ranked Minnesota State but then the offense flagged the following week against lowly Ferris State. The team went up and down in their play for several months but began to show a bit more consistency towards the end of the season. However, despite the improvement, Lake Superior was too far down the PairWise rankings to make the tournament without a conference championship.

Lake Superior began postseason play at home against Northern Michigan and laid an egg in the first game. The Lakers allowed the first five goals of the game and were only able to score with less than 5 minutes to play. They were much better in the rematch, winning 3–2 to tie the series and force a deciding rubber match. After surrendering the first goal, the Lakers reeled off three in a row to build a 3–1 lead early in the second period. Northern Michigan replied with a deluge of goals, scoring four times in the span of 8 minutes to take a commanding lead. Lake State was unable to add to their total for most of the third and were forced to pull Ethan Langenegger in desperation. The ploy worked once but the Wildcats managed to stop a tying goal from being scored and the Lakers' season was over.

Departures[]

Player	Position	Nationality	Cause
Alex Ambrosio	Forward	Canada	Graduate transfer to Canisius
Ashton Calder	Forward	United States	Transferred to North Dakota
Hampus Eriksson	Forward	Sweden	Graduate transfer to Northern Michigan
Niko Esposito-Selivanov	Forward	Germany	Signed professional contract (Hannover Indians)
Chase Gamelin	Forward	United States	Graduation (retired)
Lukas Kälble	Defenseman	Germany	Graduate transfer to Clarkson
Michael Mannara	Defenseman	Canada	Transferred to York
Mareks Mitens	Goaltender	Latvia	Graduation (signed with Binghamton Devils)
Yuki Miura	Forward	Japan	Graduation (signed with Iowa Heartlanders)
Will Riedell	Defenseman	United States	Graduate transfer to Ohio State
Pierre-Luc Veillette	Forward	Canada	Left program (signed with Saint-Georges Cool FM 103.5)

Recruiting[]

Player	Position	Nationality	Age	Notes
Timo Bakos	Forward	Germany	21	Augsburg, GER
Cole Craft	Forward	Canada	20	North Bay, ON
Easton Hesse	Goaltender	Canada	21	Beaumont, AB
Grant Hindman	Defenseman	United States	19	Oakland, MI
Logan Jenuwine	Forward	United States	23	Romeo, MI; transfer from Arizona State
Sebastian Miedema	Defenseman	Sweden	21	Gävle, SWE
Josh Nixon	Forward	Canada	21	Mississauga, ON
Brett Roloson	Forward	United States	20	Newport Beach, CA
Harrison Roy	Forward	United States	21	Lakeville, MA; transfer from Boston College
Dawson Tritt	Forward	United States	21	Spokane, WA
Jordan Venegoni	Forward	United States	21	Livonia, MI
Jake Willets	Defenseman	United States	22	Erie, MI; transfer from Ferris State

Roster[]

As of August 20, 2021.^[1]

No.	S/P/C	Player	Class	Pos	Height	Weight	DoB	Hometown	Previous team	NHL rights
1		Ethan Langenegger	Sophomore	G	6' 0" (1.83 m)	187 lb (85 kg)	2000-09-10	Kamloops, British Columbia	Salmon Arm (BCHL)	—
3		Tyler Williams	Sophomore	F	5' 7" (1.7 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	2000-05-16	South Lyon, Michigan	Nanaimo (BCHL)	—
4		Jacob Bengtsson	Sophomore	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	202 lb (92 kg)	1999-05-08	Stockholm, Sweden	Waterloo (USHL)	—
5		Arvid Henrikson	Junior	D	6' 5" (1.96 m)	211 lb (96 kg)	1998-02-23	Stockholm, Sweden	Austin (NAHL)	MTL, 187th overall 2016
6		Jake Willets	Junior	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-08-06	Monroe, Michigan	Ferris State (CCHA)	—
7		Mitchell Oliver	Senior	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1997-06-17	Kelowna, British Columbia	Alberni (BCHL)	—
8		Logan Jenuwine	Sophomore	F	6' 3" (1.91 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1998-05-15	Romeo, Michigan	Arizona State (NCAA)	—
9		Dustin Manz (A)	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	1999-09-21	Vanderbilt, Michigan	Prince George (BCHL)	—
10		Miroslav Mucha (A)	Senior	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	197 lb (89 kg)	1997-10-07	Bytča, Slovakia	Minot (NAHL)	—
11		Dawson Tritt	Freshman	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	2000-09-01	Spokane, Washington	Lone Star (NAHL)	—
12		Brandon Puricelli	Junior	F	5' 10" (1.78 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1998-02-04	Ellisville, Missouri	Minnesota Duluth (NCHC)	—
13		Sepncer DenBeste	Sophomore	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1999-02-17	Marquette, Michigan	Johnstown (NAHL)	—
14		Brett Roloson	Freshman	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	160 lb (73 kg)	2000-12-29	Worcester, Massachusetts	Minot (NAHL)	—
15		Jacob Nordqvist (A)	Senior	D	5' 9" (1.75 m)	181 lb (82 kg)	1998-02-12	Gothenburg, Sweden	Madison (USHL)	—
16		Harrison Roy	Sophomore	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	2000-01-17	Lakeville, Massachusetts	Boston College (HEA)	—
17		Sebastian Miedema	Freshman	D	6' 1" (1.85 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	2000-09-09	Gävle, Sweden	Sioux Falls (USHL)	—
18		Cole Craft	Freshman	F	6' 2" (1.88 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	2001-06-29	North Bay, Ontario	Lincoln (USHL)	—
19		Joshua Wildauer	Sophomore	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	170 lb (77 kg)	1999-06-16	Dearborn Heights, Michigan	Coquitlam (BCHL)	—
20		Grant Hindman	Freshman	D	6' 0" (1.83 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	2002-05-16	Oakland, Michigan	Youngstown (USHL)	—
21		Jordan Venegoni	Freshman	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	2000-08-16	Livonia, Michigan	Amarillo (NAHL)	—
22		Timo Bakos	Freshman	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	194 lb (88 kg)	2000-07-28	Augsburg, Germany	Rosenheim (Oberliga)	—
23		Artyom Borshyov	Sophomore	D	6' 3" (1.91 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	2000-08-22	Vitebsk, Belarus	Northern (NCDC)	—
24		Josh Nixon	Freshman	F	5' 8" (1.73 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	2000-05-09	Mississauga, Ontario	Maryland (NAHL)	—
25		Jeremy Gervais	Sophomore	D	5' 11" (1.8 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1999-01-09	Prince George, British Columbia	Salmon Arm (BCHL)	—
26		Jack Jeffers	Senior	F	6' 0" (1.83 m)	180 lb (82 kg)	1997-09-21	Oakville, Ontario	Alabama Huntsville (WCHA)	—
27		Benito Posa	Sophomore	F	6' 1" (1.85 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1999-01-16	Grand Blanc, Michigan	Des Moines (USHL)	—
29		Louis Boudon (C)	Junior	F	5' 11" (1.8 m)	172 lb (78 kg)	1998-10-04	Grenoble, France	Northeast (NAHL)	—
30		Easton Hesse	Freshman	G	6' 0" (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	2000-06-28	Beaumont, Alberta	Bonnyville (AJHL)	—
31		Seth Eisele	Junior	G	6' 5" (1.96 m)	195 lb (88 kg)	1998-10-30	Lake Elmo, Minnesota	Lone Star (NAHL)	—

Standings[]

Schedule and results[]

Scoring statistics[]

^[3]

Goaltending statistics[]

Rankings[]

^[4]

References[]