Box Score Lake Superior State head coach Damon Whitten loves Great Lake State Weekend. "It's always one of the highlights of the year," said the university's longest-tenured hockey coach. 

"You get to hear the stories of all the student-athletes and all the honorees and their time at Lake State and the impact it had. For me, it's really impactful to tell the story of Lake State and how special our university is."

The Lakers honor several inductees into the Lake Superior State Hall of Fame on Saturday. But on Friday night, college hockey took center stage in Sault Ste. Marie, as the Lakers (2-3-0, 0-1-0 CCHA) slugged with Bowling Green (1-2-0, 1-0-0 CCHA) in a 4-1 defeat.

Whitten told 99.5 YES FM after the game, "I thought it was a great start to CCHA play in terms of the intensity you're going to see and the compete level you're going to see. That's going to be hockey every single night there."

A great crowd at Taffy Abel Arena saw a rough-and-tumble game, with several earthquake-level body checks, determined shot blocks and gorgeous skill plays. Johnny Druskinis scored a powerplay goal late in the second period to tie the game at 1-1, then knifed in on goal in the third and scored a goal that would have made every highlight reel produced for the rest of the season. But after a Falcons challenge, the goal was overturned for offside, and the score was moved back to 3-1 in the mid-to-late stages of the third period.

Speaking postgame, the Lakers head coach said he hadn't seen the review back yet. But he recognized Druskinis' contributions after missing the past four contests. "You can see what he means to our lineup, starting with his powerplay goal. It was a big goal at the time to tie it at 1-1, get our building some life and get our team into it. And then to make it a one-goal game again. It's unfortunate."

That would-be goal came at 15:10 of the third period. Though Druskinis had tied the game 1-1 late in the second, Bowling Green answered with a pair of early-third strikes. Jaden Grant scored at 0:52 of the third at even strength, then again at 2:24 on the powerplay.

"I liked the way we finished with some urgency," Whitten said. "I think some guys kind of found it and got going a little bit too late. But you can't do it for 10 minutes, 12 minutes or 20. It takes 60 minutes. That was a hard-fought game for 60 minutes."

Rorke Applebee made 41 saves for LSSU, the second time in his career he's saved more than 40 shots. He stopped 43 on November 15^th, 2024 against Ferris State. Co-captain Connor Milburn made his 100^th appearance for LSSU.

Saturday headlines Great Lake State Weekend at Lake Superior State. From the Alumni Awards ceremony and Hall of Fame inductions, to the Board of Trustees Tailgate and game two of this CCHA weekend series with Bowling Green, Saturday promises many memorable moments across campus. Opening faceoff for the game is 6:07 PM at Abel Arena, live on CCHA TV powered by Midco Sports Plus, and on 99.5 YES FM.