Box Score Lake Superior State head coach Damon Whitten has implored his team to lock in for a full 60 minutes over the last several weeks.

Saturday night, the Lakers showed up to Cheel Arena bent on destruction. They did lock in for a full 60, crushing the Clarkson Golden Knights 6-2 in nonconference play.

After the game, Whitten said he was, "Proud of the effort. It's been a team that's been inconsistent weekend to weekend and even within some of the games. Tonight, we finally put a complete effort together. Not only a complete effort, but we got contributions throughout. Getting all guys contributing positively to the win. Really proud of the result and what we earned out there, but also each player contributing in whatever ways they did for a quality win on the road. This is a team that just beat North Dakota and Penn State. It's a tough place to play and a big win."

Carter Batchelder scored twice for LSSU (3-4-1, 0-2-0 CCHA) and the Lakers hammered home four first period goals past the Golden Knights (3-5-0, 0-0-0 ECAC), chasing goaltender Shane Soderwall in just 17:28. Hunter Ramos got the Lakers on the board just 33 seconds into the game with his third goal of the season. Though Talon Sigurdson leveled the game for Clarkson at 4:25, William Ahlrik, Samuel Belanger and Batchelder all hammered in strikes, sending Soderwall off early in favor of Keenan Rancier, the former Minnesota State Mavericks goaltender.

"It felt good," said Batchelder. "The team played great. We played the right way, and I think that showed on the scoresheet. We play the right way and we're a very dominant hockey team."

The Lakers took two penalties on one play in the second period, and Tate Taylor struck in the 5-on-3 for the Golden Knights. That would be it for them - though the Lakers were heavily outshot in that frame, they rebounded by heavily outshooting their opposition in the third.

Whitten said, "You see the importance of discipline. They take a penalty late as the second period ended and we start on the powerplay. We've got the momentum and we're driving play. They took another one shortly after that, so spending four minutes on the powerplay in the opening six or seven minutes makes it tough for them to climb back into the hockey game. We've seen that this year on the other end. I thought we showed really good discipline and composure in this building."

Rorke Applebee had an excellent start in net, making 30 saves in the win for LSSU.

"When you have a goalie as good as Rorke, you know you can count on him if you make a mistake out there," Batchelder said. "You try to limit those mistakes, but he saved a couple of big ones there. On the other end, when we were chipping pucks in and were getting to the net, it was hard on their goalie."

Batchelder scored his second of the game late in the second period to put the game out of reach with a 5-2 scoreline. Calem Mangone added another in the third, an empty net strike at 11:08, as Clarkson pulled the goaltender early to attempt an offensive spark.

"Carter's been buzzing," said Applebee. "I told him yesterday, he looks like a man amongst boys out there. I don't know what we did over the offseason. He's always been good, but I just think he has an extra pep in his step. He's bigger, and he's just manhandling guys out there. It's showing up on the scoresheet."

Ahlrik continued to excel, scoring a goal and adding two assists, while Belanger scored his first official Laker goal. Ramos continued his excellent start to life as a Laker with his third goal during his freshman campaign.

LSSU dominated the faceoff battle, winning 28 of 50 draws. Ahlrik crushed the Golden Knights at the dot, going an astounding 13-5. The Swedish sophomore has a 50% or better faceoff ratio in seven of his eight games this season.

"He's an amazing center, a great all-around player," said Batchelder. "He's great on the offensive side and defensive side of the puck. He knows where to score goals and where to put himself. On draws, we can always put him out there when we need one and he gets it done for us."

Applebee added, "Bill's the best, off and on the ice. He's consistent. It's nice when the other team isn't snapping it back for a one-timer off the faceoff, and when he's out there, we're confident. He played great today."

And the Lakers head coach noted the importance of his contributions, too. "I can't tell you how good it feels to have a guy that successful in the faceoff circle when you're starting the powerplay. When you can win clean possession on that initial faceoff, you get into your movement, and that's exactly what happens on Ahlrik's goal. He wins the draw, we're playing catch for a little bit and all of a sudden, Connor Milburn finds the backdoor for a tap-in and a nice powerplay goal. It all starts with faceoff execution. Those little habits go a long way to get rewarded in the game. It was great to see Ahlrik dialed between the dots again and really getting rewarded for his impact on the offensive side."

On defense, Mike Brown finished with a +4 mark on Saturday, a stellar mark. The assistant captain's strong play is appreciated by his goaltender. "I think Brown's arguably been our best player to start the year," said Applebee. "He's so solid, and there's so much trust in him when he's on the ice. I know he's going to keep it up. He leads by example."

The Lakers head to Bemidji State next weekend as they return to CCHA play. Both games will be available on CCHA TV from Midco Sports Plus and live on 99.5 YES FM. And the Laker Hockey Show returns Tuesday at noon on News Talk 1400.