The 2023–24 Lake Superior State Lakers men's ice hockey season was the 58th season of play for the program, the 51st at the Division I level and the 44th in the CCHA. The Lakers represented Lake Superior State University, played their home games at the Taffy Abel Arena and were coached by Damon Whitten in his 10th season.
Season
After an unmitigated disaster of a season, particularly on the offensive side of the puck, changes were needed at Lake Superior State. Thirteen new players joined the Lakers and the changes were evident early in the season. LSSU got swept in its opening weekend, but it came at the hands of a ranked Michigan State squad. After a home split the following weekend, the Lakers reeled off four consecutive victories and did so with a functioning offense. The chief instigators for this resurgence were two returning players, both of whom made tremendous improvements to their games. Jared Westcott led the team with 18 goals and nearly tripled his career high in points. Connor Millburn was an even bigger revelation, going from 5 points the year before to 35, helping Lake State improve its offense by more than a goal per game. Westcott and Millburn combined with Dawson Tritt to form the team's top unit and led the team's turnaround.
In goal, Ethan Langenegger was an adequate starting goaltender but the team struggled to put wins together. The Lakers alternated wins and losses in the first half and entered the winter break with a .500 record. With how volatile the CCHA was, the team could have finished anywhere in the standings but they would need to shore up their defensive deficiencies if they wanted to get home ice in the postseason. Lake Superior's failure at the Ledyard Bank Classic didn't really affect the team as, by then, it was already apparent that only the CCHA champion would make the NCAA tournament. A sweep of Northern Michigan two weeks later was far more important for the team but the wins were, unfortunately, fleeting. Over a 4-week stretch, the offense faltered and the team went 1–5 in conference play. The rough patch dropped the Lakers to 7th in the standings and Lake Superior was facing the prospect of starting their postseason run on the road.
In the latter portion of the campaign, Langenegger lost his grip on the starting job and the team began to rotate between him and Easton Hesse. The new entry into the Laker cage provided several good outing while the reduced minutes appeared to help Langenegger as well. The team managed to go 3–2 down the stretch, which included the Lakers' only shutout of the season, but they were unable to get out of a road trip for the postseason.
Lake Superior opened against a surprising St. Thomas team in the quarterfinals, however, they weren't as overmatched by the #2 seed as they may have appeared. The two were separated by just one win in the standings while both were +6 in goal differential. Helping Lake Superior's chances was the Tommies being in the middle of a terrible stretch that had them win just once in their previous eight games.[1] The Lakers took advantage of their vulnerable opponent and won the first game with relative ease. The defeat seemed to wake up St. Thomas, who outplayed the Lakers in game two to tie the series. Both teams showed up for the deciding game but Lake Superior seemed to be in trouble when Westcott took a match penalty for boarding early in the second period. However, despite being down a man, Connor Milburn scored a short-handed goal at the beginning of the penalty kill and the Lakers managed to stop all attempts from the Tommies during the disadvantage. In spite of the defensive heroics, Lake State was still down a goal entering the third. With Langenegger holding down the fort, Reagan Milburn picked the perfect time to score his second goal of the season and tie the game in the middle of the period. St. Thomas was forced to get out of their defensive shell and both teams battled for the next goal. As time was winding down, the Lakers got on an odd-man rush up the ice. After the initial shot was saved, the rebound bounced straight up in the air and landed in the crease right at the feet of Tritt the Laker winger batted the puck into the cage before anyone could stop him, scoring the winning maker with just 6.6 seconds to play.[2]
While the Lakers were hoping for a repeat performance in the conference semifinals, they were completely outmatched by Bemidji State. The team was outshot nearly 3-to-1 and were never really a threat to the Beavers. Even with that unceremonious end, the Lakers had taken a big step forward, climbing eleven spots higher in the national rankings.[3]
Championship: March 22, 2024 † indicates conference regular season champion (MacNaughton Cup) * indicates conference tournament champion (Mason Cup) ^ Augustana is playing a transition schedule of 16 games against conference opponents that are not counted in the standings Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll
