Since the Lakehead University hockey team playoff hopes were dashed in the first round, I have been asked by many about what went wrong this season?
The first half was very good, with Lakehead getting on a winning roll and entering the December break in a solid position, still with a shot at catching Western Ontario for the divisional title. But, the start of 2011 wasn't favourable. Injuries to key players such as Kris Hogg and Pierre-Marc Guilbault took their toll as did the five game departure of Jordan Smith and Matt Caria for the World University games. Any team would have a hard time continuing to perform with that much offensive firepower out of its line-up. The result was a team which struggled offensively in the second half, finally culminating in back-to-back shutout losses to Waterloo in the playoffs.
I think just a lot of tough breaks happened too close together, and it added up to be the perfect storm that tarnished what had looked to be a promising season. But, I also believe that the players returning in the fall will be stronger for it, as they will want to erase the memory of the quick playoff exit. They will be hungry and determined to not let that happen again. There will be new faces with the departure of Smith, Brock McPherson, Kyle Moir, Andy Zulyniak and Pierre-Marc Guilbault.
I look for Joel Scherban and his staff to re-tool the team and rebound in 2011-12, in much the same manner as it did following a disappointing second round playoff exit in the season that followed being runner-up at Nationals in Edmonton in 2006.
