30th Anniversary of Last Championship Stirs Longing For More
by Frank Mills/CHN Reporter
It’s been 30 years since Lake Superior State last claimed the title of champions, and much water and history has passed through the famous Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, since then. The once storied program — made nationally relevant by two NAIA titles in the 1970s, coach Frank Anzalone’s NCAA national title in 1988, and sculpted into a powerhouse by coach Jeff Jackson’s championships in 1992, nearly-1993, and 1994 — has struggled to win consistently since Jackson left the program in 1996.
Much of that is circumstantial, of course. It got a lot harder for the “little guy” to win consistently, and it gets harder and harder still. But that doesn’t necessarily satisfy everyone.
Current coach Damon Whitten, who took over the reins in 2014, has had his share of successes and challenges. Lake State is the smallest public university in Michigan, yet it has the hockey expectations of an exponentially larger school. After spending several years rebuilding the program in his image, he had his greatest success in 2020-21, going 19-7-6 and winning the WCHA championship. With their first trip to the national tournament since 1996, the Lakers’ run ended at the hands of eventual national champions Massachusetts.
The 2022-23 season saw the Lakers at their lowest, posting a 9-25-2 record and scoring 36 fewer goals than they had the year before. Whitten was able to salvage the season, however, with the Lakers playing their best hockey down the stretch, picking up wins against Bemidji State, Northern Michigan, St. Thomas, and Ferris State.
In 2023-24, 13 new players joined Whitten’s squad, 11 of whom were freshmen. They scraped out a respectable 17-20-1 record and even surprised St. Thomas, winning 2-1 in the CCHA quarterfinals before eventually losing to conference-leader Bemidji State.
“We were such a young team last year,” Whitten said. “We had to dress three to four freshmen on defense every night. There was a lot of growth and a lot of learning that occurred, and I think the win in the playoffs gave us something to build on for this year.”
This year, the Lakers return without their reliable goaltender Ethan Langenegger, who opted to transfer to…
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