It has been a decade and a half of ups and downs since Lake Superior State won three national titles in six years was a perennial contend for a spot in the NCAA tournament. Looking back on the glory days in Sault Ste. Marie, names like Brian Rolston, Doug Weight, and Jim Dowd jump off the page as obvious catalysts for a tournament-caliber team. But if one thing has become clear to current coach Jim Roque in recent years, it’s that if the Lakers are to succeed, it’s not the late-blooming goal scorers they consistently unearth who pave the path of success for Lake Superior—it’s the goaltenders.

Glove-ly: Lake Superior State goaltender Brian Mahoney-Wilson has the Lakers in the mix for a top-four finish in the CCHA regular-season standings.

Had it not been for Blaine Lacher, perhaps the Lakers wouldn’t have made the mark that they did on the 1990s. And more recently Lake Superior’s memorable 2006-07 trip to Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA’s semifinal round was on the shoulders of stellar netminder Jeff Jakaitis who gave up just one goal per game in an upset sweep of Miami in the quarterfinals.

But since Jakaitis moved on, Roque and Lakers couldn’t seem to settle on a full-time goaltender. Over the past two seasons, both Pat Inglis and Brian Mahoney-Wilson proved themselves capable college netminders, splitting time almost equally, but neither ever grew comfortable in their role.

Heading into this season, Roque thought back to the successes of No. 1 netminders like Jakaitis and Lacher and decided to make a philosophical change that might turn the fortunes of one lucky goaltender and the Laker program as a whole.

“I think, if anything, it has been more of my fault in not settling on one guy,” Roque said. “It’s always tough when you keep changing stuff. This summer, I said no matter what, I was going to make a decision and stick with it.”

Mahoney-Wilson caught Roque’s eye after putting in a summer of hard work and playing well in the early stages of the season, which has helped the coach keep his word and pick one starter. The consistent playing time has paid dividends so far, with Mahoney-Wilson amassing a .917 save percentage and a 2.53 goals against average en route to a 12-7-4 personal record and a chance to compete for a first-round bye in the conference playoffs.

Heading into this weekend’s home series against Notre Dame, Lake Superior sits in fourth place on the back of an impressive run since their Thanksgiving trip to the Rensselaer Holiday Tournament. Since earning ties against Union and Bentley in Troy, the Lakers have gone 8-1-1 with sweeps of Bowling Green, Northern Michigan, Robert Morris, and Nebraska-Omaha.

Mahoney-Wilson’s play has given his teammates the backbone to take chances offensively during that 10-game stretch, resulting in an increase in the team’s offensive output of 1.5 goals per game.

“If your goalie plays well, it changes how your whole team plays,” Roque said. “The forwards are not afraid to make mistakes … I’m a little disappointed in my forwards. We don’t have anyone producing at a point-per-game level, and I still think we can produce a little better up front.”

While he’d like to see more scoring from his forwards, Roque is still pleased that his team is playing well, and more importantly that they showed resilience after their 3-6-1 start in league play.

“I’m proud of the way they stuck with it,” Roque said. “We didn’t have as fast of a start as we wanted, but we stuck with it.”