Call it the Redemption Tour.

With a few more outcomes like Wednesday’s 4-2 triumph over Rosemount, some entrepreneurial Prior Lake student could print up a few hundred (thousand?) T-shirts with the various dates and locations of the victories listed on the back, set up a stand and no doubt do a brisk business.

Lakers front men Alex Bump (nicknamed Bumpy) and Will Schumacher (nicknamed Shooey) would look great plastered on the front of those T-shirts. But don’t forget a large and highly skilled supporting cast that includes Riley Dueber (Dooby?) and Sam Rice (Spicey?), standouts in the victory over the Irish at Prior Lake’s Dakotah! Ice Center.

“The whole year he’s just been the hardest worker on the team,” Rice said about Dueber, a second line center who scored twice against Rosemount, including a late power-play goal that put the Lakers up 3-1. “I mean, his wheels are insane.”

The victory was Prior Lake’s second in as many outings against a team it lost to earlier in the season, thus the “Redemption” designation. The Lakers, with 10 seniors on the roster, started the season solidly in the top 10 in Class 2A but dropped completely out of the top 20 after a 4-7-0 start. Valleyfair's most severe ride doesn't have such a steep plummet.

Prior Lake is in the midst of an 8-2-0 run that includes a 7-1 Hockey Day victory over East Grand Forks on Jan. 22 and a 4-1 triumph over Eastview on Saturday.

Eastview upended the Lakers 4-1 on Dec. 14 and Rosemount defeated Prior Lake 4-3 on Dec. 18. Next up is Lakeville North on Saturday. The Panthers beat the Lakers 5-4 on Dec. 28.

“I think it was right after Eastview game where we said our goal was to win out the rest of the season,” Rice said. “To kind of get going before (the section playoffs) and get the boys pumped up.”

An extended winning streak certainly seems do-able. An injury forced Rice to miss the first seven games of the season, and his return has bolstered the Lakers’ lineup. 

“The last time we (played Prior Lake) we didn’t see Rice,” Rosemount coach Rick Saintey said about the senior forward who had a goal and an assist on Wednesday. “He’s a difference maker. That's a big thing to have him in the middle there.”

The 5-foot-8, 161-pound Rice, who often lines up as a center between Bump and Schumacher, brings a seek-and-destroy attitude when it comes to chasing down loose pucks. He’s never entered a corner battle he didn’t think he could win, despite most often giving away several inches and more than a few pounds to his opponents. And along with all that will comes an above-average skillset. He’s third on the team — behind Bump and Schumacher — with 24 points (8 goals, 16 assists).

“He's gonna be in all dirty areas, and he is gonna work his (butt) off all game,” Dueber said about Rice. “And that's what we’ve all got to do to be successful.”

The emergence of Dueber as a bona-fide scoring threat — he’s third on the team in goals with 10 and fourth in points with 22 — has also helped fuel the Lakers’ resurgence. He’s a key member of Prior Lake’s power play that went 1-for-3 on Wednesday, was 2-for-5 against Eastview and 2-for-3 in a Jan. 27 loss to St. Thomas Academy.

“He's fast,” Prior Lake coach Joe Pankratz said about Dueber. “Straight-line speed, he’s super fast and when he goes there's not many guys in high school that can stay with him.”

The state of Prior Lake’s game is such that the topic of fierce debate in the Lakers’ coaches’ room after the game was pizza. As in, from where to order it. That’s one clue a team is going good.

“Our lines are where we want them” Pankrtaz said after the Lakers improved to 12-9-0. “We're playing hard. Our structure, for the most part, is exactly what we want it to look like. We’re scoring goals and, for the most part, outplaying every team we’re playing.”

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