Diego Cuglietta is a man who loves his work.

The Lake Superior State senior first became familiar with the tools of his trade — skates, sticks, and pucks — as a toddler. Since then, the energetic, enthusiastic grandson of Italian immigrants has been all about continuous hockey improvement.

That was especially true this past offseason as Cuglietta dedicated himself to conditioning, weight training, and nutrition as never before in anticipation of his final season in Sault Ste. Marie. 

"I was doing sprints and everything like that to become bigger, faster, stronger," he said.

Following regular team practices, the 5-10, 176-pound forward can be found practicing winning faceoffs. 

The result of such dedication and unwavering work ethic?

Cuglietta is enjoying easily the most productive season of his college career, becoming one of the nation's most feared puckhandlers and cementing his reputation as one of the very best inside the faceoff circle.

With 23 points (16 goals, seven assists) through 22 games, Cuglietta has already surpassed his career-high for goals in a season and is a mere three points away from establishing a career-best in that category.

In fact, he leads the WCHA and is second in the nation in both goals and goals-per-game (.73). Cuglietta also tops the conference and is tied for fifth in country with six power-play goals. He had eight career power-play goals prior to this season.

Cuglietta's performances have earned him NCAA Third Star of the Week and WCHA Forward of the Week honors. 

This week, he learned he is among the initial group of 81 Hobey Baker Award nominees.

“I think the biggest thing is that I am a senior now and have been playing in college four years, so I just continued to get better every year which is paying off,” said Cuglietta, who is a healthy plus-13. “I’ve been in every situation on the ice and my comfort-level and confidence-level is high, so I’m shooting the puck more after being more of a pass-first guy last year. The team is playing really well, which makes it easier to score, as well.”

Lake Superior State took home the Great Lakes Invitational crown.

The team is playing better than it has in at least seven years. 

The Lakers, who have not finished above .500 since 2011-12 and were just 10-22-4 a year ago, are 14-6-2 and ranked 18th in the latest U.S. College Hockey Poll. 

They were fifth in WCHA standings with 29 points (9-5-2) and took an eight-game unbeaten streak (7-0-1) into this weekend’s two-game series at No. 6 Minnesota State.

That Cuglietta has spearheaded the program's revival is no surprise to coach Damon Whitten. After all, the Kamloops, British Columbia, native was one of Whitten's first recruiting targets after he was named head coach in April 2014.

Whitten could soon witness Cuglietta become the first Laker in 22 years to surpass the 20-goal mark.

"I am so happy Diego is having such a great season because, for four years, he's been buying into our process for getting better and doing everything the right way," Whitten said. "Diego has always loved to compete and get the most from his ability. He plays the game the right way, and I felt he was ready to score the way he has this year."

Cuglietta is also second in the nation with 300 faceoff wins, taking 56.5 percent of his draws.

"Faceoffs are something I've always been effective at during my career and worked hard at," he said. "I've been doing around 10 faceoffs after every practice to get even better this year."

When it comes to faceoffs, Cuglietta benefits from having a fine teacher: former Michigan State All-American and 10-year NHL veteran Mike York, who joined the Lakers' coaching staff prior to last season.

"Faceoffs have certainly been a strength for Diego, which has been critical to our success," Whitten said. "He has worked very well with Coach York to improve even more in that area and make adjustments when needed. Coach York and Diego deserve a lot of credit."

Cuglietta, who racked up 12 points (9-3) during an eight-game stretch from Dec. 7 to Jan. 12, expected his final collegiate season to be his finest.

"I would not say I'm surprised by my [increased] production because I've always had confidence in my ability and have been steadily improving with each season," he said. "I knew I could be a better player than I was last year. It's just been nice to score more goals and help the team win more games. That's the most important thing."

Strong chemistry with his linemates has also been instrumental to Cuglietta's success. His line is a mix of the fresh and the familiar as Cuglietta has been paired with junior Max Humitz and freshman Ashton Calder.

The trio is responsible for 25 of the Lakers' 75 goals and 51 points. 

"Max and Ashton are both having great years themselves and we've become comfortable with each other," Cuglietta said. "Max has a great touch around the net and a solid, all-around game and Ashton has a good, hard-nosed style of play."

The highlight of Cuglietta's season thus far was leading the Lakers to their first Great Lakes Invitational title and being named the tournament MVP. 

He scored a pair of goals against Michigan State in the semifinals, including the game-winner at 3:05 of overtime.

Racing to the net, Cuglietta snared a perfect pass from Jacob Nordqvist and immediately buried the puck into the net. Spartans' goaltender John Lethemon barely had time to flinch. 

Cuglietta skated to the nearest corner and leaped against the glass in celebration as teammates converged on him. 

For an encore, Cuglietta added two more goals as Lake Superior knocked off Michigan Tech in the championship game, 6-3. 

Cuglietta's affinity for hockey began almost immediately after being introduced to the sport by his father, Lino. 

"I was not even 3 years old when dad first took first out on the ice and I've loved hockey ever since," he said. "I think hockey is the most competitive of all the sports and that's always been the biggest thing for me. The life-long friendships you make is another thing."

As a youth, Cuglietta's breakout season came in 2009-10 when he amassed 90 points in 46 games for the Kamloops-based Jardine's Blazers Bantam AAA team. 

He totaled 76 points in 89 games over the next two seasons for Thompson Blazers midget team and Kamploops Storm junior squad before a three-year stint with the Merritt Centennials of the British Columbia Hockey League. While there, Cuglietta racked up 128 points (40-88) in 149 games.

Whitten began recruiting Cuglietta following his second season with the Centennials, offering him a scholarship during the summer of 2014.

"Diego was one of the first players I wanted to bring in for a visit after I was hired," Whitten said. "With his competitive nature, leadership ability and skill-level, I knew he would be a great building block for our program. It was obvious he could play all 200 feet of the ice and be competitive at the Division I level." 

Cuglietta committed to the Lakers in September 2014 before fulfilling a promise to play one more season in Merritt. 

"I loved the campus, the coaches and the town when I visited," he said. "It's a cozy campus with small classes sizes and is a place you won't get lost in. The town is a nice, tight-knit hockey community. Plus, I have family living across the [St. Mary's] River in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. You can't beat it."

After 11 points (6-5) in 38 games as a freshman, Cuglietta progressed to 25 (12-13) in 35 games as a sophomore and earned his first WCHA Offensive Player of the Week honor. He tied for second on the team last season with 23 points (7-16) and was named team MVP by the Soo Blueliners Club.

With 12 regular-season games remaining, the Lakers will likely reach 20 wins for the first time since 2006-07. Their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 23 years remains a possibility.

"The coaches have put a great system in place, we have a senior leadership and are getting contributions from so many players," Cuglietta said. "There are some exciting things we'd like to accomplish this year, but we've learned not get too high after wins or too low after losses. We've all bought into a motto of maximum effort, communication and positivity and it's showing right now."

Lake Superior is outscoring opponents by an average margin of 3.4-2.4 goals per game after being outscored 3.3-2.1 a year ago.

"It seemed like there was always something holding us back from a better record in the past whether it was injuries or youth, although we are still young," Whitten said. "We've always believed in what we were doing and everything has finally come together this year. We are just concentrating on ways to get better in all aspects. Then, bigger goals will take care of themselves."

Cuglietta's post-college goal is working his way through the professional ranks before eventually becoming a history teacher in his hometown.

"Everybody's dream is to play in the NHL, and with Diego's habits off the ice with nutrition and the weight room and just his character shows he understands what it takes to get to the next level," Whitten said. "There is no reason Diego can't continue to develop his talent and give himself a great chance to play at the highest level."

Rest assured, Cuglietta will be putting in the work to make that happen.

Mark Spezia is a freelance writer based in Lapeer, Michigan, whose work has been featured in the Detroit Free Press, Hour Detroit Magazine, ESPNW.com, and Flint, Michigan-based My City Magazine. He is a former sports writer for the Flint Journal and Daily Mining Gazette in Houghton, Michigan. He also served as sports editor of the Lapeer (Michigan) County Press.