ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst College men’s hockey team continues Atlantic Hockey play this weekend with a two-game series at Sacred Heart, beginning on Friday, Jan. 15 at 7:05 p.m. at the Milford Ice Pavilion.
The Lakers, who enter the series with an 11-11-2 record and a first-place mark of 11-5-2 in league play, look to stay on track when they face the red-hot Pioneers, who are unbeaten in their last five games. Mercyhurst currently sits in first place with 24 points in 18 AHA games, just a point in front of RIT and Air Force with 23 apiece.
The Lakers are visiting Milford, Conn. for the first time this season after a sweep of American International last weekend at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. MC disposed of the Yellowjackets by the scores of 7-2 and 5-3 to extend their winning-streak to 11 games over AIC and move to 31-2-1 in the all-time series. The wins also improved the Lakers to 9-0-1 in their last 10 conference games. Junior
Brandon Coccimiglio led all scorers with five points, including his first natural hat trick and second-career three-goal game. Junior
Ryan Zapolski improved his record to 11-9-2 on the season and 11-4-2 against AHA competition with 55 saves and five goals allowed on the weekend.
Sacred Heart, meanwhile, looks to extend its unbeaten streak following a 1-0-1 weekend against Army. The Pioneers skated to a 3-3 tie before posting a 5-0 win to improve to 7-9-3 overall and 5-6-2 in conference play. Under the direction of first-year head coach C.J. Marottolo, the Pioneers have outscored opponents 21-6 and allowed a goal or less on four occasions during their 4-0-1 stretch.
The Pioneers boast two 20-plus point scorers in Nick Johnson and Dave Jarman and seven 10-plus point scorers overall. Johnson leads the team with 13 goals and 10 assists while Jarman has six goals and 10 helpers. In net, first-year goaltender Steven Legatto leads the way with a 6-6-2 record to go along with a .912 save percentage and a 3.13 goals against average.
This will be the first meeting between Sacred Heart and Mercyhurst this season. The Lakers captured a series sweep last season to move to 14-16-3 in the all-time series. Following this series, Mercyhurst returns home to host Bentley for two games before traveling to Colorado for single non-conference tilts against No. 1 Denver and No. 8 Colorado College.