Feb. 24, 2007

Stats

Erie, Pa. - It was a fitting end to a crazy regular season as Mercyhurst played a record tenth overtime tilt Saturday night in battling Canisius to a 2-2 stalemate. The Lakers, 9-19-6 overall and 9-15-4 in Atlantic Hockey, eclipsed the prior mark of nine overtime contests set in the 2004-05 campaign. The deadlock, coupled with other conference regular season-ending results Saturday, means Mercyhurst will travel to Connecticut for the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals in two weeks. Canisius, 9-22-3 and 9-16-3 respectively. finished conference play with 21 points, one less than both Bentley and Mercyhurst, and now must host American International College next Saturday for a 'play-in' game.

Canisius got on the board late in the fist period when freshman defenseman Carl Hudson one-timed a shot past Mercyhurst senior netminder Mike Ella for his 10th goal of the year.

But the Lakers rebounded with a pair of goals in the second frame's first ten minutes. Mercyhurst got even when forward Scott Champagne celebrated "Senior Night" with his 9th of the year just 50 seconds into the period and just nine seconds left in a Canisius penalty. Champagne was helped by freshman defenseman Cullen Eddy and junior forward Ben Cottreau. Freshman winger Neil Graham broke the tie nine minutes later with his 4th of the season from freshman forward Chris Risi and senior defenseman Pat Henk.

The score remained that way until the last minute of the third period. With the Canisius goal empty, Mercyhurst failed to clear the puck near its blueline and junior defenseman Kyle Bushee capitalized with his 3rd lamplighter of the year.

Neither team scored in the extra five minutes. The Lakers had an early power play in the overtime, but failed to connect. The Griffs, facing the play-in game and up a man late in the extra session, pulled freshman goaltender Andrew Loewen for a 6-on-4 advantage, but couldn't break the tie.

Mercyhurst outshot Canisius 46-31 in the game, and enjoyed a 7-1 margin in overtime. The Lakers finished 1 of 8 with the man advantage while the Griffs were blanked in six power play chances. Loewen (9-11-3) was credited with 44 saves while Ella (1-0-1), who made back-to-back starts for the first time all season, turned aside 29 shots.

The game marked the final one at home for six Mercyhurst seniors: Ella, Champagne, Henk, team captain Kyle Gourgon, defenseman Denis Kirstein, and goaltender Jordan Wakefield.

Canisius, which failed in five tries to beat Mercyhurst a year ago, never lost to the Lakers this season (1-0-3). Mercyhurst still holds a commanding 28-13-7 margin all-time.

The conference playoffs are now set. AIC and Canisius will meet Saturday, March 3, in Buffalo to determine the #8 seed. The winner of that game will travel to #1 Sacred Heart on Saturday, March 10, for a quarterfinal game. The other quarterfinal contests will pit #7 Bentley at #2 Army, #6 Mercyhurst at #3 Connecticut, and #5 Holy Cross at #4 Air Force, all on March 10. The four winners of those games will meet in Rochester March 16 and 17 for the semifinals and championship respectively.

Mercyhurst and Connecticut have met three times in the conference playoffs with the Lakers holding a 2-1 advantage. UConn defeated Mercyhurst 2-0 at home March 16, 2000, in the MAAC Hockey League semifinals. Mercyhurst returned the favor 5-0 in the MAAC semis at Holy Cross March 14, 2002, and then defeated the Huskies 7-4 in Erie in the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals March 12, 2005