Complete Game Notes

TROY, N.Y. - The Mercyhurst men's hockey team will put a four-game unbeaten streak on the line this weekend with a pair of non-conference games against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. Faceoffs are scheduled for 7:00 p.m. both Friday and Saturday nights from the Houston Field House.

Mercyhurst (3-2-1, 3-1-0 AHA) is in the midst of 11 consecutive games on the road to start the season with games #7 and #8 of the road swing coming this weekend against the Engineers (1-5-2, 0-4-0 ECAC). The Lakers are 3-0-1 in their last four games and have won three straight entering play this weekend.

The Lakers are coming off a 5-3 victory at longtime rival RIT last Friday, November 9, in the team's only game of the weekend. It was Mercyhurst's first victory at the Ritter Arena in Rochester, New York since a 6-3 win over the Tigers on November 16, 2007. Sophomore defenseman Tyler Shiplo broke a 3-3 tie at the 9:15 mark of the third period with his second goal of the season, and his first collegiate game-winning goal. Junior Daniel O'Donoghue sealed the win with an empty-net goal. Sophomore Daniel Bahntge scored a pair of goals to extend his point-scoring streak to five games. Sophomore Ryan Misiak had a pair of assists to extend his point-scoring streak to eight straight dating back to last season.

Meanwhile, the Engineers are going in the opposite direction. After an opening weekend that featured a win and a tie against Ferris State, RPI has gone 0-5-1 in their last six games. Sophomore Jacob Laliberte leads the Engineers in scoring with four goals and six assists for ten points. Sophomore Matt Neal is right behind with three goals and six assists. RPI had some very exciting news this weekend, however, as former Engineer Adam Oates was enshrined into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday. Oates (1982-85) had 216 points in just 98 games at Rensselaer.

Mercyhurst is 2-4 lifetime against Rensselaer but has won two of the last three meetings. This also marks the return to Troy, New York for Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin, who was an Engineer assistant coach from 1986-88 prior to taking the head job with the Lakers.

You can follow all of the action from the Houston Field House using the following links:

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THE SERIES
Rensselaer leads the overall series with Mercyhurst 4-2-0. The series started with three straight victories by the Engineers from 2000-02. However, Mercyhurst has won two of the last three meetings between the two schools, with the last meeting being November 28, 2008 - a 4-1 Mercyhurst victory in the opening round of Rensselaer's Holiday Hockey Tournament. Every meeting in the series has been in Troy, N.Y.

THE COACHES
Rick Gotkin is in his 25th season with Mercyhurst and has posted a career record of 437-308-61. He is the only coach in NCAA history to take the same program to the NCAA Division III, Division II, and Division I national tournament. Gotkin is also the all-time winningest coach for any Mercyhurst program in school history. He took over for Fred Lane, who coached Mercyhurst's inaugural season in 1987-88. Gotkin is tied for 27th all-time, among all coaches, with Bill Wilkinson with 437 career victories. He is 11th among active coaches with 806 career games coached. 

Seth Appert is in his seventh season with the Engineers and has posted a record of 82-127-28. Last season, RPI went 12-24-3 overcoming a rough start to make the ECAC playoffs. The Engineers went on to defeat Clarkson two games to one before falling to Frozen Four participant Union in the quarterfinals. His 2010-11 season was his most successful, winning 20 games and advancing to the NCAA playoffs for the first time since 1995.

ABOUT MERCYHURST
Mercyhurst played just one game over the weekend and earned a 5-3 victory at RIT on Friday night. With the victory, Mercyhurst extended its unbeaten streak to four games (3-0-1) and its winning streak to three straight. It was Mercyhurst's first victory at the Ritter Arena since a 6-3 win over the Tigers on November 16, 2007. Sophomore Tyler Shiplo broke a 3-3 tie at the 9:15 mark of the third period with his second goal of the season to put Mercyhurst ahead for good. It was Shiplo's first collegiate game-winning goal. Junior Daniel O'Donoghue scored an empty-netter to seal the victory. Sophomore Daniel Bahntge scored a pair of goals to lead the way and has now scored at least one goal in three straight games and has a five-game point-scoring streak. Sophomore Ryan Misiak had two assists and has now scored at least one point in all six games of the season and has an eight-game point-scoring streak dating back to last season. Junior defenseman Nick Jones had Mercyhurst's other goal on Friday. Senior goaltender Max Strang earned his second victory of the season with a 39-save performance. He stopped all 14 RIT shots in the third period and is now 2-1 with a 1.68 goals against average and a .954 save percentage in conference play this season. Misiak leads the team in scoring with three goals and six assists for nine points. Bahntge, last year's leading scorer, leads the team with four goals and is second on the team with six points. The Lakers improved to 15-28-6 all-time against RIT with the victory. It was just Mercyhurst's sixth win ever at the Ritter Arena in 22 games played (6-14-2). Three of the Lakers' victories in Rochester came in successive seasons in the early 90s (1990-91, 1991-92, and 1992-93). Mercyhurst remains in the midst of 11 consecutive games on the road to start the season. Games #7 and #8 will be at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday, November 16 and Saturday, November 17. Mercyhurst is 2-4-0 lifetime against the Engineers with the teams last playing on November 28, 2008 in the opening round of Rensselaer's Holiday Tournament. Mercyhurst won that game 4-1 and went on to win the tournament the following night with a 6-4 win over Princeton. Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin was an assistant coach at RPI from 1986-88 before taking over the reins at Mercyhurst.

ABOUT RENSSELAER
After an opening weekend that featured a win and a tie against No. 11 Ferris State, the Engineers are winless in their next six games (0-5-1), including a pair of 4-0 league losses at Dartmouth and No. 14 Harvard last weekend. Five of RPI's opponents were nationally-ranked at the time of the games. Ferris State was No. 11, Union was No. 10 and Harvard was No. 14. Additionally, Dartmouth was the first team among those receiving votes in last week's USCHO.com Poll. The Big Green debuted this week at No. 12. Leading the way offensively for RPI are a pair of sophomores. Jacob Laliberte, who missed last week's games due to injury, has 10 points with four goals and six assists. Matt Neal has nine points (3 goals, 6 assists) in eight games. Junior Brock Higgs has six points, all assists, while sophomore Ryan Haggerty (3 goals, 2 assists) and senior defenseman Nick Bailen (2 goals, 3 assists) have five points apiece. Sophomore Scott Diebold has started all four Friday games this season. He is 1-2-1 with a 3.35 goals against average and an .867 save percentage. Senior Bryce Merriam has started all the Saturday games. He is 0-3-1 with a 3.82 GAA and .880 save percentage. Freshman Jason Kasdorf saw his first collegiate action on November 3. He had eight saves on eight shots in a loss at Union. Former Rensselaer standout Adam Oates '85 was enshrined into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday, becoming the first Engineers player to be so honored. In his three years in Troy (1982-85), Oates had 66 goals and 150 assists for 216 points in 98 games, helping the Engineers to an overall record of 85-19-1 and the 1985 NCAA Championship. RPI, which was 35-2-1 in 1985, also won the ECAC Championship in 1984 and 1985. Senior defenseman Nick Bailen is one of 20 student-athletes nationwide to have been chosen for consideration for the Senior CLASS Award in men's hockey ... A dual major in Business and Management and Economics, Bailen has a cumulative grade point average of 3.91.