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ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team will wrap up the 2012 portion of the regular season on Tuesday night, December 18, with a conference game against long-time rival Canisius College. Faceoff from the Mercyhurst Ice Center is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Tuesday's contest will be the 71st meeting between the two schools in the all-time series. The Lakers are 37-24-9 lifetime against the Golden Griffins and took two-of-three games from Canisius last season.

The Lakers (7-6-1, 6-3-0 AHA) are coming off of a 3-1 non-conference victory at Clarkson on Saturday night - the team's first-ever victory against the Golden Knights. Junior goaltender Jordan Tibbett stopped a career-high 42 shots and freshman Kyle Cook provided him with the offensive support by tallying his first two collegiate goals, including the game-winner near the midway mark of the second period. For their efforts, Tibbett was named the Atlantic Hockey Association Goaltender of the Week on Monday, while Cook garnered the conference's Rookie of the Week honors.

Sophomore Chris Bodo scored the other goal for Mercyhurst in the victory. Bodo has now scored at least one goal in four straight games and has a team-leading eight goals on the season. His first-period power play goal gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead. It was his sixth power play goal of the season, which ties him for first in the country in that department.

Meanwhile, Canisius (5-6-4, 4-2-2 AHA) has not played since sweeping Connecticut on November 30 and December 1 by the scores of 3-0 and 3-1. While its offense has yet to get on track (28 goals in 15 games), Canisius boasts one of the country's best defenses (27 goals in 15 games) and one of the nation's best goaltenders - junior Tony Capobianco. The Golden Griffins are tied for fourth in the country, allowing 1.80 goals per game. Meanwhile, Capobianco is 11th in goals against average (1.83) and tied for fourth in save percentage (.942).

After Tuesday's contest with Canisius, the Lakers will be off until Friday, January 4 and Saturday, January 5 when they travel to Maine to take on the Black Bears.

THE SERIES
Mercyhurst leads the overall series with Canisius 37-24-9. Tuesday's contest will mark the 71st meeting between the two schools - marking the most frequent opponent in Mercyhurst's history. The series dates back to November 19, 1988, when Canisius handed Mercyhurst a 4-2 loss in Buffalo. Last season, Mercyhurst took 2-of-3 from Canisius, winning 6-4 in Buffalo on December 9, losing 2-1 on February 24 in Buffalo, and winning 5-0 on February 25 in Erie. The Lakers are 21-12-4 against Canisius in Erie.

THE COACHES
Rick Gotkin is in his 25th season with Mercyhurst and has posted a career record of 441-312-61. 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 26th all-time, among all coaches, with 441 career victories. He will break the tie with John Dunham (Trinity 1974-2007) for sole possession of 26th on the all-time list with his next victory. He is 11th among active coaches with 814 career games coached. 

Dave Smith is in his eighth season as the head coach at Canisius. He has posted a record of 90-144-36 with the Golden Griffins. He became Canisius' third head coach back in 2005 after serving as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for Rick Gotkin at Mercyhurst. His most successful season came during the 2009-10 campaign, when he led Canisius to a 17-15-5 - the most wins in nine years for the Golden Griffins.

ABOUT MERCYHURST
The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team earned a 3-1 victory at Clarkson on Saturday night in front of nearly 2,000 fans at the Cheel Arena in Potsdam, New York. It was Mercyhurst's first-ever victory against Clarkson, as the Lakers improved to 1-5 lifetime against the Golden Knights. It was the first meeting between the two schools since January 2 and 3, 2004. Sophomore Chris Bodo started the scoring for the Lakers with a power play goal at the 11:39 mark of the opening period. It was Bodo's team-leading eighth goal of the season and his sixth power play tally of the year, tying him for the national lead, at the moment, with St. Lawrence's Greg Carey and Minnesota-Duluth's Mike Seidel. Bodo has now scored at least one goal in four straight games and has seven points in his last four contests. He leads the team with eight goals and is second on the team with 11 points this season. Freshman Kyle Cook then took over the scoring for the Lakers, tallying the first two collegiate goals of his career. He scored what proved to be the game-winner at the 8:51 mark of the second period, putting Mercyhurst ahead at the time by a 2-0 score. He added his second goal of the night at the 2:18 mark of the third period, putting the Lakers in front 3-1. Cook, who was scoreless in his first 12 games, now has three points in the last two games. He snapped his scoreless streak last Saturday with an assist in Mercyhurst's 7-2 win over American International. Assists on the night went to sophomore defenseman Tyler Shiplo, freshman defenseman Mychal Monteith, sophomore forward Zac Frischmon, and junior forward Trent Frey. Junior goaltender Jordan Tibbett stopped a career-high 42 shots in the victory, bouncing back from his last start where he allowed five goals on 27 shots in last Friday's loss to AIC. He turned aside 42-of-43 Clarkson shots, breaking his previous high of 39 he had accomplished twice. He posted 39 saves in a 3-1 victory over Sacred Heart on November 3 and also recorded 39 shots against Western Michigan – a 1-0 loss on October 16, 2010. He posted double-digit saves in all three periods on Saturday – 14 in the first, 16 in the second, and 12 in the third. He evened his record at 3-3 on the season. The Lakers went 1-for-7 on the power play and have now converted 12 of their last 37 opportunities (32.4%). The Lakers dropped to fourth in the country on the power play at 25.0%. Mercyhurst trails Union (29.4%), Boston College (27.4%), and conference-rival Bentley (25.9%). Mercyhurst killed off all three power play opportunities, as the Lakers were whistled for just three minor penalties in the game. Mercyhurst is the third-least penalized team in the country, averaging 8.8 penalty minutes per game.

ABOUT CANISIUS
After a 17-day layoff, the Griffs return to the ice on Tuesday to face Atlantic Hockey rival Mercyhurst. In the Golden Griffins' last action, Canisius swept Connecticut, earning 3-0 and 3-1 victories in Storrs back on November 30 and December 1. Canisius is 5-6-4 overall and 4-2-2 in the Atlantic Hockey Association standings. Coupled with the Griffs' win against AIC on the previous Sunday, Canisius has now won three-straight games for the first time since November 15 to November 21, 2009. Junior netminder Tony Capobianco was once again the star for the Griffs during the series with Connecticut. Capobianco posted a 0.50 goals against average and .988 save percentage, while stopping 81-of-82 shots in the sweep. The junior opened the weekend with 36 saves in a 3-0 victory to post his first shutout of the season and second of his career. Capobianco then followed by matching a career high with 45 saves in the 3-1 victory to complete the two-game sweep. He also recorded 45 saves in a 3-3 draw against Air Force on Oct. 29, 2011. Canisius will put a number of streaks on the line against the Lakers. The Griffs have won three-straight games for the first time since November of 2009 and are looking for their first four-game winning streak since February 2004. In addition, the Griffs are a perfect 3-0-0 on the road in league play, matching the program's best start (2004-05). Canisius has never started 4-0-0 away from home in its Division I history.  On an individual level, junior Kyle Gibbons has scored a goal in four-straight games – a first for a Griff since Carl Hudson tallied a goal in four-consecutive contests from Dec. 4 to Dec. 20, 2009. Junior Tony Capobianco has won Atlantic Hockey Goaltender of the Week after each of the Griffs' last two weekends (first Griff to win the award in back-to-back weeks). He currently ranks fifth nationally with a .942 save percentage and 11th with a 1.83 goals against average.