Complete Game Notes
ERIE, Pa. - Late in the season in a conference separated by mere points means that every game down the stretch is critical. This is the situation that the Mercyhurst men's hockey team is facing as it enters the final four games of the regular season in hopes of a first-round bye.
The Lakers (16-12-4, 13-6-4 AHA) currently sit in a tie for third place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with the top four teams in the conference earning a bye in the opening round of the conference tournament. Mercyhurst travels to first place Air Force for a pair of games this Friday and Saturday, with faceoffs scheduled for 9:05 EST. The Falcons lead the Lakers by just two points in the conference standings.
Mercyhurst is coming off a split with Robert Morris, winning 3-1 on home ice last Friday, before suffering a 4-2 setback in suburban Pittsburgh on Saturday night. Meanwhile, Air Force took over the top spot in the standings with a win and a tie at Niagara.
Air Force leads with 32 points, followed by RIT with 31. Mercyhurst and Niagara are tied for third with 30 points, followed by Bentley with 28, Robert Morris and Holy Cross with 27, and Connecticut with 24. Canisius has 21 points, but cannot catch any of the current teams in the top four. Meanwhile, Army, American International, and Sacred Heart will be on the road in the opening weekend of the playoffs. The top four teams will get a first-round bye, with the teams that finish 5-through-8 hosting teams 9-through-12 in a best-of-three series in the first round during the first weekend in March. The winners of those series will then travel to the teams that finished in the top four the following weekend.
Mercyhurst is 5-1-1 lifetime against Air Force in Colorado Springs, one of just two Atlantic Hockey teams with a winning record against the Falcons in Colorado. Mercyhurst is 8-8-2 all-time against Air Force, having evened the series earlier this season at the Mercyhurst Ice Center by a 3-2 final.
Again, faceoffs on Friday and Saturday are scheduled for 9:05 EST from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
QUICK NOTES
About Mercyhurst
Mercyhurst has 16 wins this season, the first time the Lakers have won more than 15 games since the 2008-09 season, when Mercyhurst finished the year 22-15-3. Its 13 conference victories are the most since the 2009-10 season, when the Lakers went 15-10-3 in conference play. On Friday, freshman
Ryan Misiak registered his first career multi-goal game with a pair of goals, leading the Lakers to a 3-1 victory. Misiak scored a power play goal late in the first period and then scored on a breakaway near the midway mark of the second period. The power play goal was just the ninth power play goal that Robert Morris had allowed all season. His breakaway goal in the second proved to be the game-winning goal. Freshman
Daniel Bahntge had two assists in the game, while freshman
Nardo Nagtzaam scored the other goal for Mercyhurst, becoming the third player on the roster this season to reach double-digit goals. Sophomore
Jordan Tibbett earned the start in goal and stopped 31-of-32 Robert Morris shots. On Saturday, the Lakers fell behind 3-0 in the second period and lost by a 4-2 final. Tibbett started but only lasted the first two periods, giving up four goals on 26 shots. Senior
Max Strang played the third period and stopped all nine Robert Morris shots. Senior
Derek Elliott scored his 11th goal of the season, already a career-high, while junior
Paul Chiasson registered his team-leading 12th goal of the season in the loss. Bahntge had three points in the two games and has now taken over the team lead in scoring with eight goals and 20 assists for 28 points, one point ahead of Nagtzaam, who has 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points. Also with at least 20 points are Chiasson, who has 12 goals and 10 assists for 22 points, Elliott (11-10=21), and freshman
Chris Bodo (9-11=20). Mercyhurst still has 11 players in double figures in scoring, with five of the 11 players in their rookie campaign. All told, Mercyhurst freshmen have scored 42 of the team's 95 goals (44.2%) and have 129 of the team's 264 points (48.8%). Mercyhurst is in third place in the bunched up Atlantic Hockey standings with four games remaining. However, just one of Mercyhurst's final four games is at home.
About Air Force
AFA is on an eight-game unbeaten streak (5-0-3), the longest of the season and the longest since an eight-game winning streak late last season. The streak is the second longest active streak in the nation. AFA is now 3-0-1 in the month of February. 22 of the 29 games this season have been decided by one goal or ended in a tie (not counting four games that became a two-goal deficit due to empty-netters). AFA held Niagara to 17 shots on Friday, the sixth time this season AFA has held its opponent to 20 or less shots. AFA is 8-5-4 on the road this season. AFA has played six of the last eight games on the road and the Falcons are 3-0-3 in those games. Senior Tim Kirby scored the game-winner on Friday, his team-leading third of the season. Kirby is 11th in the nation in points by a defenseman with 23 points in 29 games. Jason Torf stopped all 17 shots he faced on Friday for his second shutout of the season and fourth of his career. Stephen Carew tied his career high with two goals in 3-3 overtime tie, including the first game-tying goal of his career. Freshman Scott Holm had a career high two points on Saturday, including a goal late in the second period that cut the Niagara lead to 3-2. Four different Falcons scored AFA's five goals in the series. AFA overcame a two-goal deficit for the third time this season. AFA came back on Niagara earlier this season for a 3-2 overtime win and then came back on Holy Cross for a 3-3 overtime tie. AFA has won the season series with Niagara (2-0-1) and now owns the tiebreaker on Niagara, RIT, Canisius, Army, AIC, UConn and Sacred Heart.
