Complete Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst men's hockey team needed a win against Canisius on Saturday night and then a little help outside of that to earn a first-round by in the Atlantic Hockey Association playoffs. The Lakers got exactly what they needed.

Mercyhurst did its part thanks to a 27-save shutout performance from senior Max Strang en route to a 5-0 victory over Canisius on the final day of the regular season. The Lakers then awaited other results from around the league to find out their playoff fate. After Holy Cross knocked off Bentley 6-4, the Lakers knew they would get a needed first-round bye in the opening round of the Atlantic Hockey playoffs.

Mercyhurst finished the regular season in a three-way tie for third-place, closing out the year with an 18-14-4 overall mark and a 15-8-4 conference record. Based on tiebreakers, the Lakers enter the tournament seeded fourth, and will not play again until they host a best-of-three series at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on March 9-11.

After a sluggish 2-1 loss to Canisius on Friday night eliminated the Lakers from winning the regular season crown, Mercyhurst rebounded in a big way on Saturday night to secure a first-round bye. Sophomore Daniel O'Donoghue's power play goal late in the first period happened to be the only offense Mercyhurst would need, as Strang did the rest in posting his third shutout of the season.

O'Donoghue redirected a shot from defenseman Nick Jones to get Mercyhurst on the board at the 16:04 mark of the opening period. Freshman Ryan Misiak had the other assist as both teams went to the dressing rooms with the Lakers ahead 1-0. Mercyhurst outshot Canisius 11-4 in the first.

Mercyhurst then exploded for four goals in the second period, breaking the game wide open. Freshman Nardo Nagtzaam gave Mercyhurst a 2-0 lead with a power play goal at the 3:06 mark. Senior Kevin Noble took the initial shot that was partially blocked, but ended up on the stick of Nagtzaam who beat Canisius goaltender Tony Capobianco for a 2-0 lead. Freshman Chris Bodo had the other helper.

Bodo then scored his 11th goal of the season, banging home a rebound past Capobianco, at the 5:47 mark, giving Mercyhurst a three-goal cushion. Senior Derek Elliott and sophomore Randy Cure had the assists. It was Cure's first point of the season and just the second point of his career.

Sophomore Kyle Just gave Mercyhurst a 4-0 lead at the 12:38 mark with his third goal of the season. Sophomore Trent Frey and freshman Matthew Zay had the assists. Finally, Jones would cap off the scoring for the Lakers with his 10th goal of the season at the 13:57. The Lakers worked a 3-on-2 to perfection, with beautiful passing by Bodo and Nagtzaam finding Jones cutting down the slot.

Jones, with ten goals this season, has the most goals by a Laker defenseman since Jamie Hunt scored 12 during the 2005-06 season. Hunt went on to become the first Laker to play in the National Hockey League, skating for the Washington Capitals. In fact, Jones' ten goals is the tied for third-most by a Mercyhurst defenseman since the 1999-2000 season. T.J. Kemp scored 11 in 2002-03 and then scored 10 during the 2004-05 season.

Mercyhurst outshot Canisius 18-7 in the second period.

Canisius came out flying in the third period, trying to put together something to build on as they enter its first-round series at Connecticut next weekend. But, Strang saved his best work for the final twenty minutes, stopping all 16 Canisius shots, and preserving his third shutout of the season.

Strang, on senior night, improved to 14-12-3 with the victory, stopping all 27 Canisius shots. Meanwhile, Capobianco dropped to 5-11-2 on the season with a 31-save performance for the Golden Griffins.

Mercyhurst finished 2-for-10 on the power play, while Canisius went 0-for-5 with the man advantage.

The wild finish to the Atlantic Hockey Association standings is finally clear. Air Force, with a 3-0 win against Robert Morris, finishes as the regular season champions. Niagara ends up as the number-two seed, while RIT is seeded third. Including Mercyhurst, those four teams have byes in the opening round and will host best-of-three series March 9-11.

The first-round matchups look like this: #5 Holy Cross will host #12 Army; #6 Bentley will host #11 Sacred Heart; #7 Robert Morris will host #10 American International; and #8 Connecticut will host #9 Canisius. The winners of those series will be reseeded and then will travel to the top four teams the following weekend.

Stay tuned to hurstathletics.com for additional information regarding Mercyhurst's quarterfinal playoff series March 9, 10, and 11.