ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Mercyhurst Lakers women's ice hockey team is traveling to Rochester, N.Y. to open the regular season against RIT Friday, September 28 and Saturday, September 29.  Friday's contest begins at 7:05 p.m., while Saturday's contest begins at 2 p.m. 
 
The Lakers were picked first in the CHA preseason poll, announced last week, for the 11^th straight year, and are 336-92-29 since becoming a Division I program in 1999 under head coach Michael Sisti.  Last year, the Lakers were CHA regular season champions finishing 8-1-3 before losing to Robert Morris University in the conference championship. The Lakers will be led by junior captain Christine Bestland who finished with 58 points, while sophomore Molly Byrne had 38 points last season. Mercyhurst is a young squad with 16 of 24 players underclassmen.
 
This is RIT's first season as a Division I program.  RIT won the NCAA Division III title for the 2011-12 season before joining the CHA.  The Tigers are returning 18 players from last season's championship team including three All-Americans, their top 13 scorers, and both goaltenders.  
 
This Friday's CHA match up will be televised live on Time Warner Cable Sports Channel 26 or 1026 (high definition) for Time Warner Cable subscribers.  Gene Battaglia and former RIT standout Katie Stack will be bringing the action throughout the game.  Both games will be broadcast on WITR 89.7 FM and streamed at witr.rit.edu.