Complete Game Notes

ORONO, Maine - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team will open the 2013 portion of its regular season with the team's final non-conference games on Friday, January 4 and Saturday, January 5 at the University of Maine. Faceoffs are scheduled for 7:07 p.m. both nights.

Friday's game will be played at the Cumberland County Civic Center in Portland, while Saturday's tilt will take place at Alfond Arena in Orono.

Mercyhurst is 0-4-1 lifetime against the Black Bears. However, the two teams have not played since October 19 and 20, 2007, when the Black Bears swept Mercyhurst by the scores of 4-2 and 4-1 respectively. Mercyhurst played to a 1-1 overtime tie in the only meeting between the schools in Portland back on December 16, 2006. Maine swept the Lakers 5-0 and 7-0 in the first series between the two schools on November 1 and 2, 2002.

The Lakers (8-6-1, 7-3-0 Atlantic Hockey) are on a three-game winning streak and have won four of their last five games. During the three-game winning streak, the Lakers have outscored their opponents 13-5. Included in the streak were two conference victories over American International and Canisius and a non-conference win over Clarkson.

Mercyhurst last played on December 18, when the Lakers defeated Canisius 3-2 in overtime at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Sophomore Matthew Zay scored at the 2:58 mark of overtime and senior goaltender Max Strang stopped 37-of-39 Golden Griffin shots. For their efforts, both were honored with weekly awards by the league office on Christmas Eve.

Sophomore Ryan Misiak continues to lead the Lakers in scoring with four goals and 10 assists for 14 points. Zay and fellow sophomore Daniel Bahntge have a dozen points apiece, while another sophomore, Chris Bodo, has 11 points. Bodo and Bahntge lead the Lakers with eight goals apiece.

Meanwhile, Maine (4-11-2, 1-7-2 Hockey East)  won its second straight Florida College Classic last weekend. The Black Bears became the first team in the 13 year history of the tournament to win back-to-back titles. Kyle Beattie was named the Shawn Walsh Most Valuable Player, while Devin Shore and Matt Morris were each named to the All-Tournament team. Maine defeated Minnesota-Duluth 1-0 and then knocked off #11 Cornell 6-4 in the title game.

With the two-goal win over Cornell, it snapped a streak of seven consecutive games in which the Black Bears played in a game that was decided by a tie or by one-goal. Maine went 2-3-2 during that stretch.

Shore and Connor Leen lead the Black Bears in scoring with eight points apiece. Leen is tops on the team with four goals.

You can follow all of the action this weekend from Maine using the following links:

Live Stats
Live Audio

NOTES

THE SERIES
Maine leads the overall series against Mercyhurst 4-0-1 with all five games being played in Maine. The two teams have not played since October 19 and 20, 2007, when the Black Bears swept Mercyhurst by the scores of 4-2 and 4-1 respectively. Mercyhurst played to a 1-1 overtime tie in the only meeting between the schools in Portland back on December 16, 2006. Maine swept the Lakers 5-0 and 7-0 in the first series between the two schools on November 1 and 2, 2002.

THE COACHES
Rick Gotkin is in his 25th season with Mercyhurst and has posted a career record of 442-312-61. 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 26th all-time, among all coaches, with 442 career victories and needs eight wins to become the 26th coach in history to reach 450 career victories. He is 11th among active coaches with 815 career games coached. 

Tim Whitehead is in his 11th season as the head coach at Maine. He has posted a record of 220-149-45 with the Black Bears. All told, Whitehead is in his 16th season as a Division I head coach and has a career record of 296-244-56. In his 10 seasons at Maine, the Black Bears have reached the NCAA tournament six times, played in four NCAA Frozen Fours, reached the NCAA National Championship Game twice, and won the Hockey East Tournament Championship once. He was the head coach at UMass Lowell for five season prior to taking over the reins at Maine.

ABOUT MERCYHURST
The Mercyhurst men's hockey team concluded the 2012 portion of the regular season with a 3-2 overtime victory over Canisius on Tuesday, December 18, putting the Lakers into a tie for second place in the conference standings with 14 points. Mercyhurst improved to 8-6-1 overall and 7-3-0 against Atlantic Hockey opponents. Sophomore Matthew Zay scored at the 2:58 mark of overtime to lift the Lakers to the victory. It was his first game-winner of the season and the first overtime game-winner of his collegiate career. He had three game-winning goals as a freshman last season. Zay has four goals and eight assists for 12 points this season, after scoring just 14 points in 36 games as a rookie last season. The Lakers improved to 2-0-1 in overtime games this season. In fact, Mercyhurst actually won a third overtime game against Ferris State, knocking off the Bulldogs in a shootout in mid-October. However, the game officially went down as a tie for the Lakers. Mercyhurst is now 4-0-5 in its last nine overtime games. The last overtime loss for the Lakers came in game two of the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals against Connecticut - a 4-3 loss to the Huskies on March 12, 2011. Senior goaltender Max Strang stopped 37-of-39 shots including 20-of-21 in the third period and overtime to improve 5-3-0 overall and 5-1-0 in conference play this season. He made his biggest save of the night with roughly five seconds left in regulation, robbing Canisius' Preston Shupe on the doorstep with the left pad to send the game to overtime. Strang's 37 saves is tied for his second-highest total of the season. He stopped 39 shots at RIT on November 9 and stopped 37 at Niagara on October 13. He lowered his season goals against average to 3.32 with the victory, and upped his season save percentage to .903. Sophomore Daniel Bahntge had a goal and an assist for his third multi-point game of the season. He now has eight goals and four assists for 12 points – tied for second on the team. Bahntge's eight goals are tied with sophomore Chris Bodo for tops on the team. Junior Daniel O'Donoghue scored his third goal of the season for Mercyhurst's other goal of the night. Sophomore Ryan Misiak had two assists, assisting on Bahntge's goal in the second period, and then assisting on Zay's OT winner. Misiak continues to lead the team in scoring with four goals and 10 assists for 14 points. He had 19 points as a rookie last season. Senior Paul Chiasson and sophomore Tyler Shiplo each assisted on O'Donoghue's goal. Chiasson is now 11 points shy of reaching the century mark for his career. The win against Canisius on Tuesday was the 442nd career win for head coach Rick Gotkin. He moved into sole possession of 26th place among all coaches in career wins and is now just eight wins shy of 450 for his career. Mercyhurst was held without a power play goal against Canisius for the first time since going 0-for-4 at RIT on November 9. The Lakers had scored at least one power play goal in eight straight games prior to Tuesday. The Lakers finished pre-Christmas games with an 8-6-1 overall record, marking the first time finishing above the .500 mark before the Christmas holiday since going 11-6-0 before Christmas during the 2005-06 season. Mercyhurst has been exactly .500 twice over the last three seasons, including last season when the Lakers were 8-8-2 prior to Christmas, but not higher than .500 since 2005-06.

ABOUT MAINE
Maine won its second straight Florida College Classic Title with a 6-4 win over Cornell on Saturday night, December 29. The Black Bears became the first team in the 13-year history of the tournament to win back-to-back titles. Kyle Beattie was named the Shawn Walsh Most Valuable Player of the Tournament, while Devin Shore and Matt Morris were each named to the All-Tournament Team. The Black Bears scored a season-high six goals in the title game and overcame a 3-0 deficit with five straight goals. Maine earned a 1-0 victory over Minnesota Duluth in the tournament opener to advance to the title game. The Minnesota Duluth game was a rematch of the 2012 NCAA Regional game between the two teams. Martin Ouellette earned his second career shutout in the victory. The two-goal win against Cornell broke a streak of seven straight one-goal games or ties played in by the Black Bears. Maine is now 3-1-0 in games played on neutral ice this season. Eleven different Black Bears tallied at least a point in the victory on Saturday night. Maine scored two power play goals on Saturday against Cornell, the first time this season that it has had more than one in a game. Matt Morris was named the Hockey East's Pro Ambitions Co-Rookie of the Week for his performance over the weekend. He stopped 22-of-23 as the Black Bears came-from-behind to knock off #11 Cornell.