Mercyhurst Game Notes

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NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team, searching for its first victory of the young season, will be heading to North Andover, Massachusetts this Friday and Saturday for a pair of contests against the Warriors of Merrimack College. Faceoffs are scheduled for 7:00 p.m. both nights from the J. Thom Lawler Arena.

The games this weekend will mark the first meetings between the two schools in program history. Mercyhurst, however, has not fared well against teams from the Hockey East since joining the Division I ranks in 1999-2000. In 17 games against members from Hockey East, the Lakers are 1-15-1, with the only victory coming last season at Maine to earn a weekend split.

Mercyhurst (0-3-0, 0-0-0 AHA) is coming off of a 3-2 loss against Ferris State in a rare Tuesday night game at the Mercyhurst Ice Center to remain winless through three games this season. The Lakers led 1-0 after a power play goal by freshman Stephen Hrehoriak - his first collegiate goal. However, the Bulldogs rattled off three straight goals, including two goals in 32 seconds in the middle period, to take a 3-1 lead after forty minutes.

Junior Matthew Zay cut the lead to 3-2 just 53 seconds into the third with a breakaway tally - his first goal of the season. Mercyhurst peppered Ferris State goaltender CJ Motte throughout the rest of the period, and pulled its own starter Jimmy Sarjeant for an extra attackers in the closing minutes, but could not get the equalizer.

It marks the eighth consecutive season that the Lakers have started the year winless through the first three games. The last time Mercyhurst won at least one of its first three contests was in 2005-06. The Lakers actually started that campaign with a 5-1 record. Despite that figure, over the prior seven seasons, Mercyhurst has still averaged nearly 18 victories per year.

Zay and sophomore defenseman Anthony Mastrodicasa lead the Lakers in scoring with two points apiece. Senior Nick Jones, juniors Kyle Just and Ryan Misiak, and Hrehoriak have one point apiece.

Mercyhurst has been outscored 14-4 in the three games this season, which includes 8-1 in the second period.

The Warriors (0-2-0, 0-0-0 Hockey East) suffered back-to-back shutout losses at Denver last Friday and Saturday, losing by the finals of 1-0 and 4-0. Goaltender Sam Marotta suffered both losses between the pipes, stopping 29-of-30 Pioneer shots in the opener before allowing three goals on 15 shots through two periods last Saturday.

In their exhibition opener on October 6, the Warriors tied McGill University 1-1 in overtime. Defenseman Dan Kolomatis scored the only goal for Merrimack.

Merrimack went 15-17-6 a year ago and managed to score just 91 goals in its 38 games. The Warriors won 18 games in 2011-12 and 25 games in 2010-11, which included the program's first-ever trip to the NCAA Division I tournament.