Mercyhurst Game Notes

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WEST SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team will be spending its Thanksgiving holiday on a lengthy bus ride to West Springfield, Massachusetts as the team prepares for a weekend series against the Yellow Jackets of American International College. Faceoff on Friday night is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from the Olympia Ice Center while Saturday's tilt is scheduled for 3:05 p.m.

Mercyhurst is 33-6-1 lifetime against the Yellow Jackets in the all-time series. However, American International has won four of the last six meetings between the two schools. Last season, the Lakers and the Yellow Jackets split a pair of blowout games at the Mercyhurst Ice Center last December 7 and 8. AIC took the first game by a 7-3 final before Mercyhurst responded with a 7-2 victory the following night.

The Lakers (5-7-1, 3-1-0 AHA) are part of a six-way tie for third place in the Atlantic Hockey Association standings with six points. Mercyhurst stepped out of conference play last weekend and split a pair of contests against then-#14 Rensselaer with each team winning by a 5-2 count at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. It was Rensselaer's first-ever trip to Erie in the all-time series. Mercyhurst won its last conference game - a 4-2 win over Niagara on Tuesday, November 19 at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.

Last weekend, senior defenseman Nick Jones tied career highs with two goals and three points in Friday's win over the Engineers. Senior Daniel O'Donoghue picked up the game-winning goal - his second game-winner of the season and sixth of his career. O'Donoghue added two assists on Saturday to pull him to within ten points of becoming the 16th player in the Division I era at Mercyhurst to record 100 career points.

Also on pace to achieve that milestone eventually is junior Matthew Zay, who had one goal and three assists in the two-game series. He extended his point-scoring streak to a career-long ten games and now leads the team with six goals and nine assists for 15 points. In 88 career games, Zay already has 68 career points.

O'Donoghue is right behind with seven goals and seven assists for 14 points while Jones has three goals and nine helpers for 12 points this season. Joining the trio in double figures are junior Ryan Misiak (4-7=11) and redshirt junior Kyle Just (2-8=10).

In goal, junior Jimmy Sarjeant is now the clear-cut man between the pipes for the Lakers. He has started seven of the last eight games and is 5-3-1 with a 2.78 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. However, in conference games, Sarjeant is a perfect 3-0-0 and leads the AHA in goals against average (2.00), save percentage (.943), and winning percentage (1.000). He has allowed just six goals in 106 shots in three AHA starts this season.

The Yellow Jackets (3-5-0, 3-2-0 AHA), meanwhile, have been one of the early-season surprises in the Atlantic Hockey Association and are also a part of the six-way tie for third place in the conference standings. AIC has played a number of wild contests this season. It started the year with a 10-4 loss to Providence and then followed that up with a wild 8-7 win over Bentley on November 8. The following weekend, the Yellow Jackets shutout Holy Cross 1-0 but then lost to Connecticut by an 8-1 final.

This past Tuesday, AIC dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to Army to suffer its second consecutive conference loss after starting the season a perfect 3-0-0 in AHA play.

Alexander MacMillan paces the Yellow Jackets with five goals and five assists for ten points in just seven games. He also has scored two of AIC's three game-winning goals. Jon Puskar and David Norris have nine points apiece. In goal, three netminders have combined for a 4.86 goals against average and an .868 save percentage.