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ERIE, Pa. – The ninth ranked Mercyhurst University women's hockey team will conclude their regular season this weekend at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.  The Lakers will host RIT on Friday, February 22 at 3:00 p.m. and will conclude the weekend series and honor the six graduating seniors on Saturday, February 23 at 2:00 p.m.
 
On Saturday, the Lakers will also announce the Bill Smith award given to the Laker who shows in-house honor for meritorious service on-and-off-the ice.
 
Mercyhurst (24-6-1, 15-3 CHA) clinched the CHA regular season title for the 11^th consecutive year, and captured their 12th consecutive conference regular season title after winning their first conference in the Great Lakes conference.  Mercyhurst swept Syracuse with the scores of 5-3 and 3-2.  Senior assistant captain Lauren Jones extended her four-game point streak over the weekend after compiling four points on three goals and an assist to capture her second straight CHA Player of the week.  Senior assistant captain Kelsey Welch also tallied four points on a goal and three assists.  Both Welch and Jones tallied their season-high four points in a series.  Senior assistant captain Gina Buquet and Sophomore Molly Byrne hold a three-game point streak after scoring a point in the last three contests.  Senior goaltender Stephanie Ciampa went 2-0-0 on the weekend to improve to 15-1-0 in the season.  Ciampa made 48 saves and allowed five to pick up her sixth straight win.
 
RIT (14-13-5, 7-6-5 CHA) earned a weekend sweep over Penn State with the scores of 3-1 Friday and 4-0 Saturday.  The Tigers had seven different players contribute points towards the sweep.  On Saturday, RIT picked up their seventh shutout of the season, and marked goaltender Laura Chamberlain's second.  RIT is now 3-0-1 against Penn State, and have the potential to face them in the first round of CHA playoffs depending on the outcome of Lindewood/Syracuse this weekend.  The Tigers are 17th nationally in scoring, averaging 2.75 goals per game, and tied for eighth defensively, allowing 2.06 per contest. RIT has allowed just 19 goals over its last 15 games. The Tigers power-play is 11th nationally, converting at 21.1 percent (31-for-147). RIT's 31 power-play goals are tied for fifth in Division I.
 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES:

THE SERIES
Mercyhurst kicked off their 2012-13 season with RIT in their first ever meeting in schools history.  The two teams met on September 28-29, 2012 with the Lakers sweeping RIT.  With the weekend sweep, goaltender Stephanie Ciampa picked up her first shutout of the season after stopping 17 shots on Saturday.  On Friday the 28, senior Jenna Hendrikx tallied her first two goals as a Mercyhurst Laker, while junior Christine Bestland tallied a goal and two assists.  Sophomore goaltender Amanda Makela picked up her first win of the season stopping 21 of 23 shots on goal in the 6-2 victory.  On Saturday, the Lakers tallied their first team shutout, winning 7-0.  Freshman Emily Janiga picked up her first collegiate hat trick and tallied an assist.  Bestland notched four points on two goals and two assists, while junior Christie Cicero tallied three assists.  The Lakers are a lifetime 2-0-0 against the Tigers heading into the weekend.
 
ABOUT MERCYHURST
For the 11th consecutive year, the Lakers have picked up the CHA regular season title after sweeping Syracuse University 5-3 and 3-2 last weekend.  This is the Lakers 12th consecutive year of a regular season title, picking up the Great Lakers conference Title before joing the CHA the following year.  On Friday, the Lakers tallied three late goals in the third to pull ahead of the Orange.  Senior Kelsey Welch tallied her first the first goal with less than a minute into the first period.  Mercyhurst is now 22-1-0 after scoring the first goal of the contest, and have scored the first goal for the sixth consecutive time.  Senior Lauren Jones tallied the second goal of the period and again in the third on an empty netter to complete the victory.  Senior Stephanie DeSutter and junior captain Chrsitine Bestland also contributed a goal.  Sophomore Molly Byrne notched her 50th career assist on Friday, while sophomore Shelby Bram scored her 50th career point.  On Saturday, the Lakers tallied three unanswered goals in the firstperiod to capture the 3-2 win. Sophomore Vaila Higson, junior Kaleigh Chippy, and Jones all scored a goal in the win.  Over the weekend, Welch and Jones both tallied their season-high four points in a weekend with 4 apiece.  Jones is on her first ever point streak, tallying eight point in four games on six goals and two assists.  Bestland leads the team with 63 points on 24 goals and team high 39 assists.  Bestland's 39 assists is fifth all-time in a season for the Lakers, she needs nine more to meet Meghan Agosta's 48 set back in 2011. Freshman Emily Janiga is second on the team in goals with 18 and has 21 helpers for 39 points.  Freshman Jenna Dingeldein is third with 13 goals and 22 assists on 35 points. Mercyhurst continues their unbeaten streak against the Orange, leading a lifetime of 22-0-1.  Last Friday was the 13th time the Lakers had scored 5 or more goals against their opponent.  As a team, the Lakers are third in the country in scoring, averaging 4.29 points per game.  Defensively, the Lakers are seventh averaging 1.71 goals against.  Their power-play is eighth after they were successful 38 of 171 times (22.2), and 8th in their kill with a 86.4% (140-of-162).  Mercyhurst is ninth in the country with a 24-6-1 overall record and 15-3 in the CHA.  Pairwise ranking, the Lakers are seventh with a RPI of .579% RPI.
 
ABOUT RIT
RIT has a record of 14-13-5 overall and 7-6-5 in the CHA heading into the last weekend of the regular season.  The Tigers earned a weekend sweep over Penn State beating the Nittany Lions 3-1 on Friday and 4-0 Saturday.  RIT Kim Schlattman scored two goals, and Kristina Moss tallied one in the 3-1 win.  Ariane Yokoyama and Kourtney Kunichika added the helpers.  On Saturday, Erin Zach, Marissa Maugeri, and Jess Paton all combined for six points.  Goaltender Laura Chamberlain was the netminder for both contests, stopping a total of 41 shots and allowed only one goal.  The top four tigers have a one point difference in points heading into this weekend.  Kunichika leads her team with 24 points on 9 goald and 15 assists.  Hiller is second with 23 and Yokoyama is third with 22 points and leads RIT with 16 assists.  RIT is tied for third in the CHA, and with a Syracuse sweep over Lindenwood, will guarantee a weekend against Penn State at Ritter Arena.   Goaltender Ali Binnington is tied for third in the nation with five shutouts. Twelve Tigers have at least 10 or points this season. RIT has been held to one or less goals nine times this season and are 0-7-2 in those contests. The Tigers are 17th nationally in scoring, averaging 2.75 goals per game, and tied for eighth defensively, allowing 2.06 per contest. RIT has allowed just 19 goals over its last 15 games. The Tigers power-play is 11th nationally, converting at 21.1 percent (31-for-147). RIT's 31 power-play goals are tied for fifth in Division I.