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PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team knows it will be home to start its play in the Atlantic Hockey Association tournament. The question remains: when will the Lakers be home?

Everything comes down to the final weekend of the regular season when the Lakers play a home-and-home series with the Colonials of Robert Morris on Friday and Saturday nights. The teams will square off at the 84 Lumber Arena in Pittsburgh on Friday night for a 7:05 p.m. start and then will convene at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Saturday night, also starting at 7:05 p.m.

Mercyhurst (14-15-3, 12-11-2 AHA) has picked an inopportune time to go on a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) entering the final weekend of the regular season. The Lakers have not won since defeating the Colonials back on February 5 by an 8-1 final in Pittsburgh. Since then, the Lakers have captured just one point in six games against Air Force, RIT, and Niagara, with five of those contests played on home ice.

The six-game winless streak is Mercyhurst's longest since the team went 0-6 (all against non-conference opponents) starting October 10, 2008 and ending with a 4-3 overtime win at Holy Cross nearly a month later.

With that said, Mercyhurst can still finish as high as third in the standings, which would give it a first-round bye and home ice in the AHA Quarterfinals. The Lakers, who enter the weekend in a tie for sixth-place, can finish no worse than eighth, which would give them home ice next weekend in the first round of the AHA tournament. However, that would mean the Lakers would have to travel for the quarterfinal round the following weekend.

Sophomore Matthew Zay has taken over the team lead in scoring with 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists), while Misiak is right behind with 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points. Junior Daniel O'Donoghue tied a career-high with his 10th goal on Friday, and now has a career-high 29 points this season. Senior Paul Chiasson had an assist in Friday's loss to give him 106 career points, tying him with Scott Reynolds (02-06) for 11th place on the school's all-time scoring list in the Division I era.

The Colonials (18-12-2, 13-11-1 AHA) are in the same boat. They enter the series in fifth place, just one point ahead of the Lakers and RIT, who both occupy the #6 spot. Robert Morris can finish anywhere from third through seventh. However, since the 8-1 loss to the Lakers, the Colonials have won four of their last six games.

Adam Brace leads Robert Morris with 21 assists and 33 points while the senior is closing in on 50 career goals as he needs six goals to reach the milestone.  With his three-point weekend, Brace climbed in the Colonial Record Books as he moved in to fifth place in both goals (38) and points (84).  Cody Wydo has scored a team-high 17 goals this season as the sophomore closes in on 50 career points as he needs just four more points to reach the milestone.

Stay tuned to hurstathletics.com as the playoff picture starts to unfold entering the final weekend of the regular season.

THE SERIES
Mercyhurst and Robert Morris have played 11 times in the all-time series, with Mercyhurst leading the series at 5-4-2. Back on February 5, the Lakers defeated the Colonials by an 8-1 final at the 84 Lumber Arena in Pittsburgh. It was Mercyhurst's last victory this season, as the Lakers have gone 0-5-1 since that win. Last season, the Colonials took three of the four meetings from the Lakers, including the only game played in Pittsburgh. Mercyhurst is 3-2-0 lifetime in Pittsburgh, 2-1-2 in Erie, and 0-1-0 at a neutral site.

THE COACHES
Rick Gotkin is in his 25th season with Mercyhurst and has posted a career record of 448-321-63. 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 448 career victories and needs two wins to become the 26th coach in history, at any division, to reach 450 career victories. Next up on the career wins list - Murray Armstrong, who won 463 games at Denver from 1956-57 until 1976-77. Gotkin is 11th among active coaches with 832 career games coached. 

Derek Schooley is in his ninth season with Robert Morris and is the only coach that the Colonials have ever known. He has posted a career record of 122-153-38 during his stay at Robert Morris. He guided the Colonials to a school-record 18 victories during the 2010-11 season, including the program's first-ever national ranking. In 2009, he was behind the bench for Robert Morris' upset of then-#1 Miami (Ohio) at the Mellon Arena. The Colonials have tied their school record with 18 victories this season.

ABOUT MERCYHURST
The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team dropped a pair of identical 4-2 decisions in a home-and-home series with Niagara over the weekend. With the losses, Mercyhurst has lost four straight and is now in the midst of a six-game winless streak (0-5-1). The six-game winless streak is Mercyhurst's longest since the team went 0-6 (all against non-conference opponents) starting October 10, 2008 and ending with a 4-3 overtime win at Holy Cross nearly a month later. The Lakers have dropped into a tie for sixth-place in the conference standings with two regular season games remaining. Mercyhurst can still finish anywhere from third to eighth place, but would need to win out and then get some help to finish with a top-four spot and a bye in the first round. Mercyhurst dropped to 14-15-3 overall, the first time the team has been under .500 this season since December 7, when it was 5-6-1 after suffering a 7-3 loss to American International. Junior Daniel O'Donoghue and sophomore Ryan Misiak had the goals in Friday's 4-2 loss at Niagara. Senior Max Strang started and allowed four goals on 16 shots before being pulled midway through the second period for junior Jordan Tibbett. Tibbett stopped all 12 shots he faced to keep Mercyhurst in the contest. On Saturday, sophomore Chris Bodo scored both of Mercyhurst's goals, with both coming on the power play. He has a team-leading 16 goals this season, with 10 of those coming on the power play. He leads the team, and is tied for third in the country, with his 10 power play goals. It marks the most power play goals in a season by a Laker since Phil Ginand scored 10 during the 2008-09 season. Tibbett started Saturday for the first time since January 18 at Connecticut and allowed three goals in 29 shots through two periods. Sophomore Jimmy Sarjeant played the third period – just his third appearance of the season – and stopped three-of-four Niagara shots. Sophomore Matt Zay has taken over the team lead in scoring with 34 points (12 goals, 22 assists), while Misiak is right behind with 14 goals and 19 assists for 33 points. Junior Daniel O'Donoghue tied a career-high with his 10th goal on Friday, and now has a career-high 29 points this season. Senior Paul Chiasson had an assist in Friday's loss to give him 106 career points, tying him with Scott Reynolds (02-06) for 11th place on the school's all-time scoring list in the Division I era. Mercyhurst will play a home-and-home series with the Colonials of Robert Morris this Friday and Saturday to conclude the regular season. Mercyhurst defeated Robert Morris 8-1 back on February 5, marking the last Mercyhurst victory before the winless streak. A trio of Mercyhurst sophomores - Daniel Bahntge, Chris Bodo, and Ryan Misiak - were nominated for the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's best player.  Fan voting on the preliminary ballot concludes on March 10. The teams will be in Pittsburgh on Friday before convening at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Saturday. It will be senior night on Saturday, as four seniors will be honored prior to the contest – forward Grant Blakey, defenseman Charlie Carkin, forward Paul Chiasson, and goaltender Max Strang.

ABOUT ROBERT MORRIS
The Robert Morris Colonials conclude the 2012-2013 regular season with a home-and-home series against the Mercyhurst Lakers this weekend.  Both games against the in-state rival are scheduled to start at 7:05 p.m. as Robert Morris will host the Lakers on Friday evening as a part of its senior night festivities before making the trip to Erie, Pa. for the contest on Saturday.  In the nine seasons of the hockey program at RMU, the Colonials have never had a winning record in games outside of Pittsburgh, Pa.  This season that could change as the Colonials are currently 9-7-1 on the road.  In the only meeting between Robert Morris and the Lakers this season, the Colonials would suffer the worst loss at home in program history as they fell by a score of 8-1 on Feb. 5,  The lone goal scored for the Colonials in the game came off of the stick of Mac Roy in the first period.  This past weekend, the Colonials took on Canisius in a home-and-home series.  Robert Morris would win both games against the Golden Griffins, winning both games to complete the season sweep.  Making the trip to Buffalo, N.Y. on Friday, the Colonials would leave with a 4-2 victory as goaltender Eric Levine set the program record with his 16th win of the season.  Hosting the Golden Griffins the next night, RMU would claim a 6-3 win as the squad tied the program record for wins in a season with its 18th victory.  Forwards Adam Brace and Cody Wydo both contributed two goals in the game on Saturday while junior Colin South netted a goal as well to earn his 50th career point.  In all three games against Canisius this season, the Colonials would chase the starting goaltender as they would score 12 goals on just 57 shots against the netminder.  With an overall record of 18-12-2, the Colonials currently sit in a tie for fourth place with a conference record of 13-11-1.  The 27 points tallied by the Colonials have them tied with Holy Cross even though the Crusaders have a third game remaining as opposed to the two remaining games for RMU.  Connecticut sits just one point ahead of the two teams while both Mercyhurst and RIT are trailing Robert Morris by a single point.  Even with the five teams separated by just two points, the Colonials have clinched a top-eight seed which guarantees home ice for either the first round or the quarterfinal series.  The Colonials are averaging 3.12 goals per game while the team has allowed an average of 2.84 goals per game to their opponents.  Eric Levine sits first all-time in career save percentage (.925) and career shutouts (5) while his career goals-against average of 2.74 is just .01 shy of the school's record.  Levine's four shutouts this season has the goaltender second in the NCAA with six other netminders.  Adam Brace leads Robert Morris with 21 assists and 33 points while the senior is closing in on 50 career goals as he needs six goals to reach the milestone.  With his three-point weekend, Brace climbed in the Colonial Record Books as he moved in to fifth place in both goals (38) and points (84).  Cody Wydo has scored a team-high 17 goals this season as the sophomore closes in on 50 career points as he needs just four more points to reach the milestone.  Both Brace and Wydo sit first in the nation with four other skaters as both of the forwards scoring three shorthanded goals this season.  Wydo's five game-winning goals this season has him just one away from the NCAA lead as he currently sits in fourth place with four other skaters.  Senior Brendan Jamison was named one of the ten finalists for the Senior CLASS Award for the 2012-2013 season.  Jamison, the first native of Pittsburgh to be named captain of the Colonials, currently sits sixth in the fan portion of the voting that ends March 25.  A trio of Robert Morris seniors - Adam Brace, Zach Hervato, and Eric Levine - were nominated for the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's best player.  Fan voting on the preliminary ballot concludes on March 10.  The Colonials have dedicated this season to former captain Chris Kushneriuk who is currently battling cancer.  Robert Morris has partnered with the Bakersfield Condors and the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL to raise awareness for men's cancer and help Chris with his current battle.  Together, the teams have raised over $20,000 to benefit Kushneriuk.