ROCHESTER, N.Y. - It all comes down to Saturday night at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y.

In an unlikely, but not surprising scenario, the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team, which entered the AHA Tournament as the sixth-seed, will battle seventh-seeded Canisius College for the Atlantic Hockey Association Championship on Saturday night. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

“I've been saying for years that a six or a seven seed is getting closer and closer to winning this league,” said Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin after Friday night's 4-1 victory over Connecticut in the AHA Semifinals. “This is a pretty darn good league and we have not had an easy night really with anybody. I think the fact that you see a six and a seven seed emerge into the title game, it doesn't surprise me at all. And, I know that the six or seven seed champion will represent our league very well in the NCAA tournament.”

The winner, tonight, will advance to the NCAA Division I tournament. Mercyhurst is looking to get back to the national tournament for the first time since losing to Boston College, 5-4, in the East Regional Semifinals in Worcester, Massachusetts back on March 25, 2005.

Canisius, meanwhile, has never advanced to the Division I Tournament.

The Lakers got to Saturday's game with a 4-1 victory on Friday over Connecticut. Mercyhurst allowed a first period goal and trailed 1-0 after the opening period. But, the Lakers rattled off the final four goals of the night to advance to the title game for the first time since 2009, when Mercyhurst fell to Air Force 2-0.

Senior Paul Chiasson scored a pair of goals, while sophomore Zac Frischmon and Ryan Misiak added the others. Junior Jordan Tibbett stopped 31-of-32 Connecticut shots.

The Golden Griffins advanced with a 5-3 victory over top-seeded Niagara in the first semifinal on Friday.

Mercyhurst is 39-25-9 lifetime against Canisius and took two-of-three meetings against the Golden Griffins this season. Mercyhurst won both games on home ice - 3-2 in overtime on December 18 and 5-2 on January 29. Canisius won its home game against the Lakers, 4-2 on January 25.

In the postseason, dating back to the Division III ECAC West days, the Lakers are 4-3 lifetime against Canisius. The teams, however, have never played against each other for a conference title.

It also marks a matchup of Gotkin against his former associate head coach, Dave Smith, who is in his eighth season as head coach of Canisius.

If you can't make the trip to Rochester, you can listen to all of the action on WMCE 88.5 FM, or online at wmce.mercyhurst.edu beginning at 6:50 p.m.