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ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team will host the Black Knights of Army in a best-of-three first round series of the opening weekend of the  Atlantic Hockey Association tournament beginning on Friday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Due to Mercyhurst hosting the CHA women's hockey tournament this weekend as well, Friday night's contest will begin at 7:35 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, if necessary, will begin at the normal 7:05 p.m. start times.

The Lakers hold a 27-9-4 advantage over the Black Knights in the all-time series between the two schools. Mercyhurst sports a 4-0-0 mark in postseason play against Army and is 19-1-2 lifetime at the Mercyhurst Ice Center against its foes from West Point.

The series features the two most struggling teams in the Atlantic Hockey Association entering postseason play. The Lakers (14-15-5, 12-11-4 AHA) are winless in their last eight contests (0-5-3), marking the longest winless streak by a Mercyhurst squad since going 0-8-2 from December 8, 2006 to January 16, 2007. The Lakers have a six-game winless streak at home (0-4-2) - the worst stretch in Erie by a Mercyhurst squad since the program's inception in 1987-88. Meanwhile, the Black Knights (7-20-5, 7-15-5 AHA) have not won a regular season contest since January 4 - a 5-0 home victory over Robert Morris. Since then, Army has gone 0-12-3 in its last 15 games and have been outscored 62-29.

The teams met on February 1 and 2 at the Mercyhurst Ice Center with the Lakers taking three out of four points during the weekend series. They played to a 1-1 overtime tie in Friday's game of that series with senior Paul Chiasson scoring the Lakers' lone goal and senior Max Strang dueling with Army netminder Rob Tadazak between the pipes. Strang stopped 28 Army shots while Tadazak turned aside 40 Mercyhurst attempts. On Saturday, however, the Lakers exploded on offense, getting a natural hat trick in the second period from sophomore Ryan Misiak in an 8-1 victory.

The eight goals was a season-high, at the time, for the Lakers, and also tied the most goals scored by a Mercyhurst team against Army in the all-time series. The Lakers posted an identical 8-1 win over the Black Knights on January 5, 2001.

The Lakers have ten players with at least 10 points this season – sophomore Matthew Zay (36), sophomore Ryan Misiak (35), junior Daniel O'Donoghue (30), senior Paul Chiasson (25), sophomore Daniel Bahntge (25), sophomore Chris Bodo (23), senior Grant Blakey (22), junior Nick Jones (21), junior Kyle Just (18), and sophomore Tyler Shiplo (10). Six players have scored at least ten goals this season, led by Misiak and Bodo with 16 apiece. Bahntge and Chiasson have 13 each. Zay has 12 goals, while O'Donoghue has 10.

For Army, seniors Andy Starczewski and John Clark; sophomores Josh Richards and Zak Zaremba; and freshmen Joe Kozlak, Thane Heller, and Shane Hearn all played in each of the 32 games this season. Starczewski led the team in goals (10), assists (15) and points (25). Heller was second on the team with nine goals and Zaremba was third with seven. Mac Lalor was second on the team with 11 assists, while Kozlak and Richards each had 10.

Other first round matchups this weekend include: #12 Sacred Heart at #5 Robert Morris; #10 Bentley at #7 Canisius; and #9 American International at #8 RIT.

Niagara, the regular season champion, along with Air Force, Holy Cross, and Connecticut all earned byes in the first round and will host the winners of the first round series next weekend in the Atlantic Hockey Association quarterfinals.