Mercyhurst Game Notes
Robert Morris Game Notes

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Live Stats (Saturday)

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ERIE, Pa. - The Atlantic Hockey Association regular season champion Mercyhurst University men's hockey team will close out the regular season on Friday and Saturday nights when it squares off against the Colonials of Robert Morris University in a home-and-home series. The teams will play at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Friday night and then will take the series to the 84 Lumber Arena on Saturday. Both faceoffs are scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Friday night's contest will serve as Senior Night, as the Lakers will honor five players competing in their final regular season home game - defensemen Nick Jones and Randy Cure, and forwards John Mousso, Trent Frey, and Daniel O'Donoghue.

Mercyhurst holds a 5-4-5 advantage over the Colonials in the all-time series with each of the last three meetings resulting in ties. The two teams played each other back on December 14 - a game that resulted in a 5-5 tie at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. In that game, O'Donoghue became the 16th player in the Division I era at Mercyhurst to reach 100 career points after picking up three assists.

Mercyhurst (18-12-6, 16-4-5 AHA) clinched its first-ever Atlantic Hockey Association regular season championship last Saturday night after earning a 4-2 victory at Niagara and then getting losses by Bentley, Robert Morris, and Air Force. The Lakers had finished second in the league (2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06), but had never earned the top spot prior to Saturday. Mercyhurst won three straight MAAC Hockey League regular season titles from 2000-2003.

Freshman Kyle Dutra continued his strong rookie season by snapping a 2-2 tie with 2:57 left in regulation on Saturday, helping the Lakers to the 4-2 victory. Dutra leads Mercyhurst freshmen with six goals and 15 assists for 21 points. Junior Nardo Nagtzaam continued his torrid streak by scoring a pair of goals, giving him six goals and five assists for 11 points in eight games since his return from an injury.

Junior Jimmy Sarjeant remained unbeaten in conference play (14-0-4) after posting 82 saves last weekend against the Purple Eagles. He was named the AHA Goaltender of the Week for the fifth time this season this past Tuesday. He is 16-4-5 overall with a 2.33 goals against average and a .934 save percentage. His winning percentage of .740 ranks eighth in the country while his save percentage is tied for sixth in the nation.

The Lakers have seven players registering at least 20 points so far this year, second only to Union College, which has eight. Junior Matthew Zay (40), O'Donoghue (35), junior Ryan Misiak (33), Jones (28), junior Daniel Bahntge (27), redshirt junior Kyle Just (22), and Dutra (21) have all eclipsed the 20-point plateau this season. Right on the doorstep are junior Chris Bodo (18), Zac Frischmon (18), and Nagtzaam (17) - giving the Lakers a chance at having at least 10 players with at least 20 points by the end of the season.

Robert Morris (13-15-4, 13-8-4 AHA) is still fighting for a first-round bye in the AHA playoffs which are set to begin next weekend. The Colonials currently sit in fifth place in the Atlantic Hockey standings. They can move up as high as the No. 2 seed or stay right where they are as the No. 5 seed. For Robert Morris to become the No. 2 seed, they would need to sweep Mercyhurst and have Bentley lose two games to American International and Air Force and UConn losing one game each.

Last weekend, RMU split a two-game series with Niagara, winning 4-1 on Friday before dropping a 6-3 contest on Saturday. Junior forward Cody Wydo leads Robert Morris with 21 goals and 38 points in 32 games played. Sophomore forward Zac Lynch paces Robert Morris with 18 assists while sophomore goaltender Terry Shafer has played in 30 of Robert Morris' 32 games this season, earning a record of 13-13-4 with a 2.81 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.