Mercyhurst Game Notes
Holy Cross Game Notes

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ERIE, Pa. - For the third consecutive season, the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team will square off against the Crusaders of Holy Cross in a best-of-three Atlantic Hockey Association Quarterfinal series. The Lakers will host the best-of-three series, for the second time in three seasons, at the Mercyhurst Ice Center with game one scheduled for Friday, March 14, beginning at 7:05 p.m.

Game two will be on Saturday night at 7:05 while game three, if necessary, is scheduled for Sunday night, March 16, also at 7:05 p.m.

The Lakers are 31-13-5 lifetime against Holy Cross. Mercyhurst is 11-7-4 against the Crusaders at the Mercyhurst Ice Center and is 6-2 against its rival in postseason contests.

Mercyhurst (19-12-7, 17-4-6 AHA) earned a first-round bye in the Atlantic Hockey Association tournament after winning the program's first-ever regular season championship. The Lakers clinched first place on February 22 after defeating Niagara, 4-2, and getting help from other teams in the conference. The Lakers' best finish prior to this season was three second-place finishes in 2003-04, 2004-05, and 2005-06. Mercyhurst had won three straight regular season titles as a member of the MAAC Hockey League back in 2000-01, 2001-02, and 2002-03.

Holy Cross (14-20-3, 11-13-3 AHA) entered the tournament as the #8 seed, earning home ice in the first round of the playoffs. The Crusaders held serve and defeated the Tigers of Rochester Institute of Technology in a first round series last weekend, two games to one.

Two seasons ago, the Lakers hosted the Crusaders in the quarterfinals and won the series two games to one to advance to the AHA Semifinals. Mercyhurst won game one by a 2-1 final before Holy Cross responded with a 3-1 win in game two. The Lakers won the series with a 3-1 victory in game three, getting two goals from Matthew Zay and three helpers from Daniel O'Donoghue.

Last year, the teams played the quarterfinal series at the Hart Center in Worcester, Massachusetts, with the Lakers, again, winning the series two games to one. The teams split a pair of 3-2 decisions before Mercyhurst earned a game-three victory by the score of 1-0. Grant Blakey had the game-winning goal in both Laker victories while Jordan Tibbett earned his first collegiate shutout in the game-three win.

The two teams played a weekend series in January of this season with the Lakers sweeping the Crusaders in Worcester by the scores of 1-0 and 4-2. Junior goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant earned the victory in both games, including a memorable 51-save shutout performance in the game one victory. Junior Chris Bodo scored his first collegiate hat trick in the game two victory.

Junior Matthew Zay leads the Lakers in scoring despite missing the final four games of the regular season. He has 16 goals and 24 assists for 40 points, becoming the first Laker since Scott Pitt in 2010-11 to record at least 40 points in a season. Zay was named to the All-AHA First Team earlier Thursday afternoon. His linemate, senior Daniel O'Donoghue, is second with 13 goals and 24 assists for 37 points this season and was named to the AHA's Second Team - his first postseason accolade.

Senior defenseman Nick Jones, who has a career-high 30 points this season, and Sarjeant, who went unbeaten in conference play this season (14-0-5), were also named to the AHA's First Team on Thursday. Sarjeant, in fact, was the only unanimous selection.

The Lakers have nine players registering at least 20 points so far this year, which ranks as the most players on one team in the country with at least 20 points. Zay (40), O'Donoghue (37), junior Ryan Misiak (36), senior Nick Jones (30), junior Daniel Bahntge (29), redshirt junior Kyle Just (25), freshman Kyle Dutra (22), junior Nardo Nagtzaam (21), and junior Chris Bodo (20) have all eclipsed the 20-point plateau this season. The Lakers have five more players with at least ten points this season, giving the team 14 players with at least ten points this season. That figure is tied for third in the country, with Niagara, Robert Morris, Yale, and Ferris State, and trails only Boston College (17) and Bowling Green (15).

Nagtzaam has been on a roll as of late, posting eight goals and seven assists for 15 points in just ten games since his return from an injury. He was named the Co-Offensive Player of the Week on March 4 after his performance against Robert Morris to close out the season and then was named the AHA's Player of the Month for February later that week.

The Crusaders are led by senior Adam Schmidt, who has posted 14 goals and 15 assists for 29 points in 37 games this season. Holy Cross also features a balanced scoring attack with 12 players recording at least 10 points this season. Junior Matt Ginn has played most of the minutes in goal and is 11-19-3 with a 2.71 goals against average and a .917 save percentage.