Mercyhurst Final Four Notes

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team is hoping that the third time will, in fact, be the charm.

For the third consecutive season, the Lakers are heading to Rochester, New York for a chance to claim the program's first Atlantic Hockey Association championship since 2005, and a corresponding berth in the NCAA Division I men's hockey tournament the following weekend. Standing in Mercyhurst's way on Friday afternoon is the team's long-time rival, Canisius College, as the teams will square off in the first semifinal contest on Friday afternoon from the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester. The Lakers enter the contest on an eight-game unbeaten streak (6-0-2) and are 21-12-7 overall on the season. The Golden Griffins are 16-20-3 overall.

Faceoff on Friday afternoon is scheduled for 4:05 p.m.

In each of the past two seasons, the Lakers have gotten one step closer to their goal of winning the conference title and advancing to the NCAA Tournament. Two years ago, Mercyhurst lost to Air Force in the semifinals by a 5-2 final and then, last season, Canisius ended the Lakers' run with a 7-2 win over Mercyhurst in the championship game.

The teams are certainly familiar foes as this will mark the 78th meeting between the two programs. The Lakers lead the overall series 40-28-9, but Canisius has won three of the last four, and four of the last six, between the two teams. Mercyhurst and Canisius have split eight career postseason games (4-4-0), including the Golden Griffins' win in the conference title game last season.

Mercyhurst got to the semifinals after winning the Atlantic Hockey Association's regular season title for the first time in program history. The Lakers got a corresponding first-round bye and then defeated Holy Cross two games to none in a best-of-three quarterfinal series last weekend at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Mercyhurst came from behind to take game one by a 5-4 margin in overtime and then handled the Crusaders in game two, 4-1. It marked the third straight season that Mercyhurst ended Holy Cross' year in the quarterfinal round.

On Friday, the Lakers trailed 3-0 early in the second and were behind 4-2 after two periods before rallying for the victory. Senior Daniel O'Donoghue scored with 26 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime and sophomore Kyle Cook scored his second goal of the game at the 4:40 mark of the extra session to lift the hosts. It was the first time this season that Mercyhurst had scored with an extra attacker, the first time this season that Mercyhurst had won a game despite trailing after two (0-6-1 prior), and the first time since December 18, 2012 that the Lakers had won a game in overtime (0-1-11 prior).

Saturday, Mercyhurst jumped out to a 4-0 lead only to see Holy Cross break up junior goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant's shutout bid with 3:08 left in regulation. Redshirt freshman Alec Shields scored his first collegiate goal, which proved to be the game-winner, in the victory. Sarjeant turned aside 45-of-46 shots for his 18th win of the season.

The Golden Griffins are in Rochester thanks to a two game to none sweep of Sacred Heart in the opening round and then a two games to one victory over second-seeded Bentley in the quarterfinals last weekend. Cansius won the decisive game three on Sunday in overtime on Mitch McCrank's third goal of the contest.

Junior Matthew Zay and senior Daniel O'Donoghue lead the Lakers in scoring with 42 and 41 points respectively. It is the first time since the 2008-09 season (Steve Cameron, Scott Pitt, Matt Pierce) that more than one player on the Laker roster has had at least 40 points in a season. Mercyhurst has 10 players with at least 20 points this season and 14 players have recorded at least ten. Sarjeant has been the workhorse in goal, posting an 18-4-6 overall record with a 2.42 goals against average and a .932 save percentage.

Leading the way for Canisius is senior Kyle Gibbons, who has recorded 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points this season. Sophomore Ralph Cuddemi has 28 points to rank second on the Golden Griffins' squad. Senior Tony Capobianco has gotten hot at the right time, again, and is 12-13-2 with a 2.75 goals against average and a .916 save percentage.

The winner of the Mercyhurst-Canisius game will play the winner of the second semifinal game, which features the #5 seed Robert Morris and the #6 seed Niagara, for the Atlantic Hockey Association championship on Saturday night, March 22, beginning at 7:05 p.m.