ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team continues its stretch run for Atlantic Hockey Conference playoff positioning this weekend when it entertains the Falcons of Bentley University at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Friday and Saturday. Faceoffs are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. both nights.
Mercyhurst enters the weekend series in third place in the Atlantic Hockey Conference standings with 23 points - four behind second-place Canisius and eight behind conference-leading Robert Morris. Surging Air Force is right behind the Lakers with 22 points while the Falcons enter in fifth place with 21 points. RIT is sixth with 20 and Holy Cross is seventh with 19 in the bunched-up league standings.
The Lakers (12-8-4, 10-5-3 AHC) are coming off of a disappointing weekend at Sacred Heart last Friday and Saturday, skating to a 2-2 overtime tie in game one and then suffering a 5-1 loss in the series finale. Meanwhile, the Falcons (11-11-3, 9-7-3 AHC) earned a home split against RIT, taking game one by a 2-1 final before suffering a 5-2 loss last Saturday.
Mercyhurst leads the all-time series against Bentley, 29-12-8, and is 14-3-5 against the Falcons at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.
LAST TIME OUT ...Mercyhurst traveled to Sacred Heart for a two-game series in Milford, Connecticut, and skated away with just one point - a 2-2 overtime tie on Friday night. The Lakers led 2-1 before the Pioneers tied the game with 2:16 left in regulation to force overtime. On Saturday, the Pioneers scored 34 seconds into the contest and never looked back, defeating the Lakers, 5-1. The loss snapped a nine-game unbeaten streak (8-0-1) against Sacred Heart.
THE SERIES VS BENTLEY ...Mercyhurst leads the all-time series against Bentley by a 29-12-8 margin. However, Mercyhurst went 0-1-1 at Bentley in mid-November, skating to a 4-4 overtime tie in game one of the series before suffering a heart-breaking 5-4 decision in overtime the next night. The Lakers are 14-3-5 against Bentley at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.
SCOUTING THE FALCONS ...Bentley continued its roller coaster season last weekend with a home split against RIT. The Falcons earned a 2-1 victory last Friday before suffering a 5-2 loss in game two of the series. Bentley hasn't had longer than a four-game unbeaten streak this season (3-0-1 from December 5 to December 14) and has not had longer than a two-game winless streak all year. Bentley is 2-3-1 in the month of January. Andrew Gladiuk leads the Falcons with 15 goals and 15 assists for 30 points while Max Franch is right behind with 14 goals and 13 assists for 27 points. In goal, it has been essentially a three-way split. Freshman Jayson Argue enters with the best numbers - 4-3-2 with a 1.75 goals against average and a .944 save percentage. Senior Blake Dougherty is 3-3-1 with a 2.49 goals against average and a .915 save percentage while junior Gabe Antoni is 4-5-0 with a 3.19 goals against average and a .903 save percentage.
THAT'S WEIRD ...Despite Mercyhurst ranking tenth in the country in scoring offense (3.25 goals per game), the loss to Sacred Heart on January 24 marked just the fourth time all season that Mercyhurst has outshot its opponent. The Lakers held a 39-26 shot advantage over the Pioneers but was able to solve Sacred Heart goaltender Alex Vazzano just once. The weird part ... in the four games Mercyhurst has outshot its opponent, the Lakers are 1-3-0.
JUST DOING HIS THING ...Redshirt senior
Kyle Just scored a power play goal, and a shorthanded goal, in the third period to snap a scoreless tie and to lift Mercyhurst to a 3-0 win over Robert Morris on December 14. He scored 49 seconds into the third period with the man advantage and the scored at 17:27 with the Lakers shorthanded. It was his first collegiate multiple-goal game and was Mercyhurst's first shorthanded goal of the season. Just has scored at least one point in 11 of his last 14, and 13 of his last 17 games (eight goals, ten assists), but did have an eight-game point-scoring streak snapped on January 10. He started the season needing a career-high 32 points to reach the century mark and has closed to within 11 after recording nine goals and twelve assists for 21 points this season. Three of his eight goals on the year have been game-winners, placing him second behind Bahntge for the team lead. In 129 career games, Just has 25 goals and 64 assists for 89 points. The nine goals by Just this season is a new career-high, surpassing the eight he scored last year.
FRISCH PRINCE OF MERCYHURST ...Senior
Zac Frischmon tallied his fourth goal of the season on Friday, January 23 against Sacred Heart, which also proved to be his 50th career point in a Laker uniform. He becomes the player on this year's roster with at least 50 career points. In 136 games, Frischmon has 18 goals and 32 assists. Up next to attempt to reach the 50-point plateau is junior defenseman
Anthony Mastrodicasa who has nine goals and 30 assists for 39 points in 88 career games.
WELCOME TO THE LINEUP - PART DEUX ...For the second consecutive week, the Lakers welcomed a new addition to this year's roster. One week after adding freshman forward
Michael Verboom, freshman
Bryan Sienerth joined the Mercyhurst squad for the team's series against Sacred Heart on January 23 and 24. Sienerth is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania and was playing for the Sioux Falls Stampede in the USHL. A highly-touted college prospect, Sienerth had seven career points in 35 games with the Stampede. Sienerth did not factor in the scoring in game one, but did block three shots in the defensive zone. He came down with the flu prior to Saturday's contest and had to sit out the second game of the series.
JUST COOK BACON ...The Laker trio of redshirt senior
Kyle Just, junior
Kyle Cook, and sophomore
Spencer Bacon served up the 2-1 win over Holy Cross on Friday, January 16. Just and Cook scored the goals, with Cook's goal proving to be the game-winner (the fourth of his career), while Bacon earned his first start since November 15 and stopped 31-of-32 Holy Cross shots to improve to 2-1-1 on the season. The sophomore netminder lost his shutout bid with 3:32 left in regulation with Holy Cross on the power play.
SHIPLO-WERS THE BOOM ...Senior defenseman
Tyler Shiplo provided the Lakers with a weekend sweep after scoring the game-winner with 1:51 left in overtime against Holy Cross on Saturday, January 17. It was his second goal of the contest - the first time he had scored multiple goals in his 141-game career. It was also just his second career game-winning goal - his first came against RIT on November 9, 2012. In 143 career games, Shiplo has 16 goals and 46 assists for 62 points.
WELCOME TO THE LINEUP ...Mercyhurst welcomed in freshman forward
Michael Verboom to the Laker lineup in the weekend series against Holy Cross. Verboom joined the team after serving as team captain for the Chatham Maroons in the GOJHL. Prior to Mercyhurst, Verboom had impressive numbers with Chatham - 54 points in 33 games in the first half of 2014-15 and 94 points in 43 games during the 2013-14 season. Verboom played both games on a line with senior Matt Zay and redshirt senior
Kyle Just. He did not register a point but blocked two shots in the defensive zone.
HOT, HOT, HOT ...After going scoreless for the month of October, Bahntge has scored eleven goals and dished out twelve assists for 23 points in his last 19 games and now leads the team in scoring. He scored a pair of goals in the 3-3 tie at Canisius on November 22, which was his first multiple-goal game since scoring twice at Canisius on January 23, 2014 - a span of 26 games. He recently added a career-high five points in a 7-2 win over Sacred Heart on January 9. With his streak, Bahntge became the 19th member of the 100-point club in the Division I era at Mercyhurst. He also has yet to miss a game in his career - 146 consecutive games.
ALL RILED UP ...Redshirt freshman
Jack Riley had his eight-game point-scoring streak snapped against Holy Cross on January 16 and during the eight-game streak, Riley had six goals and nine assists for 15 points, which included two four-point games against Army (2g, 2a) on December 6 and at home against Sacred Heart (1g, 3a) on January 9.
During the month of December, Riley had three goals and three assists in four games to be named the Atlantic Hockey Conference Rookie of the Month. Just hours after winning that honor, Riley was named the Hockey Commissioners' Association National Rookie of the Month. Along with his team-leading six points, Riley was a +3, blocked seven shots, and took eight shots on goal. His month was highlighted by his two-goal, two-assist performance in his return to West Point on Saturday, December 6 against his father's Army squad.
He has moved into a tie for second place on the team in scoring with seven goals and fourteen assists for 21 points in 23 games.
WHAT A WEEKEND ...Senior forward
Daniel Bahntge had a weekend to remember as the Lakers swept Sacred Heart on January 9 and 10. Bahntge scored a career-high five points (two goals and three assists) in the 7-2 win to open the series and then added a goal and an assist in the 4-2 victory to close the weekend. He had the game-winning goal in each game of the series to give him a team-leading four on the season - which also ties him for fourth in the country in that department. He finished the weekend with three goals and four assists, took five shots on goal, and was a +6. Bahntge was named the Atlantic Hockey Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts.
FEASTING ON THE PIONEERS ...With his seven-point weekend, Bahntge added to his unbelievable history against Sacred Heart. Prior to the series on January 23 and 24, the senior had scored at least one goal in the first eight meetings against the Pioneers. Bahntge, however, was held scoreless against the Pioneers last weekend and now has twelve goals and seven assists for nineteen points in those ten meetings. Bahntge is also a +14 in the ten games and has four of his nine career game-winning goals against Sacred Heart. Meanwhile, seniors
Ryan Misiak and Matt Zay have also had success against Sacred Heart. Zay has six goals and six assists in ten games while posting a +9 rating. Misiak has three goals and seven assists in ten games and is a +11.
THE LIFE OF RILEY ...Redshirt freshman
Jack Riley continued his torrid play, extending his point-scoring streak to seven games, in helping the Lakers sweep Sacred Heart. In the 7-2 victory, Riley tied a career-high with four points (one goal, three assists) and then added another helper in the 4-2 win to close out the series. He finished the weekend with one goal and four assists, took five shots on goal, and was a +6. Riley captured the Atlantic Hockey Freshman of the Week honors for the third time this season - all of which have come since December 9.
DON'T FORGET ME ...While Bahntge and Riley got most of the headlines during the sweep of Sacred Heart, a pair of freshmen made significant contributions to aid in the weekend. Freshman forward
Kane Elliot, playing on the same line with Bahntge and Riley, tallied a career-high three assists in the 7-2 victory and then added another helper in the 4-2 win. He entered the weekend with one goal and one assist in ten games, but finished the weekend with four assists.
Meanwhile, goaltender
Brandon Wildung had a breakout weekend replacing an injured
Jimmy Sarjeant between the pipes. Wildung stopped 67-of-71 Sacred Heart shots (.944 save percentage) to earn back-to-back victories for the first time in his young career.
SPREADING IT OUT ...The Lakers have scored 78 goals through 24 games and 18 different players have tallied at least once this season. In the opening weekend at Air Force, Mercyhurst had five goals by five different goal scorers. Against Merrimack, Mercyhurst had seven goals by seven different players, while against Colgate, the Lakers had two goals by two different players. Against Army, Mercyhurst had nine goals by eight different players (only Bodo had more than one goal) and then at Bentley, six different players scored the Lakers' eight goals (Bodo and Dutra had two each). The Lakers have 22 players with at least one point this season with only six players, who have played in at least one game, not recording a point this season. Of those 22 players, 15 have scored at least five points, 11 have hit double figures, and four have reached at least 20 points.
WILDUNG SOLID ...After senior goaltender
Jimmy Sarjeant allowed six goals in game one of the series against Ohio State, freshman goaltender
Brandon Wildung got the call on Saturday and performed well. Making just his third career start, Wildung stopped 26-of-28 Ohio State shots to help the Lakers skate to a 2-2 tie. He then helped the Lakers sweep Sacred Heart on January 9 and 10, stopping 67-of-71 shots in the process. Wildung is now 4-3-3 in ten appearances (eight starts), posting a .916 save percentage and a 2.62 goals against average.
POSITION CHANGE PAYING OFF ...Senior
Ryan Misiak, a career-long forward, moved to defense for the second game of the Colgate series on November 1. His scoring prowess has not dipped since the position change, as he enters the series against Holy Cross having scored at least one point in ten of his last thirteen games. Misiak has scored 15 of his 16 points this season since the switch.
ABOUT THE SNOWTOWN THROWDOWN ...Mercyhurst and Ohio State met in the inaugural Snowtown Throwdown, sponsored by Buffalo Wild Wings, at the Erie Insurance Arena on January 2 and 3. Proceeds from the two-game series benefitted The Warming Center, hosted at the Mental Health Association of Northwest Pennsylvania. On January 19, Mercyhurst's 11 seniors and head coach
Rick Gotkin presented The Warming Center with 11 Mercyhurst blankets and a check for $2,000 to help the shelter keep its doors open during the coldest of Erie winter days.
The men's hockey program last played at the then-Erie Civic Center on November 30, 1991 when, still a Division III member, it defeated Wisconsin-Stevens Point by a 6-2 final. Eight nights later, the Lakers played in their new home, the Mercyhurst Ice Center, in front of a standing-room only crowd against Rochester Institute of Technology. The then-Erie Civic Center served as one of four different "homes" for Mercyhurst until the MIC opened in 1991. The Lakers played 32 games at the old Erie Civic Center from when the program started in 1987 to that final game in November of 1991. Mercyhurst went 22-8-2 in those 32 games.
WELCOME TO THE CLUB ...Senior forward
Matthew Zay scored with 32 seconds left in regulation against Merrimack on Friday, October 24 to force overtime and to become the 17th player in the Division I era at Mercyhurst to record 100 career points. It was Zay's first goal of the season and the 34th of his career. He now has 117 points in 136 career games with the Lakers and has scored 103 points in his last 100 games after registering just 14 points in 36 games as a rookie. Then, on Saturday, November 15 at Bentley, senior
Ryan Misiak earned an assist early in the second period to join Zay in the 100-point club. In 140 career games, Misiak has 43 goals and 68 assists for 111 points. Senior
Daniel Bahntge became the third member this season to reach 100 career points with his goals against Robert Morris on December 13. In 146 career games, Bahntge has 50 goals and 64 assists for 114 points.
The three players to join this season has tied the Division I program record for most players on one Laker team to join the 100-point club, set in 2004-05 (T.J. Kemp, Rich Hansen, David Wrigley) and 2005-06 (Scott Reynolds, Scott Champagne, and Dave Borrelli).
SARJEANT SHINES ...After a subpar performance in the opening game of the series against Robert Morris, senior goaltender
Jimmy Sarjeant returned to his old form in game two, turning aside all 41 Robert Morris shots for his second shutout of the season - and third of his career - in the Lakers' 3-0 victory. He also blanked Army on November 7 with a 39-save performance.
MEMORABLE MOMENT ...Redshirt freshman
Jack Riley returned home to West Point to square off against his father's Army team on December 5 and 6. It marked the first time that the Rileys played against each other at Tate Rink - they met earlier this season at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. After being held scoreless on Friday night, Riley notched a career-high two goals and two assists for four points in Saturday's 6-3 win to earn the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week honors. Three of his four points came in the final period to help snap a 3-3 tie. Riley had one goal and four assists in 18 career games prior to his career night.
ZAY - O ...Senior Matt Zay scored a goal in each game of the weekend series at Army on December 5 and 6, marking his first goals since scoring against Merrimack on October 24. The Laker captain is tied for second on the team in scoring with five goals and 15 assists for 20 points and now has 116 points in 134 career games with Mercyhurst. With his three points against Holy Cross, Zay moved into sole possession of 10th place on the school's all-time Division I scoring list. Next in his sights is
Daniel O'Donoghue (2010-2014) who had 119 points in 155 career games.
NO ORDINARY ROOKIE ...Freshman
Jonathan Charbonneau has collected five goals and eleven assists for 16 points in his first 24 games at the collegiate level. He had his third multiple-point game of the season with a pair of assists in the 3-3 tie at Canisius on November 22 and now has at least one point in 13 of the team's 24 games. He also is tied for second on the team with a +4 plus/minus rating.
POWER PLAY IMPROVING ...After starting the season 2-for-29 on the power play through the first seven games, the Lakers have been much better with the man advantage over the last 17 contests, going 20-for-70 (28.6%) to increase the team's percentage from 6.9% to 22.2% on the season. The Lakers are ninth in the country in power play percentage.
Kyle Just leads the team with four while eight different players (
Daniel Bahntge,
Kyle Dutra,
Zac Frischmon,
Anthony Mastrodicasa,
Ryan Misiak,
Jack Riley,
Tyler Shiplo, and Matt Zay) have two each.
RILEY STRIKES ...Redshirt freshman
Jack Riley scored his first collegiate goal on Friday, November 14 in the Lakers' 4-4 overtime tie against Bentley. His goal late in the second period gave Mercyhurst a 3-2 at that point. He would later notch the lone assist on senior
Chris Bodo's game-tying goal with 9:41 left in regulation. He played the first seven games of the regular season a year ago before missing the remainder of the year with an injury. He had one assist in those seven games.
THAT LINE WORKED ...Due to the injury bug, head coach
Rick Gotkin had to put together some different lines in the weekend series against Sacred Heart on January 9 and 10. The new combination that put on a show against the Pioneers was the line of
Daniel Bahntge,
Kane Elliot, and
Jack Riley. The trio combined for four goals and twelve assists in the sweep of Sacred Heart. The trio combined for both goals in the 5-2 loss against Canisius on Tuesday and then added one goal and two assists in the sweep of Holy Cross.
LUCKY SEVEN ...Mercyhurst outscored Army 7-5 on Saturday night, November 8, at the Mercyhurst Ice Center to mark the most goals the Lakers have scored this season and the most since scoring seven goals in a 7-1 win against Sacred Heart on December 6, 2013. The Lakers tied their season-high goal output with a 7-2 victory over Sacred Heart on January 9.
BACON SIZZLES IN RELIEF ...Sophomore
Spencer Bacon was pressed into services in the third period on Saturday, November 8 against Army after senior
Jimmy Sarjeant had allowed five goals on just 18 shots. Just 37 seconds into the third period, after Sarjeant allowed his fifth goal, Bacon entered with the Lakers trailing 5-4. Mercyhurst scored three goals down the stretch and Bacon stopped all 12 shots he faced to earn him his first collegiate victory. It was only his second collegiate appearance with his only other outing coming in relief at Ohio State on December 30, 2013. In that contest, he stopped nine of ten Buckeye shots.
Then, at Bentley, Bacon came on in relief again on Friday, November 14 after Sarjeant had to leave the game with an injury. The sophomore then earned his first collegiate start on Saturday, November 15, stopping 36 of 41 shots in a 5-4 overtime loss.
WELCOME TO COLLEGE HOCKEY ...Freshman
Jonathan Charbonneau didn't take long to make his presence felt in the Mercyhurst lineup. After being held off the scoresheet in the season opener, Charbonneau had a goal and an assist in the Lakers' 4-2 win at Air Force in game two of the series. For his efforts, the St-Colombant, Quebec-native earned Co-Freshman of the Week honors from the Atlantic Hockey Association. Defenseman
Tyler Enns recorded an assist and was a +3 in his first collegiate game in the Air Force series (game two) and then scored his first collegiate goal against Sacred Heart on January 10.
Zach Todd took a whopping four games to pick up his first point - he earned an assist in the team's 3-2 win over Merrimack on October 25.
Kane Elliot scored his first collegiate goal (which proved to be the game-winner) on Friday, November 8 against Army - his second career game. Only
Patrick Piacentini, who has played in eight games,
Michael Verboom, who just joined the team two weeks ago, and
Bryan Sienerth, who joined the team last week, has not factored in the scoring among the newcomers who have dressed at least once.
SIGNATURE WIN ...Mercyhurst's upset win at fourth-ranked Colgate on Saturday, November 1, marked the highest-ranked team that the program has defeated since becoming a Division I member in 1999-2000. The highest-ranked foe that the Lakers knocked off prior to the win over Colgate was a 6-4 win over #7 Princeton on November 29, 2008 in the opening round of the Rensselaer Holiday Tournament. Mercyhurst defeated fourth-ranked Michigan in a shootout on October 2, 2010 to open the 2010-11 campaign. However, the game went down as a tie in the record books.
GAME ONE vs. GAME TWO ...The victory against Army on Friday, November 7, was Mercyhurst's first win to open a series this season. Mercyhurst is 3-5-2 in series-opening games and is being outscored by a 36-25 margin in those contests. The Lakers suffered their first loss in a series finale at Bentley on November 15, but is still 7-1-2 in games in game twos and have outscored the opposition by a 39-27 margin.
