ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Mercyhurst University women's hockey team hopes that the turn of the calendar to the month of February will lead to another College Hockey America regular season championship. It all starts this weekend with a trip to Rochester to square off against the Tigers of RIT in a crucial two-game weekend series at RIT's new Gene Polisseni Center. Faceoffs are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. on Friday night and 3:05 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.
Both games will be shown on Time Warner Cable Sports (TWCS) Channel 98 with Gene Battaglia and former Mark Engel brining you all the action from the Gene Polisseni Center on Friday. Battaglia and John DiTullio are on the call Saturday.
On Saturday, the Tigers will honor fifth-year student manager Joe Vicario, better known as "Part Time Joe". RIT will wear special jerseys that will be auctioned off during the game with proceeds going to the Testicular Cancer Foundation of Western New York, which Vicario founded and the Lipson Cancer Center at Rochester General Hospital through the RIT United Way Foundation. Visit http://www.tcafofwny.org/ for more information.
Mercyhurst is 9-2-0 lifetime against RIT in the all-time series, which includes a weekend sweep of the Tigers at the Mercyhurst Ice Center by identical 4-1 scores on November 21 and 22.
THE SERIES...•Mercyhurst has won nine of the first eleven meetings between the two schools including a weekend sweep at the Mercyhurst Ice Center earlier this season (November 21 and 22)
•Mercyhurst is 3-1-0 lifetime against RIT in Rochester but these will be the first meetings between the two schools at RIT's new Gene Polisseni Center
•The teams last played in Rochester on November 22 and 23, 2013. RIT won the first game by a 2-1 final before Mercyhurst responded with a 5-2 victory the next afternoon
About MERCYHURST...•Mercyhurst earned a weekend split at Robert Morris last weekend and is still clinging to a one-point lead in the CHA standings with three weekends left in the regular season. The Lakers needed overtime to defeat the Colonials, 2-1, last Friday, before Robert Morris salvaged a split with a 3-2 win on Saturday. The Lakers are now 2-5-1 in their last eight games after starting the season 16-2-2
•Junior forward
Jenna Dingeldein was named the CHA Player of the Week after scoring two goals and two assists against Robert Morris last weekend. She factored in all four goals that Mercyhurst scored and had the primary assist on the overtime winner Friday night
•Dingeldein became the third member to reach the program's 100-point-club this season (18th overall) when she scored a first period goal against Penn State on December 13. In 102 career games, Dingeldein has 105 career points and ranks 16th on the school's all-time scoring list
•Senior goaltender
Amanda Makela recorded her 50th career victory in last Friday's 2-1 overtime win over Robert Morris. Makela has started all 28 games this season and sports an overall record of 50-20-8 in her career. She has seven shutouts this season - one shy of tying the school record of eight held by Desi Clark during the 2001-02 season. Her 16 career shutouts ranks fifth on the school's all-time list
•Mercyhurst ranks second in the country in killing off penalties, allowing only nine power play goals in 119 chances (92.4%). Only Wisconsin (96.5%) has been better at killing off penalties this season
•Junior
Emily Janiga scored the overtime winner in Friday's 2-1 victory over Robert Morris - her fourth game-winning goal of the season. The goal came during a Laker power play, which gave the junior nine power play goals this season. That figure leads the team and is tied for the national lead
•Janiga now has 115 points in 102 career games and ranks 14th on the school's all-time scoring list. She joined the 100-point club on November 22 against RIT
•Senior defenseman
Molly Byrne had an assist in the Robert Morris series to give her 109 career points. She beat Janiga to the milestone by one day (November 21 against RIT) and ranks 15th on the program's all-time scoring list
•Senior forward
Shelby Bram needs one point to become the 19th Laker player overall, and fourth this season, to reach the 100-point milestone. Bram had an assist on the overtime winner last Friday at Robert Morris
•Junior goaltender
Julia DiTondo relieved senior
Amanda Makela on against St. Lawrence on Friday, January 23 - the first time anyone but Makela has appeared in goal this season. DiTondo allowed three goals and 22 shots in 31:01 of action. DiTondo also appeared in the third period last Saturday and did not allow a goal on three shots
•The victory on Tuesday, November 25 against Colgate was win #400 in the history of the women's hockey program and was win #400 for head coach
Michael Sisti. Sisti became the second coach in Division I history to reach 400 career wins while the program became the third-fastest to reach the plateau (545 games). Only Minnesota (502) and New Hamsphire (506) reached 400 faster
About RIT...•RIT earned a split against Lindenwood in suburban St. Louis, Missouri last weekend. The Tigers won 5-4 in overtime on Friday night before Lindenwood blanked RIT, 1-0, on Saturday afternoon
•The Tigers enters the weekend series in last place in the CHA standings, but just two points behind Lindenwood for fifth and four points behind Syracuse for a home playoff series in the first round
•Senior goaltender Ali Binnington is the unquestioned star of the team. She has battled through injuries this season but is 7-7-1 with a 1.65 goals against average and a .938 save percentage. She stopped 62-of-63 Mercyhurst shots in the Tigers' stunning 2-1 double overtime victory in the CHA Championship game last season. She missed both games against Mercyhurst earlier this season
•Binnington, however, had a rough time last weekend. She allowed three goals on four shots in six minutes on Friday and then did not start in Saturday's 1-0 loss
•Senior forward Celeste Brown leads the Tigers in scoring with nine goals and six assists for 15 points. Senior Lindsay Grigg has five goals and eight assists and is second on the squad
•Scott McDonald is in his ninth season as the Tigers' head coach. He is 181-68-21 overall but is just 46-46-8 since the team moved to Division I at the start of the 2012-13 season
