ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University women's hockey team, by virtue of winning its 13th consecutive College Hockey America regular season title, will host the 2015 College Hockey America (CHA) championships at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Lakers, the top-seed in the tournament, will entertain Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) on Friday, March 6 in the first semifinal at 3:00 p.m. Second-seeded Syracuse will play against Penn State at 7:00 p.m. with the winners advancing to the championship game on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.
This year's winner of the CHA tournament will receive the conference's first-ever automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament.
The weekend's festivities kick off on Thursday night with the CHA Awards Banquet. The league's major award winners as well as the All-CHA First, Second, and Rookie Teams will be announced.
Tickets will be available at the door and are $10 for adults and $5 for students and senior citizens. There are no complimentary tickets available for the conference tournament.
Mercyhurst and RIT met in the conference championship game last season with the Tigers claiming their first-ever CHA title with a 2-1 double overtime victory over Mercyhurst at the Ice Center. Last year's tournament MVP, goaltender Ali Binnington of RIT, stopped 62-of-63 shots in the victory. It was only the second time in 13 seasons of league play that the Lakers did not win the tournament championship - however, it was the second time in the last three seasons that Mercyhurst fell short.
ABOUT MERCYHURST ...- Mercyhurst won its 13th consecutive regular season title, and 15th overall, and earned the right to host the College Hockey America Championships this weekend at the Mercyhurst Ice Center
- The Lakers finished the regular season with a 23-8-3 overall record and a 14-5-1 mark in CHA action. The 23 wins gave the Lakers their 14th consecutive 20-win season and the program has now reached the mark in 15 of its 16 years of existence
- Mercyhurst last played on February 20 and 21, splitting a weekend series at Lindenwood. The Lakers lost 3-1 on February 20 - the first time that the team had lost to the Lady Lions in the all-time series. Mercyhurst responded the following afternoon with a 7-1 victory
- Senior defenseman
Molly Byrne was named the CHA Player of the Week on February 23 after recording a goal and four assists in the weekend series at Lindenwood. Byrne tied career-highs with three assists and four points in the 7-1 victory on February 21
- Junior forward
Emily Janiga was named the CHA Player of the Month for February, scoring seven goals and five assists in six games during the month. The Lakers went 5-1-0 in February to clinch the regular season crown
- Janiga leads the Lakers with a career-best 45 points, which includes a career-high 27 goals this season. Eleven of her 27 goals have come on the power play which ties her for the national lead with Melissa Piacentini of Syracuse. She has moved into 12th on the school's all-time scoring list with 127 career points. She needs three to move past Stephanie Jones, four to move ahead of both Stefanie Bourbeau and CJ Ireland, and six to climb ahead of Kelley Steadman
- Byrne, by virtue of her five-point weekend against Lindenwood, moved into 15th on the school's all-time list with 117 career points. She is three assists shy of reaching 100 for her career - she could become the seventh player in school history to hit the century mark in assists
- Junior
Jenna Dingeldein is 16th on the school's all-time list with 113 career points. Dingeldein (18) and Janiga (27) have combined to score 45 of Mercyhurst's 95 goals this season.
- Senior
Shelby Bram is 17th on the school's all-time list with 108 career points. She recorded two goals and two assists in the 7-1 win over Lindenwood on February 21.
- Senior goaltender
Amanda Makela has tied a school-record with eight shutouts this season, tying the record held by Desi Clark during the 2001-02 season. Makela is 20-7-3 with a .935 save percentage and a 1.38 goals against average.
- Special teams have been superb as of late. The Lakers have climbed into sixth in the country in power play percentage (20.9%) and are second in the country in penalty killing (93.4%).
ABOUT RIT ...- RIT advanced to the CHA Semifinals with a quarterfinals sweep at Robert Morris last weekend. The Tigers took game one by a 3-1 final and then blanked the Colonials, 1-0, last Saturday to eliminate the third seed
- Senior goaltender Ali Binnington is peaking at the right time again. After stopping 62-of-63 in last season's double overtime CHA Championship win over Mercyhurst, Binnington has allowed one goal over her last three starts and is 9-1 in ten career postseason starts. In those ten playoff games, she has a 0.92 goals against average and a .969 save percentage
- Binnington was named the CHA Goaltender of the Week on Monday for the third time this season and 14th time in her career. Meanwhile, senior Lindsay Grigg earned the CHA Player of the Week honors for the first time this season and second in her career
- Grigg leads the Tigers with six goals and eleven assists for 17 points. Celeste Brown has a team-high ten goals and is second with 16 points. Binnington is 10-10-3 with a 1.78 goals against average and a .936 save percentage
ABOUT SYRACUSE ...- Syracuse earned a bye in the opening round by virtue of claiming the second seed in the regular season standings. The Orange enter with a 10-14-10 overall record and an 8-6-6 mark in CHA play
- Syracuse last played on February 20 and 21, splitting a weekend series against RIT. The Orange won the first game by a 4-1 final and then lost game two by a 1-0 score
- The Orange are 5-6-0 all-time in CHA Tournament contests and is 3-3-0 in CHA Semifinal games. Against Penn State, their semifinal opponent, Syracuse went 1-1-2 this season
- Junior Melissa Piacentini leads the Orange with a team-high 18 goals and is tied with freshman Stephanie Grossi with 29 points. Grossi has a team-best 20 assists in her rookie season
- Junior Jenn Gilligan is 10-12-9 with a 2.52 goals against average and an .899 save percentage for the Orange this season. It is her first season with Syracuse after playing her first two years at New Hampshire
ABOUT PENN STATE ...- Penn State advanced to its first-ever CHA Semifinal with a two-game sweep of Lindenwood last weekend. The Nittany Lions took game one by a 1-0 decision and then earned a 3-1 win in game two to assure the program its first winning season
- The wins over Lindenwood snapped a five-game losing streak to close the regular season, which dropped the Nittany Lions to the fourth seed in the CHA playoffs
- Penn State enters with a 17-15-4 overall record and a 9-9-2 mark in conference play
- Sophomore Laura Bowman leads Penn State with 16 goals and 15 assists for 31 points. Sophomore Amy Petersen has 11 goals and a team-high 16 helpers while junior Shannon Yoxheimer has 12 goals and eight assists for 20 points. The trio has combined for 39 of Penn State's 72 goals scored this season
- Junior Celine Whitlinger shared the CHA Goaltender of the Week honors with RIT's Ali Binnington on Monday. She is 13-10-1 with a 2.17 goals against average and a .933 save percentage. Freshman Hannah Ehresmann is 4-5-3 with a 2.35 goals against average and a .927 save percentage
