Women's Ice Hockey | 2/27/2018 11:00:00 AM

The Mercyhurst women's hockey team travels to Buffalo, N.Y. for the 2018 College Hockey America (CHA) Tournament staged at the HarborCenter March 1-3. The Lakers finished second in the regular season conference standings with a 13-4-3 CHA record, good enough to earn a first round bye and automatic advancement to the semifinal round.
 
Mercyhurst plays its semifinal game on Friday, March 2 at 4:00 p.m. against the highest remaining seed remaining after the first round of play. The championship game will be played on Saturday, March 3 at 4:00 p.m. with the winner receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
The Lakers have won 11 CHA Tournament championships in program history, with their most recent coming in 2016 when the Lakers won a thrilling 4-3 overtime game against Syracuse in the championship game to advance to the NCAA postseason.
 
The full bracket with game times is listed below:
 
 
 
FOLLOW THE ACTION
All CHA Tournament games will be played at the HarborCenter in downtown Buffalo. Directions can be found here: HARBORCENTER DIRECTIONS. Parking is available in the parking garage on Washington St.
 
Ticket prices for attending are as follows:
Adults: $10 per game
Students with institutional ID and youth: $5 per game
 
The tournament will also have a live video stream through the CHA Digital Network that can be reached here: CHA TOURNAMENT LIVE STREAM. A day pass costs $10.99.
 
Live statistics for all games are available here: CHA TOURNAMENT LIVE STATISTICS
 
LAKER OUTLOOK
The Lakers (16-14-3, 13-4-3 CHA) enter the tournament on a hot streak with a 9-3-2 record since the beginning of 2018. Over that span, Mercyhurst has outscored its opponents 41-17.
 
Mercyhurst can attribute its recent success to solid performances all throughout the lineup at all positions. Sophomore forward Maggie Knott led Mercyhurst with 29 points (12G, 17A) and four game-winning goals during the regular season. Junior Vilma Tanskanen topped the Lakers with 14 goals and a +13 rating, while senior Brooke Hartwick tallied 13 goals, including nine in the last 15 games.
 
Freshman Summer-Rae Dobson leads the team with five power-play goals. Junior Sarah Hine has heated up with four multi-point games in the Lakers' last 12 games of the regular season. Mercyhurst should also get a boost when sophomore forward and 2018 Winter Olympic bronze-medalist Emma Nuutinen returns to the lineup after missing the Lakers' last six games while playing with Team Finland in Pyeongchang.
 
Meanwhile, the Lakers' goalie combination of redshirt Kennedy Blair and junior Sarah McDonnell have stalled even the best scoring lines they've faced, especially in the second half of the season. McDonnell was named the CHA's Goaltender of the Month for January while Blair has caught fire in February. Blair's last three wins have all been shutouts and her 1.49 goals-against average in 19 games is the lowest among all CHA goalies. McDonnell is not far behind with a 2.08 GAA in 20 games, good for fourth in the conference.
 
The Lakers blue line has also found its groove of late with a combination of lockdown work in its own zone as well as providing some offensive production. Senior Callie Paddock and freshman K.K. Thiessen have formed one of the best lockdown defensive pairings in the conference while juniors Molly Blasen, Samantha Fieseler, Morgan Stacey, and freshman Rachel Marmen combined four 47 points in the regular season. Stacey led the team with 82 blocked shots.
 
SCOUTING THE PLAYING FIELD 
#1 Robert Morris: 20-7-4, 14-3-3
The Colonials clinched the top seed in the final weekend of the season for their second-straight CHA regular season title. The Colonials won last year's CHA Tournament with a 2-0 win over Syracuse in the championship game. RMU's lineup features four of the conference's top five scorers and the team has won eight of its last ten games in the regular season.
-Top Scorer: Sr. F Brittany Howard - 23 goals, 46 points, 7 game-winning goals
-Top goaltender: Sr. Elijah Milne-Price- 19-5-4, 1.64 GAA, .933 SV%
-Mercyhurst record vs. Robert Morris this season: 2-2
 
#3 Syracuse : 12-20-2, 11-8-1 CHA
The Orange entered the last weekend of the regular season with a chance to clinch the top seed in the conference but ended up as the third seed and will play RIT in the quarterfinals. Syracuse has never won a CHA Tournament title but have played in the title game six times. The Orange are in the middle of the pack in scoring offense (3^rd, 2.03 GPG) and scoring defense (4^th, 2.76 GAPG).
-Top Scorer : Sr. F Alysha Burris – 7 goals, 15 assists, 22 points
-Top goaltender: Sr. Abbey Miller – 9-17-2, 2.42 GAA, .909 SV%
-Mercyhurst record vs. Syracuse this season: 3-1
 
#4 Penn State: 9-14-11, 6-7-7 CHA
The Nittany Lions had a rare season where their final record had double-digit ties, showing that they have been on the brink of winning (or losing) more games this season. Penn State features the stingiest defense in the conference (1.79 GAPG) and a potent power play converting at 15.6%, good for 2^nd in the conference.
-Top Scorer: Fr. F Natalie Heising – 17 goals, 29 points, 15 power-play points
-Top Goaltender: Sr. Hannah Ehresmann – 8-9-9, 1.75 GAA, .930 SV%
-Mercyhurst record vs. Penn State this season: 1-0-3
 
#5 Lindenwood: 10-19-1, 8-12-0 CHA
The Lions split its final eight games of the regular season and improved to eight conference victories after winning just three last year. Lindenwood advanced beyond the CHA quarterfinals for the first time in 2017 after upsetting the Lakers 3-2 and nearly took down RMU in the semis losing 2-1.
-Top Scorer: So. Taylor Girard – 13 goals, 24 points, 24 games played
-Top Goaltender: Jr. Jolene deBruyn – 9-14-1, 2.52 GAA, .926 SV%
-Mercyhurst record vs. Lindenwood this season: 3-1
 
#6 R.I.T. : 4-27-3, 1-19-0 CHA
The Tigers are currently on a 13-game losing skid and have not won a game since Nov. 4. With that said, RIT is no stranger to playing spoiler and even winning the CHA Tournament as an underdog. The Tigers advanced to the semifinals after knocking out Penn State 2-1 in last year's tournament and won the conference tournament as the sixth seed in 2014-15.
-Top Scorer: Jr. Kendall Cornine – 10 goals, 15 points, 3 power-play goals
-Top Goaltender: Jr. Jenna de Jonge – 0-8-0, 4.65 GAA, .884 SV%
-Mercyhurst record vs. RIT this season: 4-0