ERIE, Pa. -- The Mercyhurst men's hockey team will play host to No. 7 Clarkson Saturday and Sunday at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Saturday is set for a 5 p.m. faceoff while puck drop Sunday is slated for 4 p.m.

FLEXIBLE SCHEDULE
CoVID-19 has forced teams to be light on their feet and be flexible with the schedule. The Lakers know all about that as they were slated for an Atlantic Hockey opening series with Canisius, but instead will play a pair of games with No. 7 Clarkson.

The Lakers welcome a top 20 opponent to the ice center for the second time this season after hosting No. 16 Bowling Green last Sunday.

LAST TIME OUT
The Lakers are coming off a split with No. 16 Bowling Green. 

Mercyhurst won the series opener 2-1 backstopped by senior goalie Hank Johnson who stopped 38-of-39 Falcon shots. Justin Cmunt and Cade Townend netted power play goals.

The Lakers fell 3-1 on Sunday with Johnson making 48 saves and Noah Kane scoring his first career goal.

HONOR ROLL
Goalie Hank Johnson was named the Atlantic Hockey Goalie of the Week after stopping 86-of-90 shots against No. 16 Bowling Green over the weekend.

IN THE POLLS
After a road win over nationally ranked Bowling Green the Lakers made their first appearance in the USCHO Poll.

Mercyhurst received three votes in the USCHO poll and is one of five Atlantic Hockey teams in the receiving votes section of the poll.

PENALTY KILL
The Mercyhurst penalty kill was front and center in their opening series with Bowling Green.

The Lakers were a perfect 12-for-12 on the weekend against the Falcons including going 7-for-7 on Saturday in their season opening win.

Mercyhurst backed up their performance with a 5-for-5 effort on Sunday including killing off a five minute major penalty in the third period.

COLLEGIATE FIRSTS
The young Laker team looks to add many collegiate firsts with several freshman playing key roles for the Lakers early on.

Austin Heidemann was the first new comer to get on the board with his assist on the first goal of the Laker season.

Noah Kane tallied the first goal of his collegiate career on Sunday against the Falcsons.

WINS OVER RANKED OPPONENTS
For the second straight seson the Mercyhurst men's hockey team opened their season with a victory over a top 20 opponent on the road.

In 2019 the Lakers took down No. 20 Arizona State. This season it was a 2-1 victory at Bowling Green.

The Lakers will see their second straight ranked opponent as they play host to No. 7 Clarkson at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.

POWER PLAY 
The Lakers scored a pair of power plays in six chances in the opening series against Bowling Green.

Both of the Mercyhurst goals in the season opener came with the man-advantage.

SCORING BALANCE 
Through two games the Lakers have score three goals all by different scorers.

Not only have there been three different goal scorers, but six different Lakers have tallied assists on those three goals.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS
The Golden Knights come into the weekend series with a 2-2 overall record and a No. 7 national ranking in both the USCHO and USA Today Polls.

Clarkson is coming off a 4-1 set back to Niagara University Wednesday night.

The Golden Knight offense has scored 3.3 goals per game while the defense is allowing opponents 3.5 goals per contest.

Clarkson has been solid with the extra man scoring four power play goals in 13 attempts for a .308 percentage.

The Golden Knights have had 14 different players score at least one point through four games. Anthony Romano leads the team with five points.

Kris Oldham has made three starts between the pipes making 80 saves while allowing seven goals. Ethan Haider has also made a start and has three appearances stopping 14 pucks and allowing six goals.