BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- The Mercyhurst men's hockey team will open their 2020-21 season with a home-and-home series with No. 18 Bowling Green Saturday and Sunday.

The Lakers make the trip to Slater Ice Arena for a 1:30 p.m. puck drop on Saturday, and plays host to the Falcons on Sunday at 3 p.m. at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. 

SEASON OPENER
For the second straight season, the Lakers open on the road against a nationally ranked opponent when they take on No. 18 Bowling Green Saturday at the Slater Family Ice Center at 1:30 p.m.

The two teams will wrap up their home-and-home series with a 3 p.m. faceoff at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Sunday.

Bowling Green leads the all-time series 3-0-0 with the last meeting between the two teams was Oc.t 8, 2016. 

SENIOR DAY
Mercyhurst will be honoring both of the senior members of the team Quinn Wichers and Hank Johnson on Sunday.

The two seniors on the squad traveled different paths to this senior day with Wichers playing over 100 contests for the Lakers before senior day and Johnson will get his first chance to pull on a Mercyhurst sweater on Saturday.
  
RETURNING SCORING
Mercyhurst returns 10 of their top 11 scorers from a season ago including leading scorer Dalton Hunter who posted 20 points on seven goals and a team-high 13 assists.

Steven Ipri returns to the lineup after an injury cut his sophmore season short by 11 games. In 25 contests he tied for the team-lead with 10 goals to go with eight helpers.

From the backend, Josh McDougall led the Laker blue line in scoring with two goals and 12 assists for 14 points.

NEW FACES IN NET
All three Laker netminders from a season ago graduating leaving a spot for a new face in the crease for Mercyhurst.

Graduate transfer Hank Johnson joins the Lakers after 34 games with Bemidji State. He posted a 6-7-3 with a 1.99 goals against and a .914 save percentage.

Kyle McClellan enters his freshman season after a strong season with the Omaha Lancers of the USHL. 

WHITMORE RETURNS TO BOWLING GREEN
Laker assistant Derek Whitmore played four seasons for the Falcons including wearing the captain's "C" in his senior year.

Whitmore went on to a decade long professional career including playing for the Buffalo Sabres in the NHL.

In his time with the Falcons, Whitmore scored 102 points on 70 goals and 32 assists.

MAN ADVANTAGE 
The Mercyhurst power play was a bright spot for the Lakers in 2019-20 and they will look to build on that success this season. 

The Lakers potted 24 goals with the man advantage last year. Dalton Hunter notched five of those power play tallies.

Nine different Mercyhurst players recorded a power play point and seven different Lakers scored power play goals. 

MERCYHURST SCHEDULE
The Lakers will play a modified Atlantic Hockey Schedule playing in a pod with Canisius, Niagara, RIT and Robert Morris.  Mercyhurst also has a pair of games with Air Force.

The series with Bowling Green is currently the only non-conference tilt on the Lakers 2020-21 schedule.

SCOUTING THE FALCONS
Bowling Green is off to a fast start at 3-0 including a 6-3 win over Robert Morris on Dec. 1. Six different players scored for the Falcons against the Colonials.

The Falcons boast a potent offense averaging 5.67 goals per game the best mark in the country.

Going back to last season the Falcons have gone 13 straight games without a loss.

Cameron Wright is the leading point producer for the Falcons with six on two goals and four assists. Max Johnson has found the back of the net four times to lead Bowling Green.

Eric Dop has started two of three between the pipes making 33 saves and posting a 2.50 goals against average. Zack Rose is 1-0 with a 16 save shutout at Adrian.