Erie, Pa—The Mercyhurst Men's Hockey team hits the ice at the Mercyhurst Ice Center for the first time this season. The Lakers host Atlantic Hockey foe Holy Cross in a two-game series starting Friday.
The Matchup
The Lakers have matched up with Holy Cross 64 times and the Lakers hold a 38-17-9 record over the Crusaders. The last time the two teams played was in January of 2020 with Holy Cross taking the weekend sweep by scores of 4-0 and 7-2. The last 10 games of the all-time series has seen both teams win three games and the teams have tied four times.
Last Time Out
Mercyhurst headed to Minnesota for a non-conference series with the No. 4 ranked Golden Gophers. The Lakers hung with one of the top teams in the nation but fell by scores of 7-4 and 5-3. Dante Sheriff led the Lakers in points as he notched four points (1g, 3a) in the two games. Fellow sophomores Carson Briere and Austin Heidemann each tallied three points, Briere scored a team high two goals while Heidemann scored once and added two assists.
Hank Johnson started the season opener in net for the Lakers. He made 39 saves which was his most saves in a game since Jan. 23, 2021 when he made 44 saves in a 7-5 win over Robert Morris. Kyle McClellan was given the crease for game two and made a career high 37 saves.
Where They Rank
After Sheriff's four-point weekend, the Brampton, Ont. native is tied for seventh in the nation for points per game. Briere and Heidemann are each tied for 34th in the nation in points per game.
The Lakers as a team are tied for 16th in goal per game as they are averaging 3.50 goals per game which also the most in Atlantic Hockey.
Back to Normal
Last season in the shortened 2020-21 season Atlantic Hockey was split into two pods, with Mercyhurst being in the west pod. Holy Cross was in the east pod, the two pods did not play each other until the playoffs, as a result the Lakers and Crusaders did not match up last season. The two teams will close out their season series in Worcester, MA on Nov. 12 and Nov.13.
Battle of Special Teams
The Lakers are coming off a weekend in which they scored twice on the power-play on six attempts. Mercyhurst killed off three of seven powerplays against the lethal Minnesota power play. Sheriff and Jonathan Bendorf scored the two power-play goals for the Lakers.
Holy Cross did not convert on any of their three power plays last weekend while they killed six of seven penalties.
Scouting Holy Cross
The Crusaders hosted the Ice Breaker tournament last weekend with Northeastern, Boston College and Quinnipiac in attendance.
Holy Cross played Northeastern in the first game and fell by a score of 3-0, Matt Radomsky made 21 saves in the losing effort while the Crusaders generated 20 shots. In their second game of the weekend, Boston College defeated Holy Cross 5-1 with Lucas Thorne scoring the lone goal for the Crusaders. Gale Thomas made 34 saves in relief of Erik Gordon who made just two saves on five shots.
The Crusaders are led by first year head coach Bill Riga, he joins Holy Cross after spending 13 years at Quinnipiac.
Up Next
The Lakers play their second exhibition game of the season on Sunday Oct. 24 as the US National Team Development Team travels to Erie.
