Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Men's Hockey team comes back to the shores of Lake Erie for a home and home series with Canisius. Mercyhurst plays host on Friday night prior to heading to Buffalo on Saturday to take on the Griffs.
The Matchup
The Lakers and Griffs have played 78 times dating back to 1986-87. Mercyhurst holds a record of 35-31-11 against the Griffs. The teams played four times last season with Canisius winning each matchup. The last Laker win came on Feb. 1, 2019. In the 2018-19 season, the Lakers were 3-0-1 against Canisius.
Last Time on The Ice
The Lakers won a one goal game against Holy Cross last Friday as Steven Ipri, Owen Norton, and Geuorgui Feduolov scored for the Lakers. Hank Johnson made 30 saves as he picked up his second win of the season.
On Saturday, the Lakers fell in overtime, 5-4 to earn a point from the Crusaders. Pierce Crawford, Mickey Burns, Austin Heidemann, and Paul Maust scored while Kyle McClellan made 38 saves in the loss.
In the two games 14 different Lakers recorded at least a point in one of the games.
Battle on Special Teams
The Lakers have the 17th best power-play in the nation and have scored nine times on the man-advantage.
Canisius is 21st in the country as they have scored 12 times on 54 attempts.
Carson Briere leads the team in power-play goals with three while Dante Sheriff, Jonathan Bendorf, and Heidemann have each scored twice on the power play
Mercyhurst is has killed off 25-37 power plays this season while Canisius' penalty kill has successfully killed off 79.6% of penalties.
Men in the Masks
Both Hank Johnson and Kyle McClellan have played five games in net for the Lakers. Johnson has a 3.29 GAA and a save percentage of .900 with a record of 2-1-2. McClellan has made five start this season he has a 3.88 GAA and a save percentage of .894. The Laker netminders have had a combined eight games in which they needed to make 30 or more saves and four with 35 or more saves.
Leading the Pack
The Lakers hold the top spot in Atlantic Hockey with 12 total points. Mercyhurst is 2-2-4 in AHA play this season and has the most ties in the conference with four. Canisius is in third with nine points in four AHA contests
Scouting the Griffs
Canisius started their season back on Oct. 8 with a 4-1 win on the road at Penn State. Since then, they have wins against RPI, Ferris State, Bentley, and two against RIT last weekend. Keaton Mastrodonato leads the Griffins with 14 points as he has six goals and eight assists. Lee Lapid, Austin Alger, and Mitchell Martan each have nine points and are tied for second on the team. Three goalies have taken the crease for the Griffins, Jacob Barczewski has played in nine games and has a 2.44 goals against average and .922 save percentage to go along with a 5-3-0 record. Head Coach Trevor Large is in his fifth season as the boss bench for the Golden Griffins, he is 58-67-14 as a head coach.
Up Next
The Lakers will play a non-conference series on Nov. 26 and 27 against the Ohio State Buckeyes in Columbus.
