ERIE, Pa. -- The Mercyhurst men's hockey team looks to pick up vital points against Atlantic Hockey rival Niagara during a home and home series that opens a 7 p.m. on Friday at the Mercyhurst Ice Center and concludes with a 7 p.m. contest at Dwyer Arena.

THE SERIES
The Lakers are 7-10-1, 6-7-1 against Atlantic Hockey opponents after dropping a 5-4 decision in overtime to Canisius on Tuesday night. 

Niagara leads the all-time series 19-17-3, but the Lakers are 1-0-1 this season including a shootout win at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on December 16.

Niagara is 2-8-3 overall and 1-7-3 against Atlantic Hockey foes. The Purple Eagles are playing their first game since a Jan. 10 loss to Robert Morris.

LAST TIME OUT
The Lakers dropped a 5-4 overtime decision to Canisius Tuesday at the HarborCenter.

The Lakers rallied from a 4-2 down and tied the game 4-4 on a Marko Reifenberger penalty shot with 39.5 remaining in the third.

Noah Kane posted a pair of goals and added an assist for three points on the night.

HONOR ROLL
Three Lakers were honored on Jan. 26 after the Lakers swept a pair of games from then No. 17 Robert Morris.

Austin Heidemann earned his first AHA Player of the Week award after netting four points on a goal and three assists.

Joseph Maziarz became the second Laker to win Atlantic Hockey Defensive Player of the Week honor. He tallied a goal and three assists and now leads the Mercyhurst blue line with nine points on a goal and eight assists.

Carson Briere added a second AHA Rookie of the Week honor. He posted three points in the Lakers' sweep of Robert Morris. He scored five points against Niagara on Dec. 16 & 18 to claim AHA Rookie of the Week honors the first time. He was also selected as the AHA Rookie of the Month for December.

For his effort against Niagara, junior defenseman Michael Bevilacqua was selected as the Defensive Player of the Week blocking seven shots and scoring a goal.

Freshman Dante Sheriff picked up Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Week honors after recording three points on two goals and one assist against Clarkson Dec. 12 & 13.

Goalie Hank Johnson was named the Atlantic Hockey Goalie of the Week after stopping 86-of-90 shots against No. 16 Bowling Green on Dec. 5 & 6.

LAKERS FOR HOBEY
Three Lakers have landed among the Hobey Baker Memorial Award nominees.

Jonathan Bendorf has a team-high 11 goals including seven in his last six games. He adds five helpers for 16 points.

Carson Briere is the Lakers leading scorer with 18 points on four goals and a team-leading 14 helpers.

Joseph Maziarz is the blue lines top scorer picking up a point in five straight games with 13 points on a goal and 12 assists and is a +8 on the season.

JOHNSON ON THE RICHTER WATCHLIST
Senior goalie Hank Johnson has been named to the Mike Richter Watchlist.

The award has been given to the top goalie in Division I men's hockey since 2014

Johnson has backstopped the Lakers in six of seven wins with a .900 save percentage and a 3.45 goals against average. 

Johnson has made 40+ saves in a game three times this season with the Lakers going 2-1 in those games.

FIRSTS ARE FUN
Marko Reifenberger scored his first collegiate in style scoring with a penalty shot goal with just 39.5 seconds left against Canisius. Reifenberger scored his first collegiate point on Dec. 12.

Brendan Schneider was the seventh Laker to record his first career goal this season in the 2-1 loss to RIT.

Keanan Stewart became the latest Laker to earn his first collegiate goal. He scored the opener in the Lakers 7-5 victory over Robert Morris.

Rylee St. Onge scored 17 points a season ago at Alaska Anchorage, but recorded his first career points as a Laker on Saturday night with a pair of assists against Air Force.

Also in the Saturday game with Air Force Kyle McClellan made his first collegiate start and win stopping 28 shots.

The list of firsts grew on Dec. 18, but for the first time this season the list added an upperclassman. Junior defenseman Devon Daniels scored his first collegiate goal, the eventual game-winner, in the Lakers 7-4 comeback victory over Niagara.

Austin Heidemann was the first newcomer to get on the board with his assist on the first goal of the Laker season. He added his first goal of the season on Dec. 12 against Clarkson

Noah Kane tallied the first goal of his collegiate career on Dec. 6 against Bowling Green.

Dante Sheriff didn't waste time getting on the board picking up a two point night, one goal and one assist, against Clarkson on Dec. 12.

Carson Briere tallied his first collegiate points with a pair of assists on Dec. 12 against Clarkson. He found the back of the net for the first time as a Laker on Dec. 16 vs Niagara.

SHOT BLOCKING
The Lakers defensive effort has included a focus on blocking shots.

They have blocked 264 shots on the season averaging 14.7 per game.

Three Lakers have crossed over the 30 block mark for the season led by Michael Bevilacqua with 33. Quinn Wichers adds 32 and Owen Norton has recorded 31.

FANTASTIC FRESHMEN
The Lakers have seen a real youth movement in the forward group. The Lakers have iced a group consisting almost exclusively of freshman and sophomores.

The Lakers have two freshmen in the top-10 of freshaman scoring. 

Carson Briere ranks fourth among first year players with 1.00 point per game.

Dante Sheriff ranks eighth with 0.91 points per contest.

NATIONAL STAT RANKINGS
Carson Briere ranks 16th in the nation in assists per game with .76. He also ranks 40th in points per game at 1.00. 

Jonathan Bendorf ranks 9th nationally in goals per game with .61

Joseph Maziarz ranks 17th among defensemen in points per game at 0.76. Maziarz also ranks 32th in the nation in assists per game with 0.71

The Laker offense ranks 16th in goals per game with 3.33 per contest.

PLAYOFF STRETCH
With just five regular season games remaining the push to the postseason has begun. In a year with so many changes, Atlantic Hockey has based the standings on point percentage instead of total points.

The  teams will be seeded within their pods with Air Force joining the pod with the third seed with the lower point percentage.  The playoffs opening round will be on March 6. An elimination game is played between the 4 & 5 seeds as well as the 3 & 6 in the pod with six teams. The quarterfinals will take place March 12-14 and be best of three series within the pods. The team with the best point percentage remaining will host the semifinals and finals on March 19-20.

Western Pod Standings

Team	Available Points	Points Earned	Point %
Robert Morris	39	29	.744
Canisius	27	20	0.741
RIT	33	17	0.515
Mercyhurst	42	20	0.476
Niagara	33	9	0.273