ERIE, Pa. -- The Mercyhurst men's hockey team will play a pair of Atlantic Hockey contests with RIT on Friday and Saturday. On Friday the Lakers travel to Rochester and return to the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Saturday. Puck drop is set for 5:05 both nights.

THE SERIES
The Lakers are 6-7-1, 5-4-1 against Atlantic Hockey opponents after dropping a pair of games to RIT and Robert Morris last weekend. 

RIT holds a 26-15-4 advantage in the all-time series after a 6-4 victory last Thursday.

RIT is 6-4-2 overall and 4-2-1 in conference play after a pair of victories over Mercyhurst and Canisius last week.

LAST TIME OUT
The Lakers dropped a pair of games last week with a 6-4 loss to RIT and a 5-3 defeat at Robert Morris.

Jonathan Bendorf paced the Laker offense witha pair of goals in both games and a total of five points.

Joseph Maziarz extended his point streak to five games with an assist against Robert Morris.

SCORING TOUCH
Mercyhurst scored seven goals for the second time this season in the 7-5 victory over Robert Morris. The last time the Lakers scored seven or more twice in a season was 2014-15.

Austin Heidemann completed a hat trick against Air Force. It was the first hat trick for a Laker since Joe Duszak scored three times against Holy Cross on Jan. 4, 2019.

The Lakers 3.4 goals per game is 1.5 goals per game better than a season ago.

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 eight goals including four in his last two games. He adds five helpers for 13 points.

Carson Briere is the Lakers leading scorer with 16 points on four goals and a team-leading 12 helpers.

Joseph Maziarz is the blue lines top scorer picking up a point in five straight games with 12 points on a goal and 11 assists.

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 five of six wins with a .901 save percentage and a 3.31 goals against average. 

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

SPECIAL TEAMS
Mercyhurst has been strong in both halves of the special teams battle this season.

The Lakers rank 4th in the country on the power play conerting at a .256 clip (10-for-39).

On the PK, Mercyhurst has killed off 45-of-56 penalties a rate of .804 ranking 18th in the country.

Austin Heidemann has been high impact on the power play scoring four of his six goals with the man advantage including a pair against Air Force.

FIRSTS ARE FUN
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.

Also picking up his first point on Dec. 12 was Marko Reifenberger getting a helper on the Noah Kane tally.

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

They have blocked 229 shots on the season averaging 16.4 per game.

Michael Bevilacqua leads all Lakers with 28 blocked shots. Quinn Wichers, Cade Townend and Owen Norton have each blocked more than 20 shots and nine Lakers have blocked at least 10 shots.

NATIONAL STAT RANKINGS
Three Lakers rank in the top 40 in point per game. Dante Sheriff leads the way at 1.10 points per game to rank 27th. Carson Briere comes in at 31st with 1.08 points per game and Gueorgui Feduolov chips in 1.00 to tie for 39th.

Heideman also ranks 30th in the nation in goals per game averaging a .5 goal per contest.

Heidemann ranks 7th in the nation in power play goals scored with four.

Carson Briere ranks 21st in assists per game with .75. Joseph Maziarz ranks 32 in helpers per contest with .73.