Erie, Pa.—After being on the road for two straight weekends the Mercyhurst Men's Hockey team is home for five of their six remaining games. The homestand starts this weekend as they host the RIT Tigers.
The Matchup
Mercyhurst has played RIT 49 times going back to the 1988-89 season.
The Lakers are 16-28-5 all-time against the Tigers and are 0-1-1 against this season. They fell in a shootout in the first matchup on Oct. 29 and then fell 3-1 on Oct. 30.
Back in October, Josh McDougall, Paul Maust, and Austin Heidemann scored in the first game while Hank Johnson made 32 saves in the shootout loss. Dante Sheriff scored in the second game of the series and Kyle McClellan made 33 saves while falling 3-1.
Where They Rank
As a team the Lakers have scored 83 goals which is third in the conference, just one behind Canisius. The Laker shooting percentage is also third in the conference as they are scoring on 10.2 percent of their shots.
The Lakers are led by Heidemann, Carson Briere, and Sheriff who have 23, 20, and 18 points respectively. Heidemann and Briere have ten goals which leads the team and is tied for third in Atlantic Hockey.
Scoring Depth
19 different players have scored for the Lakers this season with 15 of them having multiple goals.25 players have recorded a point for Mercyhurst including goaltender Kyle McClellan.
All but one forward who has played a game this season has recorded a point for Mercyhurst.
Going Back-To-Back
Goaltender Kyle McClellan was named the AHA Goalie of the Week for the second straight week earlier this week after saving 75 of 77 shots against Niagara two weeks ago and made 87 saves against Army this weekend. The 75 saves are the third highest amount of saves for a weekend this season in the AHA.
McClellan has made 30 plus saves in 13 games this season, 35 plus in 11 games and 40 plus in six games.
Special Team Specialist
The Lakers have the 13th best power-play in the nation and have scored 23 times on the man-advantage.
Gueorgui Feduolov leads the team in power-play goals (4) while Briere and Mickey Burns each have scored three times on the man advantage.
Briere has the most power play points (9) while Sheriff is second with eight. Heidemann has the most power play shots this season (19).
Mercyhurst has killed off 80-109 power plays this season.
Scouting RIT
The Tigers are coming a weekend in which they picked up two points with a shootout win over AIC. RIT was beaten by AIC the first night 7-0 while then playing to a 4-4 tie the second night against the Yellow Jackets.
In Atlantic Hockey play RIT has nine wins as they sit in third place in the Atlantic Hockey standings with 32 points.
Will Calverley and Carter Wilkie lead the Tigers with 22 points each. Calverley leads the team with 13 goals by Wilkie is second with 10 goals and a team high 12 assists.
Three goalies have taken the crease for the Tigers this season, but Kolby Matthews has played the most games as he has started 19. Tommy Scarfone has played the last four games. This season he has a 2.99 goals against average and a .904 save percentage.
RIT is 46th in the country in power play percentage and ninth in Atlantic Hockey as they have scored just 17 times on 116 opportunities.
The penalty kill has been slightly better as they sit in 34th in the country as they have allowed 25 power-play goals on 122 penalty kills.
How to Watch
Mercyhurst partnered with Lily Broadcasting this season and have brought the Mercyhurst Sports Network to local television. Saturday's game will be broadcasted on the CW in Erie and the surrounding areas. Jack Angelucci and Tim Quinn will bring you the broadcast of the game. The game will still be streamed on FloHockey.
Up Next
The Lakers have luxury of staying home next week as they will host AIC next Friday and Saturday.
