Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Men's Hockey team closes out the regular season this weekend with a home and home series with Canisius. The Lakers head up I-90 to take on the Golden Griffs Friday before playing host on Saturday.
The Matchup
The Lakers and Golden Griffins have played 80 times dating back to 1986-87. Mercyhurst holds a record of 36-32-11 against the Griffs. The Lakers are 1-8-1 in their last ten games with Canisius, the Lakers won the last matchup this season.
Where We Rank
As a team the Lakers have scored 95 goals which is third in the conference, just one behind Canisius and ten behind AIC for the AHA lead. 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 Austin Heidemann, Carson Briere, and Dante Sheriff who have 24, 24, and 22 points respectively. Briere has 11 goals which leads the team and is second in Atlantic Hockey.
Showing He's Human
Prior to last weekend against goaltender Kyle McClellan had won three straight Atlantic Hockey Goalie of the Week honors. This past weekend he made 66 saves on 72 shots against AIC. He made 40 saves in the 6-3 win over the Yellow Jackets
He made 87 saves in two games against Army which is the most in a weekend by an AHA goalie. McClellan owns the first, third, and fourth positions.
McClellan has made 30+ saves in 14 games this season, 35+ in 12 games and 40+ in eight games.
These Sophomores Are DIFFERENT
The second year Lakers came in last year and contributed from the start, they had 63 points. This season the Lakers have three sophomores leading the team in points. The class has a combined 110 this season which is the most among Laker classes.
Thank You Seniors
The Lakers will be honoring their senior class on Saturday combined the seniors have played 794 games in a Laker uniform and tallied 87 goals and 185 assists. Devon Daniels, Owen Norton, Steven Ipri, Dalton Hunter, Hank Johnson, assistant captains Michael Bevilacqua, Josh McDougall and captains Piece Crawford and Geoff will each honored on Saturday.
Scouting the Griffs
The Golden Griffins start the weekend with a first round bye locked up and home ice advantage locked up. Canisius is riding a three game winning streak with wins over Niagara and a sweep of Sacred Heart last weekend at home.
Keaton Mastrodonato leads the Griffs in points with 26 while four different players share the team lead with 11 goals. Jacob Barczewski has been the primary goalie for the Griffs making 25 starts and playing over 1400 minutes. He has a 2.48 goals against average to go along with a .923 save percentage.
The Griff netminders have made the second most save in Atlantic Hockey this season with 961 which over 100 less then Mercyhurst who leads the category. Overall, their goalies have a .918 save percentage which ranks them second in the AHA.
Just like Mercyhurst, the Griffs rely on their offense as they have netted 96 goals this season which is second in the AHA.
The power play for the Griffs has scored 24 times on 135 attempts which is 35th in the country at 17.8 percent. They are sixth in Atlantic Hockey. On the penalty kill, the Griffs have allowed 31 goals and kill over 76.9 percent of their penalties which is 43rd in the country and eighth in Atlantic Hockey.
Up Next: Playoffs
This weekend marks the end of the regular season, currently the Lakers sit in ninth place of Atlantic Hockey. Mercyhurst will most likely play next weekend in the first round of the AHA playoffs as only the top six teams receive byes. The Lakers could host the first round or play on the road the difference between seventh and ninth is just three points.
