Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Men's Hockey team hits the road for their last weekend road trip as they take on the Army Black Knights this weekend at West Point.
The Matchup
Mercyhurst has played Army 67 times since first meeting in the 2000-01 season. The Lakers are 41-19-7 all-time against the Black Knights
Despite Mercyhurst's all-time success against Army, the Lakers have not beat Army since Jan. 27, 2017. The Black Knights are 7-0-1 in the last eight contests.
Last Time Out
The Lakers split their second to last road weekend series of the season against Niagara.
On Friday, Keanan Stewart scored twice in his first game of the season to lead the Lakers. Carson Briere and Rylee St. Onge also scored for Mercyhurst. Kyle McClellan made a career high 43 saves in the win after giving up the lone goal in the opening period.
Saturday was a defensive battle as the Purple Eagles won 1-0. McClellan once again was nearly perfect making 32 saves in the loss.
How About Those Netminders
The trio of Mercyhurst goalies have made the most amount saves in the conference as they have made 853 saves and are averaging 32.81 saves per game which is tops in Atlantic Hockey
McClellan sits in atop the saves per game category (34.00) in the AHA while Hank Johnson is fourth at 28.38.
Weekly AHA Honors
McClellan was named the AHA Goalie of the Week earlier this week after saving 75 of 77 shots last weekend against Niagara.The 75 saves are the third highest amount of saves for a weekend this season in the AHA.
McClellan has made 30+ saves in ten games this season, 35+ in eight games and 40+ in four games.
He is just the second Laker to earn an AHA weekly award the other being Carson Briere following his five-goal weekend against Holy Cross on Oct. 18.
They're SOPHMORES?!
The Lakers are led by a trio of sophomores, Austin Heidemann, Carson Briere, and Dante Sheriff who have 22, 18, and 18 points respectively. Heidemann has ten goals which leads the team and is tied for second in Atlantic Hockey.
The Mercyhurst sophomores have combined for 94 points this season which the most among the classes among the Lakers.
Scouting Army
Colin Bilek leads the Black Knights in points (21), assists (14), and shots (104). Anthony Firriolo leads Army in goals with nine while 19 players have scored this season. Gavin Abric has played most of the minutes in net for Army and has been one of top goalies in the AHA. He has a 2.35 goals against average and has a .925 save percentage in his sophomore season.
The Black Knights have scored 20 times on their 99 power plays while they have allowed just 10 goals while on the penalty kill, they have given up four shorthanded goals and 25 shots while up a man.
In the first period, Army is being outscored 21-20 and in the second period 29-23. In the third period however, they are outscoring opponents 29-18.
One Last Road Trip
This weekend's series will be the last road trip of the regular season. Mercyhurst closes out the regular season with five of their final six games at home, their lone away game is the front half of a home and home series against Canisius on Feb. 25.
The Lakers will be back at home next weekend as they host RIT on Friday and Saturday.
