Buffalo, N.Y.—The Mercyhurst punched their ticket to the Atlantic Hockey Final Four with a 3-1 win over the Canisius Golden Griffins. With the win the Lakers completed their second straight sweep in the playoffs.
How it Happened
The Lakers controlled most of the first period and were rewarded just over four minutes into the game. Josh McDougall made a breakout pass to Rylee St. Onge who dropped it to Mickey Burns. Burns cut to the middle of the ice and took a shot that was deflected, St. Onge found the puck on his stick on the backdoor and tapped it in to make it 1-0 Lakers.
After the first 20 minutes of play the Lakers outshot Canisius 13-9 while Kyle McClellan continued his stellar play which was highlighted by a 2-0 stop with Canisius shorthanded.
At the 8:58 mark of the middle frame, Canisius solved McClellan to tie the game at one.
After two period, the Lakers still head the shot advantage 22-20.
The Lakers and Griffins went into the third period tied knowing Canisius was fighting for their playoff life.
In the third period, Jonathan Bendorf took advantage of a Canisius turnover in front of their net, Bendorf ripped a shot into the top corner of the net to give the Lakers a 2-1 lead.
With the Griffin net empty the Lakers forced a turnover in the neutral zone and St. Onge scored from the neutral zone to put the icing on the cake to put the Lakers up 3-1 with less than two minutes remaining.
McClellan made 29 saves as he improved his record to 12-12-3 this season.
Last Time It Happened
The Lakers haven't made the AHA semifinals since 2018, the trip to Utica will also be the Lakers 11th in the semifinals which is most among Atlantic Hockey teams.
This is also the first time since Mercyhurst joined Atlantic Hockey that they have swept in the first two rounds to advance to the conference semifinals.
Let's Hear From The Team
Up Next
Mercyhurst meets AIC in the Atlantic Hockey semifinals on Friday with the winner advancing to the AHA Finals.
