Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Men's Hockey team continues their quest for an Atlantic Hockey Championship this weekend as they face AIC in the Atlantic Hockey semifinals on Friday.
Last Time Out
On Friday, the Lakers won in double overtime, as Owen Norton scored the game winning goal in the second overtime period. Austin Heidemann opened the scoring just past the halfway mark of the second period. Kyle McClellan made 32 saves in the win over the Golden Griffins.
The Lakers clinched the series in game two as Rylee St. Onge scored twice including the opening goal in the first period. Jonathan Bendorf scored the game winning goal as he forced a turnover in the Canisius zone. After stealing it he ripped it into the top corner of the net. St. Onge scored the empty netter to close the game. McClellan made 29 shots in a 3-1 Laker win.
Against AIC
Mercyhurst has played AIC 60 times going back to 1999. The Lakers are 43-15-2 all-time against the Yellow Jackets. The Yellow Jackets took the three of the four games this season while Mercyhurst won the last matchup. Mercyhurst won the last matchup by a score of 6-3. McClellan made 40 saves as Dante Sheriff, Geoff Kitt, Marko Reifenberger, and Jake Beaune scored as Pierce Crawford scored twice in the win.
Sheriff and Josh McDougall both have four points this season against AIC. Sheriff has three goals while adding as assist. McDougall has one goal and three assists. 19 Lakers have recorded a point for the Lakers while ten Lakers have scored. Crawford has been the best faceoff man for the Lakers against AIC as he has won 40 of 66 draws against AIC.
PLAYOFFS?! TALKING ABOUT PLAYOFFS
The Lakers are 32-26 all time in the AHA Tournament dating back to the first tournament in 2004. Mercyhurst last won the tournament in 2005 as they played knocked off Quinnipiac in the finals. AIC won the last four regular season championships and the last two conference championships.
Last weekend the Lakers swept Canisius, it is the first time that Mercyhurst has opened the playoffs with back-to-back sweeps in the AHA.
Empire State of Mind
This season the Atlantic Hockey Final Four is being hosted in Utica, New York.
The Lakers are 6-3-1 in the state of New York this season while they have won four of their last five games in NY. Mercyhurst has outscored opponents 25-17 in the 10 games this season.
Scouting AIC
AIC comes into the final four weekend after sweeping Bentley last weekend. The Yellow Jackets earned a bye after winning the AHA regular season championship for the fourth straight season. Justin Young leads AIC with 29 points to go along with a plus minus rating of +20. Blake Bennett has a team high 14 goals and has added 12 helpers.
Jake Kucharski has been the main goalie for the Yellow Jackets and has a 2.39 goals against average along with a .910 save percentage in 22 games this season. Of the 53 goals he allowed 16 of them have been on the power play.
AIC has the top ranked power play in the Atlantic Hockey and are 12th in the nation as they have scored 32 times on the power play.
Up Next
Should the Lakers win they would go on to play in the Atlantic Hockey Final on Saturday against the winner of Air Force and RIT at 7:35 PM.
