MERCYHURST (5-24-3, 5-16-3 AHA) vs. ROBERT MORRIS (11-18-3, 11-11-2 AHA)
Friday, Feb. 27 – 7:00 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 28 – 5:00 p.m. 
Moon Township, Pa. / Erie, Pa.    
TV: Flo Hockey
 
The Mercyhurst men's hockey team is set to face Robert Morris in their regular-season finale. Puck drop for game one is set for Friday, Feb. 27 at RMU. On Saturday, the game will begin with a pregame ceremony for Rick Gotkin as the school honors his 38 years behind the bench in his final home game. Gotkin recently amassed 1300 games in a series at Sacred Heart. Puck drop for this final home game will begin at 5 p.m. followed by a celebration for Gotkin after.   


 
Previous Results
The Lakers are 5-9-2 since Jan. 2. They began the year at No. 12 Michigan and followed with a home series vs. Union. This series started a seven-game stretch on home ice. They began AHA play by hosting Holy Cross and then hosted UMass Lowell and Bentley. In November, they dropped a pair of tight conference matchups at RIT and Canisius. At the end of the month, they had a home-and-home against RMU. The Lakers picked up a point at RMU where they tied 1-1 before falling 3-2 in the shootout. Their lone matchup in December was a road contest at Holy Cross where they fell 4-1. 
 
The team began 2026 by traveling to No. 4 North Dakota. The Lakers fell 2-0 in game one and 6-1 in game two. Charles-Edward Gravel had an impressive showing with a career-high 46 saves in game one. Mercyhurst followed this with a series split at home vs. Army. They shut out the Black Knights 3-0 in game one and then got shut out 5-0 in game two. The Lakers then swept Niagara in a crucial home-and-home series that narrowed the gap in the AHA standings. They beat the Purple Eagles 3-0 in game one and 4-2 in game two. The first game had just two penalties, but the second game had 26. The team then played Canisius. In game one, they overcame a two-goal deficit to claim a 3-2 lead. The Golden Griffins clawed their way back, won that game, and won the next day. The Lakers then picked up a point in a 2-2 draw against (RV) RIT in a series split. 
 
Mercyhurst was down 1-0 at Sacred Heart in the third period. The Pioneers scored a second goal, but a successful challenge from the Laker's coaching staff negated the goal. The Lakers then secured the comeback when Christian Kocsis netted the game-winning goal.  Freshman forward Alexander Dimitriadis played a pivotal role as he scored the equalizer and then assisted the game-winner. 
 
The Lakers then played a highly competitive series at Air Force. The two sides shared a 3-3 tie in game one, and the Lakers secured the extra point in a ten-attempt shootout, 3-2. The Falcons then narrowly beat the Lakers 5-4 in game two. Most recently, the squad picked up a series split in a feisty affair vs. Niagara. 
 
Matchup History
Mercyhurst has an overall record of 16-21-12 against Robert Morris. 12 ties against one team is rare in just 49 contests. Every time these two play, anyone can win. The first matchup took place in October of the 2004-05 season, where Mercyhurst won by their second-largest margin of victory vs. RMU, 8-2. The two teams then tied 0-0 after OT later that season. These sides did not play again until 2010, where MU beat them 3-1. The Colonials won their first contest in a series on Feb. 11 of 2011 by a score of three to two. Notably, these team tied four consecutive times March of 2013 to February of 2014. Two of those were thrillers, ending 5-5 after OT. RMU has taken over the series as of late. Since January of 2020, the Colonials are 5-3-3. They did lose two of the three shootouts they played in that time. Most recently, they tied 1-1 at RMU and then RMU won the shootout, 3-2. For AHA playoffs, Mercyhurst is locked in as the 10 seed. Robert Morris on the other hand, can finish anywhere from 2nd to 7th, making this series pivotal for the Colonials.
 
Lakers to Look Out for
Will Schumacher (8G, 5A, 13 PTS) leads the Laker's scoring and column. Schumacher went on a three-game scoring streak at the end of October. He also scored a goal and recorded two assists in game two vs. Niagara and in game one vs. Canisius. 
 
Dominik Bartecko has seven goals and seven assists. His 14 points are tied for first on the team. Bartecko had a two-point weekend in the team's home-and-home with Robert Morris at the end of November. Here, the Nashville native scored at home and assisted a powerplay goal on the road. To start 2026, Bartecko fired a rocket into the top left corner of the net to briefly give the Lakers a 1-0 lead at No. 4 North Dakota. He also scored an empty-netter against Army in the Laker's 3-0 win. He then scored and assisted in a 2-2 tie with (RV) RIT. He scored and assisted in the team's 5-4 loss at Air Force and in the team's recent 3-2 win vs. Niagara.
 
Jacob LeBlanc leads the team assists with 14. J. LeBlanc recorded six assists in nine games throughout October and November. He recorded an assist on the powerplay with Bartecko in the team's 1-1 draw at Robert Morris. To start 2026, he assisted a goal in each game against Niagara and in game one vs. Canisius. He registered an assist in each game in the Air Force series and in the recent series vs. Niagara. 
 
Jacob's brother, Andrew LeBlanc, is third on the team with 10 points. A. LeBlanc has four goals and six assists. He scored a goal and added an assist in game one vs. Canisius. This was his second multi-point game of the season. The LeBlanc brothers connected for A. LeBlanc's goal against (RV) RIT. 
 
Defensively, Caleb Price, Kocsis, and John Larkin have led the way in stopping shots. Price leads the team with 52 blocks, and he has four assists to his tally. Two of those assists came in the (RV) RIT series in January and he recorded two assists in game two against Air Force two weeks ago. Kocsis (4G, 3A, 7 PTS, 37 BLKS) and Larkin (1G, 3A, 4 PTS, 37 BLKS) follow Price in blocks. 
 
Between the pipes, Charles-Edward Gravel has played the most games, 23. The Quebec native has a .899 save percentage, the highest on the team (per 33% of games played). Gravel had a career-high 46 saves in the Laker's narrow 2-0 loss to No. 4 North Dakota in game one. He picked up his first shutout and made 39 saves in the team's 3-0 win against Army. He then made 26 saves and kept his second consecutive shutout in a 3-0 win against Niagara. 
 
Salvatore Evola has been showing out recently. He started against Niagara in game two of the first home-and-home series. Here, he made a then season-high 36 saves in the teams 4-2 victory. Evola had another impressive showing at Sacred Heart, where he made 26 saves and only allowed one goal. Against Air Force, Evola made a career-high 40 saves in the team's 3-3 tie. He also made the game-winning save in the shutout. He made another 31 saves in game two. Evola has a .908 save percentage this season. 
 
Scouting RMU   

• The Colonials are 11-18-3 overall and 11-11-2 in the conference. 
• All of their wins were in AHA contests. 
• They opened their season at No. 3/4 Michigan like Mercyhurst did. 
• They secured a tie and shootout win vs. Notre Dame before securing their first wins of the season in a series sweep vs. Niagara. LIU, RIT, and Lindenwood swept them in quick succession. 
• They beat Mercyhurst 3-1 in Erie and then tied them 1-1 at home. 
• They closed the year with a split at Air Force and then got swept by Sacred Heart and RIT. 
• The Colonials are 7-4-1 since Jan. 16. 
• They have quickly jumped to fourth in the AHA standings and now can finish anywhere from 2nd to 7th based on this weekend's contests. 
• Their biggest player this season is undoubtedly Tanner Klimpke. Klimpke has 12 goals, 12 assists, and 24 points which all leads RMU in each respective category. 
• Defensively, John Babcock and Dominic Elliot have not only led the Colonials in shot stopping, but led the nation. 
• Babcock (1G, 5A, 6 PTS, 96 BLKS) leads the nations in blocks. He has 25 more than second place. 
• Elliot (6G, 10A, 16 PTS, 69 BLKS) is second on the team in blocks and fourth in the nation.