MERCYHURST (5-26-3, 5-18-3 AHA) vs. CANISIUS (17-15-2, 12-12-2 AHA)
Tuesday, March. 3 – 6:00 p.m.
Buffalo, N.Y.    
TV: Flo Hockey
 
The Mercyhurst men's hockey team is set to face Canisius in the first round of the AHA Playoffs for the third consecutive year. The seeding for spots three through seven came down to the final day, where Canisius ended up sliding to the seven seed in place of Air Force. Puck drop for this game in Buffalo will begin at 6 p.m. at the LECOM Harborcenter. If Mercyhurst wins, then they likely play No. 1 Bentley at the end of the week. If Canisius wins, they likely play No. 2 Sacred Heart. 
 
Season Results
The Lakers are 5-11-2 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. Two weeks ago, the squad picked up a series split in a feisty affair vs. Niagara. The Lakers were recently swept by RMU in their final home-and-home series of the season. The high note of the night was the pre and post-game celebrations for Head Coach Rick Gotkin for his 38 years with the Lakers. 
 
Matchup History
Mercyhurst has an overall record of 52-53-13 vs. Canisius. On Dec. 9, 2005, the Lakers won 5-4 in OT. The Lakers won the next four matchups before Canisius won their first contest by a score of 3-1 at the Pepsi Center in November of 2006. The two have been fairly even for the past couple of decades. The longest losing streak for the Lakers is seven games, and the longest win streak is five. The 2021-22 season was the most recent string of successful results for the Lakers. Here, they beat the Golden Griffins 5-2, 3-0, 3-1, 2-1(2OT), and 3-1. Since the Lakers won 5-1 in December of 2023, Canisius has had the upper hand. They have won nine of the last ten matchups. The only other one was a tie that Mercyhurst won the shootout from. The Lakers have scored 226 total goals and are averaging 2.9 goals per game vs Canisius. This is third consecutive year the two sides have faced each other in the first round of the playoffs. CU has won the past two. *Statistical info, aside from overall record, dates back to 2005 on the MU Athletics website.*
 
Lakers to Look Out for
Dominik Bartecko has eight goals and eight assists for sixteen points. He is tied for first on the team in goals and leads the squad in points. 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. In fact, he has three goals and three assists in his last four games. 
 
Will Schumacher (8G, 5A, 13 PTS) is tied with Bartecko for goals. 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. 
 
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 tied for 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 a few weeks ago. Kocsis (4G, 5A, 9 PTS, 40 BLKS) and Larkin (1G, 4A, 5 PTS, 44 BLKS) follow Price in blocks. Kocsis and Larkin both have a couple of assists on their past few games. 
 
Between the pipes, Charles-Edward Gravel has played the most games, 25. The Quebec native has a .901 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 then 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. Most recently, the Laker's senior netminder recorded a new career high of 58 saves in the team's 5-3 loss at RMU. Evola has a .913 save percentage this season and is 3-3-1. 
 
Scouting Canisius   

• The Golden Griffins are 17-15-2 overall and 12-12-2 in the AHA as the seven seed. 
• They opened their season by upsetting No. 20 Clarkson 3-1 at home. 
• They then beat St. Lawrence two days later, 4-2. 
• They split a series with LIU by winning 3-2 in OT then losing 6-1. 
• They then opened conference play by beating Army 3-1 before splitting a series with Colgate. 
• They ended October by dropping a series a Bentley, who currently leads the league. 
• On Nov. 1, they tied Army 2-2 and then shut them out in the shootout. 
• Sacred Heart swept them before they hosted Mercyhurst. 
• They swept the Lakers 4-3 and 5-1. 
• Air Force came to Canisius to close out November. Canisius lost 6-3 and then tied 3-3 before winning the shootout. 
• They split a home-and-home by losing 3-1 on the road to RIT then beating them 4-2 at home. 
• To start 2026, they lost to Lindenwood 5-2. 
• They beat Lindenwood 4-3 and swept RIT 5-3 and 4-1. 
• After sweeping Mercyhurst they split with Niagara, got swept by RMU, and then split with Holy Cross. 
• On Feb. 21 the Golden Griffins blanked RMU 7-0 after losing the night before. 
• Most recently, Canisius split with Niagara in a home-and-home series. 
• Walter Zacher (18G, 12A, 30 PTS), Grant Porter (12G, 22A, 34 PTS), and Jack Pascucci (0G, 6A, 6PTS, 63 BLKS) all lead the team in goals, assists, points, and blocks.