Skip to main content

Atlantic Hockey Showdown: Mercyhurst takes on conference leading Canisius

Thursday February 23, 2017 
HarborCenter, Buffalo NY  
Canisius Golden Griffins (18-10-7, 1st in Atlantic Conference)
 Vs. 
Mercyhurst Lakers (12-16-4, 5th in Atlantic Conference)
                                                       Courtesy: www.tomwolf.smugmug.com

On a Thursday evening contest the Atlantic leading Canisius Griffins take on the Mercyhurst Lakers in a pivotal conference matchup. Although every team in the Atlantic is guaranteed a spot in the playoffs, positioning is still up in the air.

Atlantic Hockey Playoffs Explained: 

 - There are 11 total teams in the Atlantic Conference

- The top 5 teams are given a first round bye while the bottom 6 teams are paired up and play a best of 3 game series hosted by the higher seeded team (Round 1 will take place March 3rd-5th)

- Round 2: round 1 winners are then paired up with #1,2,3 seeded teams, #5 plays at #4, and play a 3 game series hosted by the higher seeded team (Round 2 will take place March 10th-12th)

- Rounds 3-4: These are single elimination games that are held at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester NY (Rounds 3 and 4 will take place the weekend of March 17th)

- Winner of this tournament is granted an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament

Canisius Season in Review: 

After finishing 7th in the Atlantic last season (10-13-5) the Golden Griffins have come a long way and are currently in 1st and riding an impressive 14 game unbeaten streak (11 wins 3 ties).

- Sophomore Forward Dylan McLaughlin (Lancaster, NY) leads the team in both goals (13) and points (29) this season

- Senior Goalie Charles Williams (Canton, Mich) has been a rock this year posting a 15-6-4 record with a .946 save % and 1.80 goals against average

Mercyhurst Season in Review: 

 After finishing 4th in the Atlantic last season (15-9-4) the Lakers have had a tough time getting on any sort of prolonged run throughout the season. Mercyhurst is currently in 5th place following a weekend split with RMU.

- Junior Forward Jonathan Charbonneau (St-Colombant, Qué) leads the lakers in goals (13) and is second in points (21) in only 27 games this season 

 - Goalies Brandon Wildung (Nassau, Minn) and Colin Deaugustine (Burgettstown, Pa) have split time in net for the lakers posting 7-9-2 and 5-6-2 records respectively and each posting .912 save percentages. 

Barach wins player of the week:

 - Sophmore forward #26 Derek Barach won the Atlantic Conference "player of the week" award with his 5 point performance (2 goals 3 assists) in Mercyhurst's weekend split with RMU

 Last Time They Met: 

 Mercyhurst Traveled to the HarborCenter early on in the season and beat the Griffins 5-1 with Junior Forward Kane Elliot scoring the eventual game winning goal just over one minute into the second period.  

 Where to Buy Tickets: 

 Tickets can be purchased at the game or online here 








Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OHL Playoff Roundup: Round #2 Matchups

2016 OHL Champion London Knights Credit London Free Press  I'd like to start off this post by apologizing for not fully covering all of the first round matchup in their entirety, I haven't had the time to finish them off so I will briefly go over all of them right now: The Erie Otters were the first team to advance to the second round by sweeping the Sarnia Sting in four straight games. Peterborough was the next to advance to the second round with their four game sweep of the Niagara Ice Dogs. Sault St. Marie was the next team moving on to the second round of the playoffs with a four games to one victory over the Flint Firebirds. Owen Sound defeated the Kitchener Rangers in their first series four games to one. The Mississauga Steelheads doubled up the Ottawa 67's four games to two in order to move on to the next round of the playoffs. Oshawa won their first round matchup against Sudbury four games to two. Kingston  came away with a four to thre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Greyhounds' Offense Too much for Rangers, Rangers Fall 6-1

The Greyhounds from Sault Ste. Marie only needed 29 shots on goal to score 6 goals and defeat the Kitchener Rangers by a score of 6-1 in front of home crowd of 3,800 fans. The Greyhounds opened up the scoring halfway into the first period when forward Bobby Macintyre scored on the power play and left-winger Boris Katchouk scored a shorthanded goal, the first of two for Katchouk that would end up being the game winner. Rangers right winger Joseph Garreffa scored their lone goal with 3 minutes left in the game, but it was too little too late at that point. Greyhounds rookie goaltender Matthew Villalta saved 40 of the 41 shots he faced for the victory while Rangers goaltenders Luke Opilka and LukeRichardson combined to save 23 of 29 shots in the loss. This victory pushed the season series between these two teams to 3-1-0 in favor of Sault Ste. Marie and the 5-year series to 12-7-0 in favor of the greyhounds. The Greyhounds next game will take place on the roa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Atlantic Goes Primetime: Former Mercyhurst Goaltender may Find Himself on Olympic Squad

Credit Elite Prospects  With the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea  less than a year away and NHL still not having any set plans in place for their sending their players to these games, it is looking as if the biggest hockey league in North America will not be participating. This does not come as a huge shock to any around the game as for the past couple Winter Olympics there has been complaints from fans and owners alike that stopping the NHL season right near the end to go and play in international competition was too disruptive to the league and its players. Although this closes the door for any player under NHL contract from playing for any nation in these games, it opens the door for players who might not otherwise get this opportunity. Enter Ryan Zapolski ... Credit Getty Images An Erie, PA native and four year goaltender at Mercyhurst University Zapolski never really found any traction in North American Professional leagues after his graduation. Followin...
Post a Comment
Read more