Lakers announce 2011-12 schedule

Courtesy of Mercyhurst Sports Information

ERIE, Pa. – Entering its 25^th season of intercollegiate play, the Mercyhurst College men’s hockey team and head coach Rick Gotkin have released the details of the Lakers’ 2011-12 schedule, a schedule that features just 13 regular-season home games out of 36 total regular-season contests. Gotkin and the Lakers never shy away from stiff competition, especially early on in the season, and this year will be no different. Mercyhurst will travel to Nebraska-Omaha for the Mutual of Omaha Stampede on October 7 and 8, participate in the Brice Alaska Goal Rush the following weekend in Fairbanks, Alaska, make a trip to Cornell on October 29, and play a pair of games against Wisconsin in Madison on Thanksgiving weekend.

“We’re excited and really looking forward to this season,” said Gotkin, who is entering his 24th season at Mercyhurst and has amassed 414 career victories. “We want to have a challenging schedule to prepare our players for the road ahead. Playing teams such as Nebraska-Omaha, Wisconsin, and Cornell, and traveling to Alaska obviously gives us the experience to tackle the teams in our conference. Our league has gotten better and better over the years, and this season, it’s probably the toughest it’s ever been.”

The Lakers will play 36 regular-season games and one exhibition contest in their 25th season of intercollegiate play. 27 of those games will be against teams from Atlantic Hockey, while the remaining nine put the Lakers up against foes from the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA), the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC Hockey), and two against independent Alabama-Huntsville. 

The Lakers are coming off a 15-18-4 season, which saw them advance to the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals, where they were swept in a best 2-of-3 series at Connecticut. Two of the Lakers’ ties were actually significant wins for Mercyhurst, but since both were decided in a shootout, they are deemed ties. The Lakers came from 4-0 down in the season opener at Michigan, but scored four unanswered goals and eventually won in a shootout over the Wolverines. The Lakers also knocked off Dartmouth via a shootout in the Big Green’s Ledyard Bank Classic, advancing to the championship game of the tournament, where Mercyhurst was defeated by perennial power Boston College 4-1.

Mercyhurst begins play at the Mercyhurst Ice Center with an exhibition contest against York University on Sunday, October 2 – a tune-up for what lies ahead for the Lakers. Faceoff for the exhibition game is slated for 7:05pm.

After the exhibition game, the Lakers will travel to Nebraska, Omaha for the Mutual of Omaha Stampede. The Lakers will play the hosts, the Mavericks of Nebraska-Omaha on Friday, October 7. Nebraska-Omaha were knocked out in the first round of the NCAA playoffs last season, losing to eventual national runners-up Michigan in overtime. Depending on the outcome of the Mercyhurst/Nebraska-Omaha game, the Lakers would play either Colgate or Robert Morris the next day.

The Lakers will get back home, just in time to get on a plane and fly to Fairbanks, Alaska for the Brice Alaska Goal Rush on the 14^th and 15^th of October. Mercyhurst will play Alaska-Fairbanks on the 14^th and then will take on Alaska-Anchorage on the 15^th.

Mercyhurst will then play seven of its next eight games at home, beginning with the first conference action of the season against long-time rival Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday, October 28. The Lakers will then travel to Ithaca, New York to take on Cornell the following night and then will play six conference games in-a-row at home – Connecticut (November 4 and 5), Air Force (November 11), Robert Morris (November 12), and Bentley (November 18 and 19).

Thanksgiving weekend features a trip to Madison, Wisconsin as the Lakers will take on the Wisconsin Badgers for a pair of games on November 25 and 26. The Lakers have played the Badgers twice in their history, losing a pair in Madison during the 2004-05 season. Mercyhurst will then resume conference play with a pair of games at Army (December 2 and 3), one game at long-time rival Canisius (December 9), and a home game against Niagara on December 10.

Mercyhurst will then get some time off before traveling to Alabama-Huntsville, the last non-conference games on the schedule, on December 30 and 31.

After the holidays, Mercyhurst has just five home games on their schedule, beginning with a pair against Sacred Heart (January 6 and 7). The Lakers also play home against Niagara (February 3), Robert Morris (February 10), and Canisius (February 25).