Mercyhurst Visits UConn Friday and Saturday

January 21, 2004

Mercyhurst (11-9-1; AH 8-3-0) at Connecticut (5-10-5; AH 2-5-3)

Dates : Friday and Saturday, January 23 and 24

Times : 7:05pm

Site : UConn Ice Arena (2,000)

The Coaches : Rick Gotkin (Brockport State ‘82) is in his 16th season at Mercyhurst with an overall record of 289-164-27. Bruce Marshall (Connecticut ‘85) is in his 16th year at UConn with an overall mark of 227-192-43.

The Series: The Lakers lead the all-time series 11-4-1 and are unbeaten in their last ten against the Huskies, 9-0-1. Mercyhurst hasn't lost to UConn since a 2-0 setback in the MAAC Hockey League Semifinals on March 16, 2000, in Storrs, Ct. The Lakers won an earlier meeting this season 6-5 in overtime in Erie.

Scouting Mercyhurst: Mercyhurst has won four straight games, all in the conference and all by one-goal, to match its longest winning streak of the season. The Lakers have moved into second place in Atlantic Hockey, nine points behind first-place Holy Cross, but with four games in hand. Sophomore forward Dave Borrelli scored three goals on seven shots and finished +2 as the Lakers swept AIC last weekend by identical 4-3 scores Friday and Saturday at the Ice Center. Borrelli had the Lakers' second goal early in the second period Friday to give his team a 2-0 lead, but saved the best for Saturday. He scored the final two Mercyhurst goals in Saturday's win. Borrelli gave the Lakers a 3-2 lead on a power play goal at 14:00 of the third and then scored the game-winner at 16:50 after the Yellow Jackets had tied the contest at 3-3. It was his first game-winner of the season. He has a five-game scoring streak. An AIC power play goal in the third period of Saturday's 4-3 win snapped a streak of 26 successive penalty kills. Senior Mike Carter has an eight-game scoring streak and has moved into a tie for the team lead in both assists (15) and points (22). Carter had two goals and an assist in the two games against AIC. His unassisted shorthanded goal in Friday's game proved to be the game-winner. Sophomore goaltender Andy Franck stopped 17 shots Friday while freshman Jordan Wakefield stopped 29 Saturday to improve his AH record to 2-0. Both wins have come over AIC, including a 9-0 shutout in Massachusetts on December 6. Freshman forward Kyle Gourgon scored the first goal of the game Saturday. It was his first goal since a 7-5 loss to Northeastern on December 29.

Mercyhurst is led in scoring by junior forward David Wrigley and Carter with 22 points. Wrigley and Borrelli are tied for the team lead in goals with eleven while junior forward Rich Hansen and Carter are tops in assists with 15. Senior forward Adam Tackaberry has seven power-play goals on the season, while sophomore forwards Scott Reynolds and Erik Johnson have notched two short-handed goals. Franck has seen the majority of the time in goal and has an 8-5-1 record, 3.36 goals against average, and a .899 save percentage. Wakefield has a 3-4-0 record, 3.77 goals against average, and a .898 save percentage. Mercyhurst has cashed 28 of 113 power play chances (.248) and has killed 100 of 117 opponent opportunities (.855). The Lakers are 5-6-1 on the road.

Scouting Connecticut : Connecticut has won only once in its last eight games (1-5-2), but five of the games were out-of-conference (1-3-1). The Huskies tied at Brown 1-1 last Friday and lost at Yale 6-4. Connecticut has dropped to seventh place in Atlantic Hockey, only one point ahead of eighth place occupants Bentley and American International.

The Huskies have five players with ten-or-more points. Junior forward Beau McLaughlin and freshman forward Cole Koidahl share the scoring lead with 14 points apiece. McLaughlin has the most goals (7) while Koidahl and sophomore forward Chris Uber are tops in assists with eight. Freshman Scott Tomes has seen the most time in goal. Tomes has started 18 games, has an overall record of 5-8-5, a save percentage of .897, and a goals-against-average of 3.19. The Huskies have converted only 9 of 93 power play chances (.097) and have killed 86 of 107 shorthanded situations (.804). UConn is 3-2-2 at home.

Up Ahead : Mercyhurst will return to the Ice Center Friday and Saturday, January 30 and 31 for Atlantic Hockey games against Quinnipiac. Each game will begin at 7:30.