Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

[Lindsay]

The Lakers kick off their 20th season tomorrow, so it's time to start up a thread. One change in the coaching staff this year. Beth Hanrahan joined Mike Sisti and Kelley Steadman after the departure of Lou Goulet. Beth played at Providence, and most recently coached at Lindenwood.

The non conference schedule is quite WCHA heavy like last year, including: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Ohio State, and Bemidji. They also play Colgate, Union and Cornell. First up is Minnesota on the road. I believe this will be the first time at Ridder Arena for any of these Lakers, definitely a cool place to play. Last year's non conference schedule resulted in a 3-10-1 record, and included OT losses to Colgate, Minnesota, and Bemidji.

The Lakers return 5 of their top 6 scorers, and both McDonnell and Blair in net, who split time last year. They are pegged to win the CHA in the coaches poll, and the USCHO CHA preview. TIG picked Robert Morris to win the conference. Conference play doesn't start until the third week of the season; more thoughts then.

As for the freshmen you can read about them here: https://hurstathletics.com/news/2017/11/22/womens-ice-hockey-announces-2018-signing-class.aspx?path=whockey

A more diverse recruiting class this year: one Chicago Mission alum, one Pitts Pens Elite alum, a Quebec league player, and two PWHL.

Last and extremely cool in my opinion: Manon Rheaume's niece is on the team. Amazing to think that literally the next generation of former national team players is now playing college hockey.

Looking forward to another great season of Mercyhurst, CHA, and NCAA hockey, and reading the various threads you all post.

Let's go Lakers!

 

[vicb]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

WOW, that is a tough non-conference schedule. Will certainly prepare them well for their league. They gave Clarkson a great game in the NC$$ Quarters last year.

 

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

The Lakers return 5 of their top 6 scorers, and both McDonnell and Blair in net, who split time last year. They are pegged to win the CHA in the coaches poll, and the USCHO CHA preview. TIG picked Robert Morris to win the conference. Conference play doesn't start until the third week of the season; more thoughts then.

I really liked Kennedy Blair in net for Mercyhurst last season. She's going to be a brick wall for the Lakers.

I agree with all the predictions for Mercyhurst winning the CHA and getting the autobid to the national tournament. The Lakers are definitely not one of those teams that rely on one or two superstars to carry them through a season. Just please save the lopsided wins for the out-of-conference games.

 

[Puckdrop14]

I really liked Kennedy Blair in net for Mercyhurst last season. She's going to be a brick wall for the Lakers.

I agree with all the predictions for Mercyhurst winning the CHA and getting the autobid to the national tournament. The Lakers are definitely not one of those teams that rely on one or two superstars to carry them through a season. Just please save the lopsided wins for the out-of-conference games.

Agree and we will not take them lightly this weekend. The Lakers could be a top 5 team before the end of the season. Look forward to the game. And by the way Zed, your video was excellent. Give yourself some credit.

 

[Lindsay]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

Lakers fall 4-2 to Minnesota. Congrats to Emily Pinto of Mississauga, ON on her first collegiate goal. Emma Nuutinen with the other Laker tally, on the pp. Both unassisted. Kennedy Blair got the start in net.

I didn’t watch this one as the price was pretty steep. Interesting to see that all the games tonight were behind paywalls, including a couple on ESPN+, and including Colgate who used to stream free. Makes me nervous BC will go that route too.

CHA has a streaming package that from what I can tell shows RMU, RIT and Hurst home games. Hopefully the other three are on it too. Watched a couple periods of RMU SLU tonight, looked like what you would expect in a first game of the year, not terrible, not great.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

Lakers fall 4-2 to Minnesota. Congrats to Emily Pinto of Mississauga, ON on her first collegiate goal. Emma Nuutinen with the other Laker tally, on the pp. Both unassisted. Kennedy Blair got the start in net.

I didn’t watch this one as the price was pretty steep. Interesting to see that all the games tonight were behind paywalls, including a couple on ESPN+, and including Colgate who used to stream free. Makes me nervous BC will go that route too.

CHA has a streaming package that from what I can tell shows RMU, RIT and Hurst home games. Hopefully the other three are on it too. Watched a couple periods of RMU SLU tonight, looked like what you would expect in a first game of the year, not terrible, not great.

They look like a very good team. overall I thought they were faster than the Gophers and the created some good chances. Kennedy was solid in nets. It was a fun game. Sorry you couldn't have watched.

 

[slapshot willy]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

Mercy fought hard, played well. Gophers are a good team and will always give opponents a tough time. As for the BTNplus live stream, I purchased the monthly pass to watch this but was extremely disappointed with the feed.

Every 4 or 5 minutes, the video feed would disappear and the BTN home page would appear. I then had to log in again. ALL GAME !! I think I missed half the game doing this. Anyone else experience this or know what the problem may be?

 

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

I didn’t watch this one as the price was pretty steep. Interesting to see that all the games tonight were behind paywalls, including a couple on ESPN+, and including Colgate who used to stream free. Makes me nervous BC will go that route too.

CHA has a streaming package that from what I can tell shows RMU, RIT and Hurst home games. Hopefully the other three are on it too.

As for the BTNplus live stream, I purchased the monthly pass to watch this but was extremely disappointed with the feed.

Every 4 or 5 minutes, the video feed would disappear and the BTN home page would appear. I then had to log in again. ALL GAME !! I think I missed half the game doing this. Anyone else experience this or know what the problem may be?

I was pleasantly surprised by the $4.95 monthly pass on ESPN+ to watch the Penn State/Colgate series. Video quality was excellent, as was the play-by-play announcer.

Having said that, game feeds are routinely a beef with me - price and quality. In a sport that's trying to build an audience, some (most) packages are overpriced and sure aren't going to attract anyone who is still just curious about women's hockey. That CHA package is outrageous.

 

[Lindsay]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

That CHA package is outrageous.

I'm pretty sure the Flotv package for WCHA is even more expensive. I understand the cost, I imagine the schools are more concerned with giving parents an option to watch, and less concerned with growing the game. For myself, I'm happy with the situation, won't watch ooc road games but no big deal. I remember back in the day it was radio streams only, then video that buffered and froze endlessly. If you can believe it, we've come a long way. But obviously not far enough if the BTN stream is still freezing and logging people out every five minutes. Hopefully that works better today.

 

[Lindsay]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

They look like a very good team. overall I thought they were faster than the Gophers and the created some good chances. Kennedy was solid in nets. It was a fun game. Sorry you couldn't have watched.

Thanks for the update. It's ok I missed it, as I will watch Wisco vs Hurst next week. I know the Gopher and Badger faithful won't like to hear it but to me those nightmarish teams are interchangeable.

 

[D2D]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

They look like a very good team. overall I thought they were faster than the Gophers and the created some good chances. Kennedy was solid in nets. It was a fun game. Sorry you couldn't have watched.

What a difference a day makes. Gophers took control from the opening puck drop and didn't allow Mercyhurst a second shot on goal until only about 4 minutes remained in the 1st. On the few quality chances they did give up Sydney Scobee shut the door. Congrats to her and to the entire team for a great effort - and a great result.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

What a difference a day makes. Gophers took control from the opening puck drop and didn't allow Mercyhurst a second shot on goal until only about 4 minutes remained in the 1st. On the few quality chances they did give up Sydney Scobee shut the door. Congrats to her and to the entire team for a great effort - and a great result.

True but I still think the Lakers are a good team. They have great speed, solid playmaking ability and they play the body better than any Eastern team I have seen (within the rules of womens hockey, smart, well done physical play). The Gophers played a perfect game to beat them.

 

[ne7minder]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

Thanks for the update. It's ok I missed it, as I will watch Wisco vs Hurst next week. I know the Gopher and Badger faithful won't like to hear it but to me those nightmarish teams are interchangeable.

I am totally OK with the Badgers being compared to the Gophers. See my comment on todays laker game, I think they are in the same class, a very fun team to watch. I hate to lose to anyone but I don't feel bad about losing to really good teams who play the game well. Hope to see them next spring

 

[D2D]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

True but I still think the Lakers are a good team. They have great speed, solid playmaking ability and they play the body better than any Eastern team I have seen (within the rules of womens hockey, smart, well done physical play). The Gophers played a perfect game to beat them.

I agree that the Lakers are a good team. They have, after all, been picked to win their conference. But, anytime a team loses 0-5, their opponent didn't necessarily have to play a "perfect game to beat them". I think that was the case today, and I'll just leave it at that.

 

[Lindsay]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

https://www.uscho.com/2018/10/04/exploding-or-grinding-mercyhurst-marches-on/

Really nice story on the Lakers. I am as as excited about the talent in the CHA as I’ve ever been. The league gets beat up online by people who know nothing about college hockey and I appreciate this coverage.

 

[Lindsay]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

Lakers lost 6-1 to Wisconsin tonight. I was only able to watch half the game as the feed cut out. Hopefully that’s resolved tomorrow, whether it was me or Hurst.

The speed of the game in the first was amazing, and Mercyhurst hung with Wisconsin. There was only one shift where Wisc really had them penned in the zone. Lakers has a decent power play in the first, getting set up getting shots, looked good.

Meanwhile the dreaded Wisc power play went two for two in the first, with the 2nd pp goal late in the first. Wisc was justifiably heavily favored to win this game, but it was an evenly played game to that point, and the last two minutes of the first kind of just broke open the game. 2nd was all Wisc for the short amount I saw.

I’ve seen snips of a few different series in the past two weeks, real variety in speed from series to series. Was really impressed by the pace of this game.

Blair played in net for Hurst. Lone goal was Dobson from Nuutinen and Fiesler.

 

[Lindsay]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

Congrats to sophomore goaltender Leah Klassen of Mercyhurst, who got her first college start, vs Wisconsin on Saturday. Klassen made 35 saves on 39 shots. Lakers fell 5-3 to the Badgers and travel to Syracuse this weekend for CHA play.

I wrote more observations about the Lakers start here:
http://lakerfanhockey.blogspot.com/2018/10/7-quick-takes-lakers-start-0-4-look.html?m=1

 

[ZedLeppelin]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

Congrats to sophomore goaltender Leah Klassen of Mercyhurst, who got her first college start, vs Wisconsin on Saturday. Klassen made 35 saves on 39 shots. Lakers fell 5-3 to the Badgers and travel to Syracuse this weekend for CHA play.

I wrote more observations about the Lakers start here:
http://lakerfanhockey.blogspot.com/2018/10/7-quick-takes-lakers-start-0-4-look.html?m=1

That was a great read on your new blog, Lindsay! Santa should bring you a shiny new .com name for Christmas so you can turn your writing into a full-on website. I didn't know you're a former Mercyhurst hockey player - coolness rating of +10! You were in on Mercyhurst's start in the CHA, and obviously played for Mike Sisti for four years, so you have a very unique insight into Mercyhurst women's hockey, the CHA, conference championships, the national tournament - and what a triple OT national tournament game feels like. Cool stuff!

 

[Lindsay]

That was a great read on your new blog, Lindsay!

Thank you Zed! I appreciate the kind words. I have a lot of happy memories from playing. I love seeing the game grow, and admire today’s players for their talents. They get better and better and I’m happy to watch them and be part of the chatter on the message boards with everyone here.

 

[pgb-ohio]

Re: Mercyhurst Lakers 2018-2019

...I wrote more observations about the Lakers start here:
http://lakerfanhockey.blogspot.com/2018/10/7-quick-takes-lakers-start-0-4-look.html?m=1

That was a great read on your new blog, Lindsay! Santa should bring you a shiny new .com name for Christmas so you can turn your writing into a full-on website. I didn't know you're a former Mercyhurst hockey player - coolness rating of +10! You were in on Mercyhurst's start in the CHA, and obviously played for Mike Sisti for four years, so you have a very unique insight into Mercyhurst women's hockey, the CHA, conference championships, the national tournament - and what a triple OT national tournament game feels like. Cool stuff!

What Zed Said.

Lindsay, I'd encourage you to keep posting links as each of your "sporadic" blog posts come to fruition. USCHO Posters will definitely enjoy them.