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Mercyhurst Lakers 2021-2022

L

Lindsay

Registered User
The 2021-2022 schedule has been published for Mercyhurst so I'll start a thread!

https://hurstathletics.com/sports/womens-ice-hockey/schedule

Non conference info:
RPI - at home (Erie), homecoming! Can't remember the last homecoming game they've played. Fans are allowed back in the stands too. Not sure on status of Canadian border and quarantines but hopefully parents can actually come.
Colgate - road game, ranked team
Franklin Pierce - at home, 1st time playing them I think
Union - on the road. First time at Schenectady maybe?
Cornell - on the road. Ranked first overall when Covid cancelled the 19/20 season and then didn't play in 20/21...was anyone robbed by Covid more than this team?
Long Island - at home, first time playing them I think
SLU - at home, these guys were receiving votes by end of 20/21, but what will they look like without Gosling? TBD.
Will play 1 game vs 2 of these 3: Colgate/BC/Minnesota at Nashville at Thanksgiving. Possibly all 3 of these teams (hopefully all 4 in the tourney!) will be ranked.

Also Penn State was ranked at end of year, so looks like 10 to 12 games against ranked opponents. Possibly will only play a HE team or a WCHA team and not both. So little WCHA is a new thing.

Fun schedule, pretty easy from a travel perspective. Some weaker teams mixed in there so need to take care of business against them, and take advantage of the opportunities against the ranked teams when they get them. Presumably Hurst will get to travel to New Hampshire (Franklin Pierce) and wherever LIU plays (Brooklyn?) in a future year so that's fun too.

Lastly, it's the 20th season of the CHA, and the league has grown from 3 teams to 5 teams in 20 short years. :-) Pour one out for Findlay, Wayne State, Niagara and RMU. Here's to more growth and fewer program cancellations, and also an NCAA Champion in the next 20 years!
 
Lindsay said:
So little WCHA is a new thing.
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I would assume this is largely due to St. Thomas joining the WCHA, and those teams only having room for 6 games out of conference, rather than the 10 that they've had in recent years.
 
Lindsay said:
... wherever LIU plays (Brooklyn?) in a future year so that's fun too....
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LIU played most of their games last season at the Iceworks out in Syosset which is near the Nassau/Suffolk county borders on Long Island. They hosted Quinnipiac for one game at Northwell Heath Ice Center in East Meadow in Nassau. The schedule lists Brookeville, NY currently, but that is I think only a placeholder as that is LIU's main campus where their athletics dept is headquartered and there is no rink there. Northwell is much closer to campus than Iceworks, but both are Islanders' training facilities so they are at their mercy in regards to availability.

I wish they would play in Brooklyn but there aren't great options. Aviator out at Floyd Bennett Field is the largest and most modern, but it doesn't seem viable for any org outside Aviator Hockey Club to be there. The Rivs only lasted their initial season there I think. The Prospect Park Alliance spent $74 million on renovating the LeFrak Center and it includes two outdoor rinks but I don't know they have locker rooms, etc for NCAA hockey. The Abe Stark Rink in Coney Island is old, small, and looks kind of dumpy I don't think you could convince a DIII team to call it home.
 
Scott_TG said:
LIU played most of their games last season at the Iceworks out in Syosset which is near the Nassau/Suffolk county borders on Long Island. They hosted Quinnipiac for one game at Northwell Heath Ice Center in East Meadow in Nassau. The schedule lists Brookeville, NY currently, but that is I think only a placeholder as that is LIU's main campus where their athletics dept is headquartered and there is no rink there. Northwell is much closer to campus than Iceworks, but both are Islanders' training facilities so they are at their mercy in regards to availability.
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You are a wealth of info Scott! So my understanding is the hockey team is part of the school located in Brooklyn. The Islanders practice rinks are about 40 minutes away by my map app. Quite a hike but hopefully manageable and the school would have appeal in other ways for sure.
 
Mercyhurst has announced the hiring of Scott Spencer as assistant coach.

https://hurstathletics.com/news/202...-womens-hockey-names-new-assistant-coach.aspx

Thats another program to pick up a former D1 head coach in the assistant role so they’ll have a very experienced staff. Reaction online spoke of him being a good recruiter so definitely hoping that’s the case. He took on a huge challenge in head coaching at Lindenwood when they didn’t have much of a rink to recruit to and got those teams to play hard over the years. Very excited to see what he brings to the Hurst and wishing him the best!
 
https://chawomenshockey.com/news/202...n-2021-22.aspx

CHA is entering its 20th season which is exciting. As I’ve said before this conference is geographically located “in the middle” of the rest of women’s college hockey. One thing I like about the conference is it exists in an area where growth can truly happen; in that regard and in that struggle and it’s history of setbacks and perseverance it mirrors women’s hockey on the whole.

I say this with great affection - the hodge podge nature of the league is also reflective of women’s hockey on the whole. We’ve got Big Ten, ACC, a DIII school, a DII , and a an ACHA school. Robert Morris might’ve looked at that and said we’re out, but IMO this is what it takes to build something from nothing, and this collaboration is what it takes to move anything forward. The memories of all the ladies who’ve played in the CHA are priceless and very lucky to have played in the league.

Minnesota, the East, Ivies and liberal private schools have a fairly long history of women’s hockey whereas the CHA is truly that ground where it’s pretty wide open. RIT has a long history; believe the rest in CHA are 1999 or newer even at club level. Growth is happening in the East and Minn of course but they’ve long had women’s hockey. When western NY, Pennsylvania and even Missouri add teams it’s extra special. Would love to see Canisius, Bowling Green, Miami of Ohio, MAYBE Notre Dame (not if they are going to trigger a big ten league) add women’s hockey one day and join this league but I know it’s a long shot. In the short term looking for that six member.

I don’t think the article gets into it but Niagara got kicked out of the ECAC at one point and was welcomed to the CHA in 2003 I think, a natural fit for the league. They were an immediate threat to win considering the 2002 Frozen four appearance wasn’t too far back, their coach had hockey Canada connections, and they were right across the border from a wealth of Canadian hockey talent. Very tough team to play against. When Quinnipiac was homeless for a year the CHA also took them in.

Hoping for a great year for the league, and glad they are celebrating their 20th season.

edit- article says Niagara was a founding member. That’s not accurate as far as I recall.
 
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Lindsay said:
edit- article says Niagara was a founding member. That’s not accurate as far as I recall.
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I think of the start of the league being Mercy, Wayne St, and Findlay, but that could have been just when they were the GLWHA.
 
ARM said:
I think of the start of the league being Mercy, Wayne St, and Findlay, but that could have been just when they were the GLWHA.
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You are exactly correct ARM. Niagara was there in 2002 an inaugural CHA member. I was mistaken, and clearly won’t fare well without college hockey stats, this year. (I will visit the site TTT recommended).

Wow the ECAC really tossed out a team right after they made it to the Frozen Four. See, that’s the kind of thing the CHA would never do.
 
A 6-3 win by Mercy after going down 2-0 early in the 1st period. Then it was 4-2 at the end of the 1st for the Lakers . Some players with their first NCAA goals, Pigeon with her first as a Laker.
Twitter has 3 Mercyhurst girls with their first EVER college hockey interview wearing masks even though they just finished playing 60 minutes of hockey without a mask.
Absolutely ridiculous, let them talk to the camera/reporter normally.
Great job Lakers
 
Yes awesome job by the Lakers. Great to see so many players get on the board. Hoping for both Grace Nelles and Boucher to take their games to a new level this year after solid freshman seasons. Nice little shorty by that duo.

I need to look at the roster a bit but if I recall there’s a Floridian and an Erie Pa native included in the freshmen group? Cool to see. Wegner and Parks? Both with goals already??? Yay.

No Vasko last game, hope she’s not injured. I’m assuming it was to spread the ice time around. A little shocking to see the faceoff results...hopefully just early season thing that will get worked out.

I had really wanted to go to the game this weekend but it’s not in the cards. Hurst is hosting a Women In Sport event at the game which is cool, and also the women don’t always get to play Homecoming weekend. I hope it’s a great one. Having a date night with my 5 year old boy instead... been too busy lately and want to spend time with him. I had planned on taking my kids to the game but both have early sports on Saturday too so it just wouldn’t work. Not enough time in the day. :-)

On the corona front the US has to get that US Canada land border opened up too!Seriously what are they doing. Hope the ladies know there are tons of people cheering for them, even if not in the stands!
 
Lakers get the OT win over RPI 2-1, with a game winner from freshman Vanessa Upson.

Ena Nystrom in net with the win over her former team.

I was surprised to see Emily Pinto on Hursts 4th line but maybe that speaks to the potential that the coaches see in their young players. With the Lakers down 1 in the the 3rd Pinto rolled out of a scrum on the offensive blue line with the puck, fed Sarah Nelles next to the net and then went to the net herself and banged in a rebound. I’ve always liked Pinto’s game.

OT winner from Upson was a pretty one. 3 on 3, RPI held possession for the first 40 seconds of OT. Vasko eventually won a puck on the boards, and passed it to Theissen behind the net, and changed. Theissen patiently waited behind Hurst goalie, then did a long bank pass off neutral zone boards, corralled by Upson who beat a D one on one and scored five hole. Understated celly by the goal scorer, but the kids on the glass in the stands got it done.

Final shots 38-20 Hurst. RPI goal scored by their RMU transfer, on the Pp.

The rink looks great and game production is solid. No replays but a person can rewind I suppose. They really should get their games listed on the CHa portal.... I took the leap that their games would be there but the portal doesn’t list them.

Hope Hurst can finish the job today. 2 or three years ago they split with this team but that was in the Lovisa Selander era.
 
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https://hurstathletics.com/news/2021...he-season.aspx

Hurst is on the road at #4 Colgate today and tomorrow. Huge opportunity for the team.

It’s early but it looks like goalies Nystrom and Silvonen are splitting time. If one of them could help steal a win on the road at Colgate maybe that will change things.

Lots of history between these teams, Hurst plays them tough and tied the last game they played them, but with not playing each other last year hard to know how they will match up although Colgate is of course favored.

Happy to see Parks get another goal last week in the RPI sweep. Great story having an Erie resident on the team, even did her high school at Mercyhurst Prep and played her high school hockey close to home-ish (couple hours away it looks like). Nice comments from her post game about what it means to play for the Hurst. Few kids get to grow up and play for their home town team, a great example of growing the game by Erie youth hockey and the Lakers.

big big game tonight. Let’s go Lakers!
 
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ARM said:
They will likely need a better performance for the full contest to take advantage of it, unless RPI and RIT are both improved over what I remember. I look forward to getting your eye-witness account.
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Perhaps another fan can give an account. I would certainly appreciate it. While I debated on ESPN plus vs the wcha package in the end I got the cha package and the wcha package. So I gotcha covered for when Hurst hosts Franklin Pierce next week. :-) may drop in here and there on the osu minnesota games. Darwitz making her return to Minnesota, exciting.

now as for the Lakers, their best player didn’t play against RIT, and hey they swept an ECAC team last week.

3 wins, 2 that matter, I’ll take it. Tonight will take a tremendous effort, maybe some puck luck, but let’s go. Play the games, you’re an underdog, but embrace it and let’s go. Pidgeon won’t be intimated, neither will Vasko or Nystrom in my opinion. Sarah Nelles and Pinto are steady, Upson should be able to make a splash and like I said before looking for Grace Nelles and Boucher to take a step forward this year. Not sure how Boucher’s speed is, but she’s a finisher, if they can get established in the zone and she can bring the confidence (as she should!) to make a mark in these big games.... anything’s possible! V exciting.
 
Lakers take on Franklin Pierce, the hockey team, today. First time in history. Franklin Pierce got outshot 46 to 13 by Northeastern but only lost 4-2, this season. Interesting. Lakers will have to be up to the challenge, this suggests a hardworking opponent or at least a decent goalie. They were also involved in that 5OT playoff game a couple years back. A team of slackers is not going to push a game to 5 OT.

Very American team, only one Canadian on the roster, a transfer from Dartmouth.

I wanted to read about the school as I know nothing about them, not even where they are located. It turns out they are about 2,000 students and located in New Hampshire. Their school is only about 60 years old yet was still was named after Franklin Pierce. I’d never heard of Pierce, people more knowledgeable in US history than me will know he was the only New Hampshire born person to become president, was the 14th president of the US and was an anti abolitionist.
 
It should be an interesting weekend Lindsay. After 2 losses against Colgate, I’m thinking the Lakers will be hungry to get back in the win column. But I also think Frankie P will be ready to play themselves.
 
slapshot willy said:
It should be an interesting weekend Lindsay. After 2 losses against Colgate, I’m thinking the Lakers will be hungry to get back in the win column. But I also think Frankie P will be ready to play themselves.
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Frankie P, I like it. Well it’s 6-1 Lakers in the third as far as I can tell... nice job by Jordan Mortlock getting her first career college goal (and I see Jersey Phillips got her first last week).
 
Lakers complete the sweep with a 1-0 win over Frankie P. Goal was Pidgeon from Pinto, banging away at a rebound. Shots were 42-14. FP goalie did a nice job not allowing rebounds or directing the puck away. Kind of a meh game as there was dominance with no goal scoring.

I really liked how the p x p guy would say which Hurst forwards were on the faceoff when he could see them. Definitely helped.

Pidgeon is a fun add to this team. Obviously the gwg is the highlight, but I like how patient she is with the puck, nice distributor as well. Super fun shift at about the 10 minute mark of the second.. FP was trying to break out , Vasko picked the players pocket grabbed the puck just before FP reached the blue line and then got herself a quality chamce. Pidgeon picked up the rebound and just skated and skated until she saw an opportunity to do something good with the puck.

Parks seems to have some speed does a nice job getting up ice and open and getting chances off the rush. Perrault is getting better every year and the pint sized Pinto continues to force her way to the net and make plays in tight.

In a 1-0 game no room for error by the D or Silvonen and even with 14 shots only against, they deserve credit. Nice job. Finally, nice job by Vasko winning the final FO’s of the game when FP made their final 6 on 5 effort in the last minute. Parks and Sara Boucher, getting the pucks out of the zone in that final play of the game when it was 6 on 5.... good to see.

Hope the Lakers get some credit for their results this weekend. Not suggesting they be ranked, but I hope the voters are paying attention. The Lakers were in the games with #4 Colgate even if they didn’t get the result. I notice when Colgate destroyed RIT they jumped two places in the polls. When Penn State tried to make the Tourney on CHa wins though, CHa wasnt good enough opposition. When Hurst swept RPI, it was too close for comfort but no penalty to NU for a 4-2 win over FPU, and folks are of course saying good things about the improved RPI elsewhere on this thread. That 9-1 win shouldn’t go unnoticed is what I’m saying.

As for the Lakers, on the road to Union next week. Need to take care of business, one series at a time.
 
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