What's new
By:
USCHO Fan Forum

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • The USCHO Fan Forum has migrated to a new plaform, xenForo. Most of the function of the forum should work in familiar ways. Please note that you can switch between light and dark modes by clicking on the gear icon in the upper right of the main menu bar. We are hoping that this new platform will prove to be faster and more reliable. Please feel free to explore its features.

Mercyhurst Lakers 2021-2022

Yes, the sweep over RPI, even with 1 win in OT, should count for more than the voters would have thought a few weeks ago. RPI, at the moment, is a middle-of the pack NCAA team and not the doormat everyone expected. But the voting, like with all sports (football, basketball especially), will give the benefit of the doubt to the name-programs. Northeastern already has 2 losses against un-ranked teams so should fall out of the top 10.
 
Great write-up Lindsay, very accurate description and observations. One thing I’ll add is the Lakers need to start making more things happen out of all those offensive zone faceoff wins. On many occasions they don’t even get a shot away. Otherwise, it was a good 2 win weekend and hopefully they carry the momentum to Union’s rink.
 
slapshot willy said:
;ll add is the Lakers need to start making more things happen out of all those offensive zone faceoff wins. On many occasions they don’t even get a shot away. Otherwise, it was a good 2 win weekend and hopefully they carry the momentum to Union’s rink.
Click to expand...

oh yes, getting getting your shots off on the faceoff can be a total game changer. :-)


https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1432866624093278208?s=20


Agreed on your point, we’ll see how things develop as the season goes by, hope we see some face off snipes.
 
So you have Mercyhurst fattening up on Cupcakes and Syracuse going the opposite direction, battle by fire, and then PSU somewhere in the middle. It's really a shame on RMU. The CHA does not seem the same without them. It will be interesting on how the different scheduling philosophies work out.
 
Reddington said:
So you have Mercyhurst fattening up on Cupcakes and Syracuse going the opposite direction, battle by fire, and then PSU somewhere in the middle. It's really a shame on RMU. The CHA does not seem the same without them. It will be interesting on how the different scheduling philosophies work out.
Click to expand...

Hmm have you looked at the rest of hursts schedule? Colgate, Minnesota, BC, SLU, Cornell? 4 against Penn State who has lots U18 alums?

but Bobby mo..... sucks so much what they did. As is often the case the impact on the women’s side when something happens is greater than on the men’s. Really brutal to lose one of the best CHA programs, in a hockey hotbed, and lose a respected coach from women’s college hockey at the same time.

When Hurst does play the weaker teams though, need to get wins. No question about it.
 
Last edited:
No, I hadn't. But, Syracuse basketball, specifically Boeheim thinks that playing cupcakes to work out the kinks is the way to go. It's very interesting in that Flanagan doesn't follow their most storied coaches philosophy. Plus, your buddy Zed thought PSU should have played the cupcakes first. Just observations.
 
Reddington said:
No, I hadn't. But, Syracuse basketball, specifically Boeheim thinks that playing cupcakes to work out the kinks is the way to go. It's very interesting in that Flanagan doesn't follow their most storied coaches philosophy. Plus, your buddy Zed thought PSU should have played the cupcakes first. Just observations.
Click to expand...

Well, in 20/20 hindsight, yes...I would've rather had Holy Cross to start the season (or a blue/white scrimmage like the football team does), just to shake off the cobwebs, but I totally understand Kampersal jumping right into real competition instead. He had the same team as last season's breakout team, minus one defender, and with the bonus of five new players, too - no reason to expect anything but stellar play from game one, so why not schedule the bigger teams? Unfortunately, they weren't ready for prime time as expected...but I get it, scheduling St. Lawrence and BC to start the season. Now that that's over, I think Holy Cross would've been a better choice for game one.

And I agree it doesn't feel right without Robert Morris in the CHA.
 
Hurst departs Union getting a 5-0 win and a 2-2 tie. The Lakers obviously would be happier with a sweep but the results are still OK. Two goals against in 6 periods of hockey is good. The goals against were the result of a wide open player on first one, and a beauty 2 on 1 for Union’s second . Hurst killed a lengthy 5 on 3 in overtime in game 2 which is great.
Goal scorers for Mercy were Vasko 3, Upson 2 and Ste-Croix, Boucher with 1 each.
Off to Ithaca next weekend for some more non-conference play, it’s always a challenge playing a good Cornell team.
 
Definitely will take a tie over a loss that’s for sure! Was surprised to see all the penalties in OT, I guess you never know what you are going to get.

congrats to Nystrom on her first ever collegiate shutout! To many more... :-)

lots could be said about schedule set up and what’s best. I don’t know what’s best or how much control coaches have over it but of course appreciate the conversation. Hurst routinely plays all the NY teams, used to play Princeton all the time when Kampersal coached there and usually plays at least one of the non big ten WCHA teams. The addition of NEWHA gives more non conf scheduling options too and probably shakes things up similar to the shakeup that happened when UND dropped. I wish they played more Hockey East teams but HE has few games to give. How high does Hurst rank on their list of teams to play? Doesn’t seem that high, or maybe it’s hurst avoiding them, who knows. Def looking forward to Hurst vs BC though! First HE tilt in years.

Playing Ivies, Big Ten teams or any highly ranked program is awesome and helps promote ones program I suspect (helps with local coverage which I’m sure administrations like, might help with recruiting if you get wins).

I think some of the appeal of the CHA/Mercyhurst is the mostly central location and the smaller league so the ability to have one of the most fun non conference schedules in the country, and at the same time a cut throat competition among the top 4 (weep, now 3) in the CHA. At the end of the day, you worry about the team on the ice that day...Cornell next week. Let’s go!
 
Adding on to my last comment... it’s not lost on me that hurst exploded with 9 goals against FP coming off their series against then number 4 Colgate. I like that Hurst has a tough schedule for a few weeks now leading into play against Penn State.
 
Nice job by the Lakers beating #10 Cornell. My 3 stars would be Ena Nystrom, Chantal Ste Croix and Liliane Perrault.

Cornell got some great chances; Nystrom weathered the storm. Cornell’s first goal was from a below the goal line pass to #25 Yu coming down the slot. Nice goal. 2nd goal was some around the crease madness, Hurst couldn’t clear and a wraparound goal eventually ensued. (Frechette). Cornell erased 2 Hurst leads but not the third. Nystrom really kept Hurst in it at times, Cornell was a bit scary at times, obviously a good team.

Ste Croix for the Lakers is a sophomore, I just like how she gets the puck and calmly skates away with it, nothing fancy but no panic and a decent pace too. Great game by her. First Laker goal was Ste Croix skating end to end, low probability shot on net but it got past Browning, hit a post and Grace Nelles banged it in.

I missed the 2nd goal because my child was spilling milk all over the entire kitchen and I had to tend to that. However the replay showed a goal that was so close to the first Laker goal I wasn’t sure if it was a new goal or a replay. New goal, this one Perreault from Pidgeon. Until Browning starts seeing the puck better, Cornell D are going to have to clean up in front and slow people down crashing the net. There was a third situation where Browning lost the puck, that one didn’t cost them a goal cause Cornell D managed to tie up the crashing Lakers. Perreault contains to grow in her role in the team. Oh so close to an empty netter, took a good penalty off a Cornell breakaway and is seeming to be the 4th forward on the point on the pp. awesome to see her role grow over the years.

Lakers 3rd goal was them finally scoring on the power play. Boucher unloading a wrister from the slot on a Cornell turnover. They had a ton of pp’s, maybe like 7.... very glad they got a pp goal and the win.

Not sure what to expect tomorrow. Will Cornell have found their legs or will they be gassed? Now that the teams have seen each other how will they adjust? Challenge for the Lakers is to not be satisfied and play to win again tomorrow. Really nice win tonight.
 
ZedLeppelin said:
I had to watch that a few times because I thought the second goal was a replay of the first one! That Cornell goalie had leaky seams in her equipment.
Click to expand...

yes a bit leaky and I’m sure she’ll be better today. Huge skates to fill for Cornell with defenders Bourbonnais and Zandee Hart gone this year (both graduated and centralized for the Olympics).
 
Cornell wins game two 4-0 . Commentator said Mercy outshot the Big Red but that’s hard to believe!! Cornell shoots like crazy, especially on pp after a faceoff win. Mercy destroys their own pp by passing it around and sometimes not even getting a shot on net or even a shot attempt.

But a split is nice, conference play is coming up and should be exciting.
 
Last edited:
Shots were 28-27 Hurst according to the box score on ECAC website. Didn’t watch today. Credit to Cornell, and Browning especially on the win today.

good news for the Lakers is Cuse and Lindenwood split. Thank you Lindenwood, that may help the Lakers at some point when the points race gets close.

The RPI sweep is looking better and better. Real head scratcher of a Penn State result, but the takeaway has to be that a top ten ranking is available to a team that gets its act together and plays like they want it. The Lakers deserve some top ten votes at this point. League play next, exciting!
 
I read Zed’s comments about Penn State playing a team (Brown) that hasn’t played in almost 2 years and not taking advantage of that, ie by coming out flying and keeping up the intensity and making good decisions the entire game.
I kinda feel the same way about Mercy playing a team like Cornell that’s been on the sidelines for pretty much the same amount of time. Mercy wins by 1 goal on Friday and gets shutout 4-0 on Saturday.
Cornell a good team yes, but nothing spectacular stood out with the exception of their goalie on Saturday. They will however, continue to get stronger as the season progresses.
 
https://hurstathletics.com/news/202...ey-slated-to-open-cha-play-vs-penn-state.aspx

Huge weekend for the Lakers. They’ve got Penn State at home, beginning of CHA play for these teams. I’m hoping it’s not a penalty fest. Hurst won in OT at Penn State last time they played.

Lakers have these 2 games and then off next weekend. Get these 2 wins, have a fun Halloween. But gotta start with tonight!

whoever wins CHA reg season gets to host their tournament this year so there’s some more incentive for the teams.

I expect Nystrom will start based on the year to date pattern. She played great last Friday at Cornell. Penn State hasn’t given up more than 2 goals in any game this year. Should be a good one.

This is the second week in a row that Mercyhurst has been involved in a “game to watch” according to the sports writers. Last week Haase noted it in the VP, this week Fundaro noted it for The Ice Garden. Hope the series delivers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top