Aug. 24, 2006

Mercyhurst Club Hockey is once again gearing up for another season of competition in the ACHA beginning in October.  The club has taken a lot of strides forward in the past few months under the leadership of Head Coach Tom McKinnon and his Assistant Chad Klimow.  The coaching staff is looking to make a lot more changes to better the program while improving upon timely updates to the website.  Bill Shannon is returning as the team's General Manager and has assisted in the acquisition of new game jerseys and related equipment purchases.

The Mercyhurst club hockey team will begin their season on the road against Duquesne University on Saturday October 7^th.  Coach McKinnon has challenged the club hockey program by putting together the toughest schedule it has ever faced.  Some of the highlights include 2 games at defending National Champion Rhode Island University, 2 games at 4^th place finisher Lindenwood University, 2 games with ACHA powerhouse Ohio University, 2 home games against Robert Morris College from Illinois, a home and home series with Duquesne University, and single games against the University of Michigan Dearborn, St. Louis University and Slippery Rock University.  The Lakers will continue to play in the ECHL Conference and will face off against division rivals from Buffalo, Niagara, RMU, Rochester and Syracuse.

In addition to the above games, the club hockey team will take part in the 4^th Annual ACHA Division 1 Showcase to be held in Boardman, OH on October 20-22, 2006.  The Showcase will feature sixteen of the top D1 ACHA programs in the nation.  On the first day of the Showcase, Mercyhurst will face off against a quality team from Arizona University.  This will be the first ever meeting between Mercyhurst and Arizona.  Mercyhurst will face the University of Western Michigan on day two.  This is also the first meeting between these two teams.  On the final day of the Showcase, the Lakers have been paired up against West Virginia University.  The Mercyhurst club team is looking to make a big impact in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) this year. They only graduated 3 players from last year's squad and have many capable recruits coming in to fill the void left by Forward Kevin Binsell, and Defensemen Ryan Bessey and Ryan O'Connor.  Coach McKinnon has put together a challenging schedule in hopes of solidifying better positioning for the 2006-2007 National Tournament.  Coach McKinnon believes that the new recruits are very capable of bringing more depth to the team.