March 24, 2008

Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst gave the fans plenty of excitement in 2007-2008. After a disappointing nine wins the prior season and after being eliminated in the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals for the first time ever, the Lakers won 15 games in 2007-2008 and reached the conference title contest for the first time in three years. Although dropping the championship game 5-4 to Air Force in double overtime, Mercyhurst finished 4-1-1 down the stretch and served notice that it will be a force to be reckoned with next season.

Mercyhurst lost only three players to graduation and got a lot of mileage from a combined 15 freshmen and sophomores in a 41-game schedule, the longest in the 21-year history of the program.

With a non-conference schedule filled with nationally-ranked opponents, Mercyhurst started slowly and, following a 4-0 setback to conference-rival Canisius in late November, stood 2-11-2 overall and just 2-5-2 in Atlantic Hockey. Mercyhurst began the year at the prestigious Lefty McFadden Tournament in Dayton, Ohio, where it lost to No. 19 Ohio State 2-1 and to No. 7 Notre Dame 4-0. The loss to the Buckeyes proved particularly costly as junior goaltender Matt Lundin, making his first appearance in a Mercyhurst uniform, was injured and would miss the next nine games. His successor, local product and freshman Ryan Zapolski, played well during the stretch, but had only a 2-2 overtime tie against conference-rival Holy Cross (2-2, Oct. 27) and a 5-3 win at Air Force in early November to show for it. During that time, Mercyhurst lost non-conference road games to Mo. 17 Maine (2-4, 1-4) and to No. 3 Michigan State (2-6, 2-6). Lundin returned at RIT November 16 and, thanks to a four-goal third period, got the Lakers their second win of the season, 6-3. After an 0-3-1 stretch followed, Mercyhurst finished the 2007 portion of the schedule with three straight conference wins and went home for the holidays 5-11-2 overall and 5-5-2 in Atlantic Hockey.

Mercyhurst began the New Year with back-to-back non-conference losses (2-3, 1-5) to No. 20 Michigan Tech, which made its first appearances at the Ice Center. With its record now at 5-13-2, and with nothing but conference games remaining, Mercyhurst went 10-6-5 the rest of the way and had a chance to finish as high as second in the conference until the last weekend of the season.

The Lakers entered the Atlantic Hockey Tournament as the No. 5 seed and began a string of four straight wins by taking two games from No. 6 Canisius (4-1, 2-1 ot) in the conference's new best two-of-three quarterfinal format.

Since all top five teams won their quarterfinal series, the Lakers traveled to Rochester, NY where, to advance to the NCAAs, they would have to win three games within a 48-hour span. They almost made it.

The Lakers dispatched No. 4 Sacred Heart 4-1 Friday night, March 14; eliminated No. 1 Army 4-2 late afternoon March 15; and then took defending champion Air Force to double overtime Sunday night, March 16, before bowing 5-4.

Mercyhurst, which played a club-record eleven overtime games in 2007-2008 (1-3-7), ended the season with an overall record of 15-19-7 and a conference slate of 11-10-7. Senior forward Ben Cottreau signed with the Albany River Rats of the American Hockey league following the season while teammate Kerry Bowman signed with Port Huron of the International Hockey League.

Cottreau was named Second Team All-Conference and was nominated for the 2008 Frozen Four Skills Challenge in Denver. He finished his career seventh in team history points with 156, tied-for-seventh in game-winning goals with eight, tied for fourth in power-play goals with 26, and tied-for-seventh in assists with 95.

Bowman won the in-house Bill Smith Award for meritorious service to the game and registered the overtime goal against Canisius that propelled the Lakers to the Final Five in Rochester.

Junior Matt Pierce, who finished the season with an 11-game scoring streak, sophomore Chris Risi, and freshman Jeff Terminesi made the All-Tournament Team. Terminesi was also a Second Team All-Conference choice.

Mercyhurst said goodbye to Cottreau, Bowman, and defenseman Jamie Coghlan. Mercyhurst returns 22 players next season, including both goaltenders. They will also enjoy the services of 6-4, 225-pound forward Ryan Raven, who was redshirted in 2006-2007.