March 12, 2008

Minnesota Duluth Radio Broadcast
Complete Release in PDF Format

Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst will try again Saturday to win an NCAA Quarterfinal game when it faces Minnesota Duluth at the Entertainment and Convention Center. The Lakers will carry a 26-7-3 record and a No. 7 ranking into the contest while the Bulldogs are 31-4-1 and ranked No. 3 in the country. The game will be a rematch of a quarterfinal contest played at the Ice Center a year ago when UMD rallied for a 3-2 overtime win.

The contest will be the fourth-ever meeting between the teams with UMD holding a 2-0-1 advantage.

The Bulldogs, who won three straight national championships early in this decade, made it to the title game a year ago and will be making their seventh tournament appearance overall.

This will be the fourth straight year the Lakers have been involved in postseason play. Mercyhurst lost in triple overtime at Harvard, 5-4, in 2005; lost in double overtime at Wisconsin, 2-1, in 2006; and lost 3-2 in overtime to UMD in Erie in March of 2007.

The game will feature two of the final three candidates for the Patty Kazmaier Award in Mercyhurst sophomore forward Meghan Agosta and Minnesota Duluth sophomore goaltender Kim Martin.

Fast Facts

• Mercyhurst sophomore forward Meghan Agosta has been named as one of the Final 3 for the 2008 Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award by the USA Hockey Foundation. It's the second successive honor for the Ruthven, Ontario, native. Last year, she became the first freshman ever to make the Final 3.

• Mercyhurst is making its fourth straight trip to the NCAA Playoffs. Thus far, it hasn't survived the quarterfinals.

• (1) March 19, 2005, at Harvard: Harvard 5, Mercyhurst 4, triple overtime. Senior goalie Desi Clarke made 78 saves. The Lakers never trailed until the final buzzer. Harvard went to the title game where it lost to Minnesota.

• (2) March 18, 2006, at Wisconsin: Wisconsin 2, Mercyhurst 1, double overtime. Senior Julia Colizza scored shorthanded for Mercyhurst midway in the first period. The Badgers tied the game on a power play goal less than five minutes later. Wisconsin scored the game-winner midway in the second overtime. The Badgers won the national championship.

• (3) March 9, 2007, in Erie: Minnesota Duluth 3, Mercyhurst 2, overtime. Stephanie Jones (pp) scored in the first and Meghan Agosta lit the lamp in the second. But the Bulldogs scored late in both the second and third periods before winning the contest on a power play goal midway in the first overtime. UMD went to the championship game where it lost to Wisconsin.

• Junior Valerie Chouinard had her 33rd career power play goal last weekend, a club record. The goal came in the 4-2 win over Niagara and was her 11th career game-winner. Chouinard and Agosta were chosen to play for Team Canada next month at the World Championships in China.

• Senior captain Stephanie Jones' game-winning goal Saturday against Wayne State was the 11th of her career.

• Sophomore Meghan Agosta had a goal in each of the CHA playoff games and was named Tournament MVP.

• Senior goaltender Laura Hosier picked up her 20th and 21st wins of the season at the CHA Tournament. She now has 74 in her career. She is the Mercyhurst career leader in wins (74) and games played (104) and is second all-time in shutouts (20). She was selected to participate in the Frozen Four Skills Challenge this April in Denver.

• Mercyhurst held Niagara and Wayne State to a combined 40 shots in the two games last weekend. High-powered Wayne State was held to 16 shots total and to just 8 in the final 43+ minutes of the game.

• Freshman Jesse Scanzano had three successive assists in the two games. She stretched her scoring streak to 6 games and has at least one point in 13 of her last 14.

• Mercyhurst has ten shorthanded goals this season (Agosta 7). The one-season mark of 11 was set in 2004-2005. The Lakers had nine shorthanded goals last year.

• Mercyhurst had 60 power play goals in 37 games last season; the Lakers have 48 in 36 games in 2007-08.

• Mercyhurst finished last season +42 in special teams' play. The Lakers are +23 so far this season.

• Mercyhurst has trailed only five times this season after the first period (2-3-0).

• Goals were tough to come by in the two games at Duluth October 20 and 21. Each team scored once in the first and second periods; UMD had both goals in the third. The teams tied 1-1 in the first game before the Bulldogs prevailed 3-1 a day later.

• With a 5-4 overtime win over Wisconsin last weekend, UMD won its fourth WCHA playoff championship in school history and tied a program record for most wins in a season (31).

• Minnesota Duluth has some well-known assistant coaches. Caroline Ouellette (UMD '05) is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and All-American selection. She helped the Bulldogs win a national championship in her first season (2002-03). Julie Chu (Harvard '07) was a three-time All-American selection and two-time Olympic medalist. She put an exclamation point on her farewell season with the Crimson by being bestowed with the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the nation's top collegiate women's ice hockey player. Jessica Koizumi (UMD '07) ended her Bulldog career with a bang. She scored the game-winner in overtime to beat Mercyhurst 3-2 last March in the NCAA Quarterfinals and then notched two goals and an assist to help lift UMD over Boston College in double-overtime at the 2007 Frozen Four. Her game-winning-goal secured the Bulldog's fourth appearance in a national championship game, and landed her on the 2007 Frozen Four All-Tournament Team.