2020–21 Mercyhurst Lakers men's ice hockey season

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2020–21 Mercyhurst Lakers
men's ice hockey season
Mercyhurst Lakers hockey.svg
Conference7th Atlantic Hockey
Home iceMercyhurst Ice Center
Rankings
USCHO.comNR
USA Today/
US Hockey Magazine		NR
Record
Overall8–12–1
Conference7–8–1–1–1–1
Home6–6–1
Road2–6–0
Neutral0–0–0
Coaches and Captains
Head CoachRick Gotkin
Assistant Coaches
Derek Whitmore
Captain(s)Quinn Wichers
Alternate captain(s)Michael Bevilacqua
Mercyhurst Lakers men's ice hockey seasons
« 2019–20 2021–22 »

The 2020–21 Mercyhurst Lakers men's ice hockey season was the 34th season of play for the program, the 22nd at the Division I level, and the 18th season in the Atlantic Hockey conference. The Lakers represented Mercyhurst University and were coached by Rick Gotkin, in his 33rd season.

The start of the college hockey season was delayed due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As a result, Mercyhurst's first scheduled game was in mid-November as opposed to early-October, which was the norm.[citation needed]

Season[]

As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the entire college ice hockey season was delayed. Because the NCAA had previously announced that all winter sports athletes would retain whatever eligibility they possessed through at least the following year, none of Mercyhurst's players would lose a season of play.[1] However, the NCAA also approved a change in its transfer regulations that would allow players to transfer and play immediately rather than having to sit out a season, as the rules previously required.[2]

Mercyhurst managed to recover after the program's worst season, posting a middling record amidst an ever-changing schedule. Despite playing 14 fewer games, the Lakers won three more games than they had the year before. including three over ranked opponents.

Ashton Stockie and Carver Watson sat out the season.

Departures[]

Player Position Nationality Cause
James Anderson Forward  United States Graduation
Stefano Cantali Goaltender  Canada Signed Professional Contract (Chiefs Leuven)
Cory Caruso Forward  Canada Left Program
Colin DeAugustine Goaltender  United States Graduation
Ethan Johnson Forward  United States Left Program
Jonathan Lazarus Forward  United States Graduation
Garrett Metcalf Goaltender  United States Transferred to Long Island
Brendan Riley Forward  United States Graduation

Recruiting[]

Player Position Nationality Age Notes
Carson Brière Forward  United States 21 Haddonfield, NJ
Wyatt Head Defenseman  Canada 21 Kelowna, BC
Austin Heidemann Forward  United States 21 Maple Grove, MN
Hank Johnson Goaltender  United States 24 Minneapolis, MN; transfer from Bemidji State
Noah Kane Forward  United States 20 Buffalo, NY
Matt Lenz Goaltender  Canada 21 Calgary, AB
Jac Lymn Goaltender  United States 19 Charlotte, NC
Kyle McClellan Goaltender  United States 21 Manchester, MO
Devon Mussio Defenseman  Canada 21 Vancouver, BC
Marko Reifenberger Forward  United States 21 Hastings, MN
Dante Sheriff Forward  Canada 21 Woodbridge, ON
Rylee St. Onge Forward  Canada 22 St. Catharines, ON; transfer from Alaska Anchorage
Keanan Stewart Defenseman  Canada 20 Guelph, ON

Roster[]

As of December 31, 2020.[3]

No. S/P/C Player Class Pos Height Weight DoB Hometown Previous team NHL rights
1 Texas Matt Lenz Freshman G 5' 11" (1.8 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1999-06-02 Grapevine, Texas Steinbach (MJHL) —
2 Ontario Cade Townend Sophomore D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 200 lb (91 kg) 1999-06-17 Carleton Place, Ontario Carleton Place (CCHL) —
4 Ontario Quinn Wichers (C) Senior D 6' 4" (1.93 m) 217 lb (98 kg) 1997-08-19 Metcalfe, Ontario Kemptville (CCHL) —
5 New York (state) Michael Bevilacqua (A) Junior D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1997-05-07 Hamburg, New York Green Bay (USHL) —
6 Pennsylvania Carson Brière Freshman F 5' 9" (1.75 m) 165 lb (75 kg) 1999-09-23 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Trail (BCHL) —
7 Ontario Devon Daniels Junior D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1998-04-28 Thunder Bay, Ontario Ottawa (CCHL) —
8 Ontario Owen Norton Junior D 5' 9" (1.75 m) 161 lb (73 kg) 1998-06-19 Ancaster, Ontario Surrey (BCHL) —
9 New York (state) Justin Cmunt Sophomore F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1998-01-28 East Amherst, New York Shreveport (NAHL) —
10 Ontario Geoff Kitt Junior F 6' 3" (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1997-02-09 Dryden, Ontario Carleton Place (CCHL) —
11 Ohio Steven Ipri Junior F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 155 lb (70 kg) 1998-03-13 Broadview Heights, Ohio Lone Star (NAHL) —
12 Minnesota Austin Heidemann Freshman F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-06-27 Maple Grove, Minnesota Sioux City (USHL) —
13 Pennsylvania Paul Maust Sophomore F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1998-06-24 Butler, Pennsylvania Green Bay (USHL) —
14 Ohio Gueorgui Feduolov Sophomore F 5' 9" (1.75 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1998-12-10 Mentor, Ohio Shreveport (NAHL) —
15 Ontario Dante Spagnuolo Sophomore F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 178 lb (81 kg) 1998-09-04 Newmarket, Ontario North York (OJHL) —
16 British Columbia Wyatt Head Freshman D 6' 1" (1.85 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1999-03-28 Kelowna, British Columbia Coquitlam (BCHL) —
16 Ontario Ashton Stockie Sophomore F 6' 1" (1.85 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-07-15 Stratford, Ontario North York (OJHL) —
18 Pennsylvania Dalton Hunter Junior F 6' 3" (1.91 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1997-09-26 Greensburg, Pennsylvania Dubuque (USHL) —
19 Illinois Garrett Dahm Freshman F 6' 1" (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 2000-06-29 Belleville, Illinois Youngstown (USHL) —
20 Ontario Keanan Stewart Freshman F 6' 3" (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 2000-04-29 Elmira, Ontario Burlington (OJHL) —
21 New Jersey Khristian Acosta Sophomore F 5' 8" (1.73 m) 170 lb (77 kg) 1998-05-05 Port Monmouth, New Jersey Tri-City (USHL) —
22 Ontario Brendan Schneider Sophomore F 5' 9" (1.75 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1998-08-26 Wellesley, Ontario Merritt (BCHL) —
23 New Jersey Jonathan Bendorf Sophomore F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1999-02-26 Yardville, New Jersey Aberdeen (NAHL) —
24 Minnesota Marko Reifenberger Freshman F 6' 0" (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-01-19 Hastings, Minnesota Minnesota Magicians (NAHL) —
25 Ontario Joseph Maziarz Sophomore D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 190 lb (86 kg) 1999-02-23 Waterloo, Ontario North York (OJHL) —
27 Wisconsin Carver Watson Sophomore D 5' 11" (1.8 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1998-03-03 Appleton, Wisconsin Vernon (BCHL) —
28 Saskatchewan Josh McDougall Junior D 5' 10" (1.78 m) 187 lb (85 kg) 1998-06-19 Prince Albert, Saskatchewan Nipawin (SJHL) —
29 Minnesota Hank Johnson Senior G 6' 1" (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) 1996-01-10 Minneapolis, Minnesota Bemidji State (WCHA) —
31 Missouri Kyle McClellan Freshman G 6' 1" (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1999-03-18 Manchester, Missouri Omaha (USHL) —
34 New York (state) Noah Kane Freshman F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1999-11-27 Buffalo, New York Maine (NAHL) —
37 Ontario Rylee St. Onge Sophomore F 5' 10" (1.78 m) 195 lb (88 kg) 1998-04-22 St. Catharines, Ontario Alaska Anchorage (WCHA) —
38 Ontario Dante Sheriff Freshman F 5' 11" (1.8 m) 180 lb (82 kg) 1999-08-04 Brampton, Ontario Austin (NAHL) —

Standings[]

2020–21 Atlantic Hockey Standings
Conference record Overall record
GP W L T OW OL SW PTS PT% GF GA GP W L T GF GA
#15 American International †* 12 11 1 0 1 0 0 32 .889 47 18 19 15 4 0 67 40
Army 15 10 4 1 3 1 1 30 .667 42 33 22 15 6 1 71 48
Robert Morris 15 10 5 0 2 1 0 29 .644 58 48 24 15 9 0 85 69
Canisius 13 8 5 0 1 1 0 24 .615 42 34 17 11 6 0 59 46
RIT 13 7 5 1 0 0 1 23 .590 43 40 20 9 9 2 68 70
Sacred Heart 13 6 6 1 1 2 0 20 .513 35 38 18 6 10 2 43 59
Mercyhurst 16 7 8 1 1 1 1 23 .479 54 50 21 8 12 1 64 67
Bentley 15 4 11 0 1 5 0 16 .356 35 48 16 5 11 0 42 51
Niagara 15 3 9 3 0 2 1 15 .333 39 53 22 7 12 3 57 70
Air Force 13 3 9 1 2 1 0 9 .231 32 49 14 3 10 1 35 56
Holy Cross 12 3 9 0 2 0 0 7 .194 22 38 16 4 12 0 30 52
Championship: March 20, 2021
† indicates conference regular season champion
* indicates conference tournament champion (Riley Trophy)
Rankings: USCHO.com Top 20 Poll

Schedule and Results[]

Date Time Opponent# Rank# Site TV Decision Result Attendance Record
Regular Season
December 5 1:30 PM at #18 Bowling Green* Slater Family Ice Arena • Bowling Green, Ohio   Johnson W 2–1  300 1–0–0
December 6 3:00 PM vs. #18 Bowling Green* Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   Johnson L 1–3  149 1–1–0
December 12 5:00 PM vs. #7 Clarkson* Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   Johnson L 3–4 OT 89 1–2–0
December 13 4:00 PM vs. #7 Clarkson* Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   Johnson L 2–6  89 1–3–0
December 16 5:05 PM vs. Niagara Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   Johnson T 3–3 SOW 97 1–3–1 (0–0–1)
December 18 7:00 PM at Niagara Dwyer Arena • Lewiston, New York   Johnson W 7–4  0 2–3–1 (1–0–1)
January 2 4:35 PM at Canisius LECOM Harborcenter • Buffalo, New York   Johnson L 2–3  0 2–4–1 (1–1–1)
January 3 3:00 PM vs. Canisius Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   Johnson L 0–3  127 2–5–1 (1–2–1)
January 8 5:00 PM vs. Air Force Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   Johnson W 5–2  127 3–5–1 (2–2–1)
January 9 3:00 PM vs. Air Force Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   McClellan W 6–3  137 4–5–1 (3–2–1)
January 19 4:30 PM vs. #17 Robert Morris Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   Johnson W 3–2 OT 127 5–5–1 (4–2–1)
January 23 4:35 PM vs. #17 Robert Morris Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   Johnson W 7–5  75 6–5–1 (5–2–1)
January 28 5:00 PM at RIT Gene Polisseni Center • Henrietta, New York   Johnson L 4–6  0 6–6–1 (5–3–1)
January 30 7:30 PM vs. Robert Morris Colonials Arena • Neville Township, Pennsylvania   Johnson L 3–5  0 6–7–1 (5–4–1)
February 5 5:00 PM at RIT Gene Polisseni Center • Henrietta, New York   McClellan L 1–2  0 6–8–1 (5–5–1)
February 6 5:05 PM vs. RIT Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   Johnson W 6–2  0 7–8–1 (6–5–1)
February 9 7:05 PM vs. Canisius Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   McClellan L 1–3  0 7–9–1 (6–6–1)
February 16 7:05 PM at Canisius LECOM Harborcenter • Buffalo, New York   McClellan L 4–5 OT 0 7–10–1 (6–7–1)
February 19 7:05 PM vs. Niagara Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania   McClellan W 1–0  0 8–10–1 (7–7–1)
February 20 7:00 PM vs. Niagara Dwyer Arena • Lewiston, New York   McClellan L 1–2  0 8–11–1 (7–8–1)
Atlantic Hockey Tournament
March 8 5:00 PM vs. Niagara* Mercyhurst Ice Center • Erie, Pennsylvania (First Round)   McClellan L 2–3  163 8–12–1
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from USCHO.com Poll. All times are in Eastern Time.

[4]

Scoring Statistics[]

Name Position Games Goals Assists Points PIM
Carson Brière C/RW 21 5 14 19 10
Jonathan Bendorf LW 21 11 4 15 2
Dante Sheriff F 19 5 10 15 31
Gueorgui Feduolov F 21 4 9 13 16
Joseph Maziarz D 20 1 12 13 8
Austin Heidemann F 16 7 5 12 9
Geoff Kitt C 19 3 6 9 4
Owen Norton D 19 0 9 9 8
Michael Bevilacqua D 21 5 3 8 8
Paul Maust LW 21 3 5 8 28
Josh McDougall D/F 17 1 7 8 0
Steven Ipri F 11 4 2 6 12
Noah Kane C 19 4 2 6 6
Marko Reifenberger C 21 1 5 6 4
Cade Townend D 21 2 3 5 14
Brendan Schneider C 9 2 2 4 5
Rylee St. Onge LW 9 1 3 4 0
Devon Daniels D 18 1 3 4 0
Justin Cmunt LW 11 2 1 3 8
Dante Spagnuolo C 13 1 2 3 10
Keanan Stewart F 13 1 2 3 17
Dalton Hunter RW 8 0 3 3 2
Quinn Wichers D 17 0 3 3 4
Khristian Acosta F 7 0 1 1 4
Hank Johnson G 15 0 1 1 0
Wyatt Head D 2 0 0 0 0
Devon Mussio D 3 0 0 0 0
Kyle McClellan G 6 0 0 0 0
Total 64 117 181 214

[5]

Goaltending statistics[]

Name Games Minutes Wins Losses Ties Goals Against Saves Shut Outs SV % GAA
Kyle McClellan 6 355 2 4 0 12 164 1 .932 2.03
Hank Johnson 15 904 6 8 1 52 469 0 .900 3.45
Empty Net - 13 - - - 3 - - - -
Total 21 1273 8 12 1 67 633 1 .904 3.16

Rankings[]

Main article: 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey rankings
Poll Week
Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 (Final)
USCHO.com NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR - NR
USA Today NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR NR

USCHO did not release a poll in week 20.[6]

Awards and honors[]

Player Award Ref
Joseph Maziarz Atlantic Hockey Second Team [7]
Jon Bendorf
Carson Brière
Carson Brière Atlantic Hockey Rookie Team [7]
Austin Heidemann

References[]

  1. ^ "NCAA approves blanket waiver for 2020 fall sports athletes to retain year of eligibility". CBS Sports. August 21, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  2. ^ "DI Council grants waiver to allow transfer student-athletes to compete immediately". NCAA. December 16, 2020. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
  3. ^ "2020–21 Men's Ice Hockey Roster". Mercyhurst Athletics. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  4. ^ "Mercyhurst Lakers (Men) 2020-2021 Schedule and Results". College Hockey Stats. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
  5. ^ "Mercyhurst Univ. 2020-2021 Skater Stats". Elite Prospects. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
  6. ^ "USCHO Division I Men's Poll". USCHO.com. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b "Atlantic Hockey Announces All-Conference and All-Rookie Winners". Atlantic Hockey. March 11, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2021.
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