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Sports Men's hockey advances to final five in AHA
By Chris Davis Sports editor The snow storm across the Midwest slowed down travel this weekend, but the blizzard did not affect the Mercyhurst College men’s hockey team, as it swept a best-of-three series in the AH Quarterfinals against rival Canisius College in the MIC. The Lakers picked up a 4-1 win Friday and followed that with a 2-1 overtime thriller on Saturday. "The team came out and they were fired up," said junior goalkeeper Matt Lundin, who made 41 spectacular saves to help the Lakers have an impressive opening day win. "[Mercyhurst] scored the first goal, which is always a key. Everyone knows it is the playoffs right now and everyone’s playing their hardest. It’s a great win." "We knew it was going to be a physical series," head coach Rick Gotkin said. "Our guys played hard and we created some great opportunities and it was great to win." The Lakers put up three straight goals during the second period after a scoreless first period to give them a 3-0 lead on Friday. "(Lundin’s) been there for us all year," junior Brett Robinson said. "He made a great save in the beginning of the second period. Right after that we scored a couple of goals and felt like we were going to win this game because he made those saves." "When you have a guy back there like that than you feel confident in doing a little more offensively because you know he will bail you out a couple times," Robinson said. Mercyhurst started scoring when Robinson found the back of the net with a one-timer past Golden Griffins’ goalie Andrew Loewen. Assists came from junior Matt Pierce and sophomore Cullen Eddy. "The first goal built everyone’s confidence," said Pierce. "We definitely got the bounces we needed." Robinson agreed. "When that first goal went in, it was more of a relief then anything," he said. "We were like now we can start rolling." Three underclassmen contributed to the second Lakers’ goal, as sophomore Chris Risi answered 5:30 after the first goal with help from Eddy and freshman Jesse Echternach. Less than two minutes later Pierce fired in a goal, as he deflected in a shot previously attempted by senior Ben Cottreau. "Goals are momentum," said Gotkin. "We were a little bit uptight to start the game. When we scored that first goal we relaxed a little bit and that led to a second and third goal." During the final 13 seconds of the third period Mercyhurst’s Lundin came up with two incredible saves and helped to give the Lakers a 3-0 lead heading into the second intermission. During the third period, the Lakers had to come up with some huge power play kills to earn the victory. Despite Canisius scoring with 13:44 left in the third period, Mercyhurst sealed the victory when freshman Mike Gurtler shot a laser top-shelf into the back of the net. "We did a great job killing penalties and I think thats what won it for us," Lundin said. "Our players are ready and know they can put the ball in the back of the net." Gotkin and Pierce agreed. "Your best penalty killer is your goaltender," Gotkin said. "Matt Lundin was clearly on top of his game." "Having him on his game really helped out," said Pierce. "The guys on the back end really chipped in and helped out and got pucks down the ice when we needed it." "The saves were easier to make when our team was firing around like that," said Lundin. "They put the puck into the back of the net and that just gave me more confidence to make saves." Just like the previous day, Saturday’s game was a close battle. Goalie play was sensational as both made unbelievable saves in an effort to give their teams every chance of winning. Pierce gave the Lakers first blood with 6:34 left in the first period as he found the back of the net on a power play, to put Mercyhurst up 1-0 heading into the first intermission. The Griffins answered in the second period with a short-handed goal from Vincent Scarsella to net it up at one. Canisius and the Lakers each had several opportunities for potential game-winners through the remaining portion of regulation. Lundin made a potential game-saver with 6:08 left in the third when a shot was able to get past him, but he was still able to cover it up before it dribbled into the net. After a couple saves by both Loewen and Lundin in overtime, Mercyhurst senior Kerry Bowman advanced the Lakers to Rochester as he fired the game-winner into the back of the net on great passes from sophomore Nick Vandenbeld and Cottreau to set it up. "Before it was a great pass from Cottreau who gave me the space," said Vandenbeld. "I saw Bowman with a nice lane and my eyes just lit up and he’s a righty." "I didn’t think too much; it was just reaction," said Bowman. "I saw Nick and I was praying that he saw me. And once he saw me I just tried to put it on the net." "I threw it over to him and he just finished it and I never felt so good in my life," Vandenbeld said. "We have a lot of confidence going into this weekend," said Lundin. "Our penalty killing all weekend has been great and that’s spearheaded by Lundin and he played great this weekend," Gotkin said. "We killed five-on -fours, we killed five-on-threes and four-on-threes and we didn’t give them a lot of life. When you kill penalties it gives you momentum." "(Lundin came up) huge," said Vandenbeld. "He’s the number one penalty killer and that’s for sure. I heard before he came here he was a whole different goaltender in the playoffs and he has proven it so far." "You couldn’t ask for better momentum," said Gotkin. "You couldn’t have wrote a better script for the finish." "The old cliché is your goalie got to be your best penalty-killer and he played unbelievable this weekend," said Bowman. "Other then concentrating on who were playing and getting to know them well, it’s business as usual. We want to keep in the same routine with what’s worked." "We’re playing with confidence," he said. "We know we can win and if we play our best we know we can beat anybody."
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