What: Brown (2-10-3) at No. 4/5 Mercyhurst College (16-4-0)

When: Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m.

Where: Tullio Arena

On the air: www.americaone.com (Internet video), www.wmce.com (Internet radio)

Players to watch

Mercyhurst – Jr. G Hillary Pattenden (15-4-0 record, 2.45 goals-against average, .891 save percentage, 2 shutouts), Sr. F Meghan Agosta (22 goals, 28 assists, 50 points), Sr. F Jesse Scanzano (12-19-31), Sr. F Vicki Bendus (11-20-31), Fr. F Christine Bestland (13-13-26)

Brown – So. F Laurie Jolin (5-3-8), Fr. F Jessica Hoyle (2-4-6), So. F Erica Farrer (3-3-6), Fr. D Jennifer Nedow (0-6-6), So. F Alena Polenska (3-2-5)

Fast facts

Mercyhurst – The Lakers play their final two regular-season games at Tullio Arena, site of the NCAA Women’s Division I Frozen Four in March. They beat Colgate 4-2 Nov. 27. … Coach Michael Sisti (298-82-26) needs two wins to reach 300. He will be the sixth fastest to reach that mark and second fastest among Division I coaches (Shannon Miller, Minnesota Duluth). … Scanzano needs two points to join Agosta (267) and former Laker Valerie Chouinard (201 from 2005-08) as the only players in program history to reach 200. … The Lakers lead the all-time series with the Bears 6-2. … Agosta has recorded 16 multi-point games on her way to a nation-best 50 points. … Pattenden recorded her eighth career shutout in Saturday’s win against Syracuse. She needs eight wins to equal 2008 graduate Laura Hosier’s school record of 74… Bendus and junior F Bailey Bram (9-14-23) missed the past four games to lead Canada’s National Under-22 team to gold at the MLP Cup in Switzerland. … The Lakers have a 3-1 record against Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Hockey League schools (wins against Cornell and Colgate and a two-game split with St. Lawrence). … Admission to the games is free. …

Brown – Coach Digit Murphy has the most wins in women’s Division I history (324 in 20 years). … The Bears are winless in nine straight games (0-7-2). … They play their third and fourth games of the second half against top-5 teams (losses to No. 3 Boston University and No. 2 Cornell). …Their five-game road trip was set to begin Wednesday at Yale. But the game was moved to Feb. 15 because of the East Coast snowstorm. … The Bears have 13 freshmen and sophomores on the 22-player roster. … They have scored two goals or fewer in 15-of-16 games.

Up next: vs. Cornell (Tuesday, 7 p.m.)

– Victor Fernandes

The Mercyhurst College women’s hockey team and Erie Otters will play three day-night doubleheaders at Tullio Arena this season. The games are a lead-in to the NCAA Women’s Division I Frozen Four, set for March 18-20 at the downtown arena, Lakers coach Michael Sisti said Monday.

The Lakers have moved three games – Nov. 27 against Colgate and a two-game series with Brown on Jan. 14-15 – from Mercyhurst Ice Center to Tullio Arena. All three games are scheduled for 2 p.m. starts, said Casey Wells, Erie County Convention Center Authority executive director.

The Otters have home games against Kitchener on Nov. 27, Barrie on Jan. 14 and London on Jan. 15. All three games begin at 7 p.m.

“(The Tullio staff will have) extra people with locker rooms and things to juggle,” Sisti said. “It’s a nice trial run for everyone to get used to things and to smooth out anything as they get closer to hosting the (Frozen) Four.”

- Victor Fernandes

Otters-Lakers doubleheader schedule

at Tullio Arena

Nov. 27

Colgate at Mercyhurst, 2 p.m.

Kitchener at Erie, 7 p.m.

Jan. 14

Brown at Mercyhurst, 2 p.m.

Barrie at Erie, 7 p.m.

Jan. 15

Brown at Mercyhurst, 2 p.m.

London at Erie, 7 p.m.

Vicki Bendus (Contributed/Mercyhurst College)

The Mercyhurst College women’s hockey team will play 32 games during the 2010-11 season, including a home-and-home series against 2010 NCAA Division I Women’s Frozen Four opponent Cornell and a regular-season contest against perennial power Wisconsin.

“As always, we have a very tough road ahead of us,” said head coach Michael Sisti, who released the details of the schedule Monday evening. “Playing a schedule like this helps us compete against the teams in our league and prepares us for a deep run in the playoffs.”

Twelve opponents representing all four women’s hockey conferences will face the Lakers this season. Four teams hail from ECAC Hockey, three from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and one from the Hockey East Association (HEA), in addition to the four teams that are scheduled from the Lakers’ conference, College Hockey America (CHA). Altogether, the Lakers own a combined 164-33-12 record against opponents on their schedule.

The schedule will be one of the toughest the team has ever faced, with 18-0f-32 games taking place on the road, including six against teams that were ranked in the top 10 last season. Fourteen games and one exhibition are set for the Mercyhurst Ice Center.

Mercyhurst opens the year with its first three games at home, beginning with an exhibition contest against Canadian university Wilfred Laurier on Sept. 25. The season officially opens with a two-game series against St. Cloud State on Oct. 1-2.

The Lakers then play eight of their next nine games on the road, starting with back-to-back weekend series at Maine (Oct. 8-9) and Bemidji State (Oct. 15-16). After a home game against Robert Morris (Oct. 29), the Lakers travel to Cornell (Nov. 2) and Niagara (Nov. 6) before opening CHA play at Wayne State (Nov. 20-21).

Returning from Detroit, Mercyhurst welcomes Colgate (Nov. 27) and Niagara (Dec. 3-4) to Erie for its first home games in almost a month. A pair of road contests at St. Lawrence await to close out the first half of the season on Dec. 10-11.

After the winter break, Mercyhurst stays on the road for its first two games of the new year, taking part in the 2011 Easton Holiday Showcase in St. Cloud, Minn. The Lakers face host St. Cloud State on Jan. 1 and Wisconsin on Jan. 2, their first meeting with the Badgers since the 2009 NCAA Women’s Frozen Four title game.

Home series against Syracuse (Jan. 7-8) and Brown (Jan. 14-15) and a game against Cornell (Jan. 18) welcome the Lakers back home and prepare them for their fourth four-game road trip of the season to close out the month of January.

Mercyhurst wraps up the final month of the regular season with a visit from Wayne State (Feb. 4-5) and a trip to Syracuse (Feb. 11-12) before hosting Robert Morris on Feb. 25.

The 2011 CHA Championship Tournament will be hosted by Syracuse on Mar. 3-5 at the Tennity Ice Pavilion in Syracuse, N.Y. Mercyhurst will host the 2011 Women’s Frozen Four on March 18-20 at Tullio Arena.

- From Mercyhurst College news release, staff reports