The Mercyhurst men’s hockey team will open the 2013-14 season by playing in the prestigious Ice Breaker Tournament for the first time. The 17-year-old event, which will be held Oct. 11-12 at Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis, also will include Clarkson and New Hampshire and the host Gophers. The four teams in the field have reached a combined 89 NCAA Division I tournaments. Minnesota and New Hampshire made the national playoffs this past season.

The Mercyhurst University women’s hockey team will face Cornell Saturday at 1 p.m. in their NCAA Division I quarterfinal game at Lynah Rink in Ithaca, N.Y. All four games in the opening round will be played Saturday. Harvard (24-6-3) and fourth-seeded Boston College (26-6-3) will join the Lakers (28-6-1) and second-seeded Big Red (27-5-1) in playing at 1 p.m. Clarkson (28-9-0) travels to No. 3 Boston University for a 3 p.m. game, while top-seeded and defending champion Minnesota (38-0-0) hosts North Dakota (26-11-1) at 5 p.m.
In other news, the Lakers swept College Hockey America’s weekly honors. Junior forward Christine Bestland was named player of the week for totaling two goals and three points in wins against Robert Morris and Syracuse that clinched the program’s 10th conference title in the past 11 years. Senior Stephanie Ciampa earned top goaltender honors for stopping 45-of-47 shots in the two games. Jenna Dingeldein had a goal and three points to earn top rookie honors.

NCAA Women’s Division I Tournament schedule
Quarterfinals – Saturday
Harvard (24-6-3) at No. 4 Boston College (26-6-3), 1 p.m.
Mercyhurst (28-6-1) at No. 2 Cornell (27-5-1), 1 p.m.
Clarkson (28-9-0) at No. 3 Boston University (26-5-3), 3 p.m.
North Dakota (26-11-1) at No. 1 Minnesota (38-0-0), 5 p.m.
Semifinals*
March 22 at Ridder Arena – Minneapolis, Minn.
UND-Minnesota winner vs. Harvard-BC winner, 6 or 9 p.m.
Mercyhurst-Cornell winner vs. Clarkson-BU winner, 6 or 9 p.m.
Championship game*
March 24 at Ridder Arena – Minneapolis, Minn.
Semifinal winners, 4 p.m.
* Streamed live on NCAA.com

NCAA Women’s Division I Tournament schedule
Quarterfinals – Friday or Saturday
North Dakota (26-11-1) at No. 1 Minnesota (38-0-0), Saturday at 5 p.m.
Harvard (24-6-3) at No. 4 Boston College (26-6-3), Saturday at 1 p.m.
Mercyhurst (28-6-1) at No. 2 Cornell (27-5-1), TBD
Clarkson (28-9-0) at No. 3 Boston University (26-5-3), Saturday at 3 p.m.
Semifinals*
March 22 at Ridder Arena – Minneapolis, Minn.
UND-Minnesota winner vs. Harvard-BC winner, 6 or 9 p.m.
Mercyhurst-Cornell winner vs. Clarkson-BU winner, 6 or 9 p.m.
Championship game*
March 24 at Ridder Arena – Minneapolis, Minn.
Semifinal winners, 4 p.m.
* Streamed live on NCAA.com

Mercyhurst University (8-6-1) at Maine (4-11-2)
When: Today and Saturday, 7:07 p.m.
Where: Today at Cumberland County Civic Center – Portland, Maine, Saturday at Alfond Arena – Orono, Maine
On the air: www.goblackbears.com (live stream, audio and statistics)*
What to expect: Mercyhurst begins the second half with a two-game series Maine, who are last in Hockey East Association this season. … The Lakers capped the opening half with three straight wins and five victories in their past seven games. … The Lakers play their 14th and 15th road games of the season. In contrast, they have played only three home games. … After this weekend, they play 11 of their final 17 regular-season games at Mercyhurst Ice Center. … Tonight’s game will be played in the home arena of the AHL’s Portland Pirates. … Mercyhurst faces Maine for the first time since being swept 4-2 and 4-1 Oct. 19-20, 2007. The Lakers are 0-4-1 in five career meetings, all at Maine. They tied 1-1 Dec. 16, 2006. But they earned their first career win in six tries against Clarkson last month. … Lakers coach Rick Gotkin said junior D Randy Cure (upper-body injury), freshman D Anthony Mastrodicasa (lower body), sophomore F Edward DeWald (upper body) and junior F John Mousso (lower body) won’t rejoin the lineup this weekend as originally hoped. The Lakers also lost junior F Kyle Just to an upper-body injury Dec. 18 against Canisius. … The Black Bears posted their first two-game winning streak of the season last weekend, as they captured the championship of the Florida College Classic in Estero, Fla., with wins against Minnesota Duluth and No. 12 Cornell. … Maine has played 10 games against eight teams currently ranked among USCHO.com’s top 20 or on the honorable-mention list (Boston College, Boston University, Cornell, Massachusetts, Massachusetts-Lowell, New Hampshire, Notre Dame and Providence). They are 2-7-1 in those games.
* Live stream for Saturday’s game only

- Victor Fernandes

The Clarkson women’s hockey team didn’t many scoring chances against Mercyhurst University Friday night. Three power-play goals were more than enough for the fifth-ranked Golden Knights to hand the No. 7 Lakers their first loss of the season, 3-0, at Mercyhurst Ice Center.
Meanwhile, the Lakers (5-1-1) had 36 shots on goal, including 16 in the third period. Yet they couldn’t solve Clarkson’s stifling defense on the way to the Lakers’ first shutout loss since a 1-0 defeat to Quinnipiac on Oct. 1, 2011.

The Clarkson women’s hockey team didn’t many scoring chances against Mercyhurst University Friday night. Three power-play goals were more than enough for the fifth-ranked Golden Knights to hand the No. 7 Lakers their first loss of the season, 3-0, at Mercyhurst Ice Center.
Meanwhile, the Lakers (5-1-1) had 36 shots on goal, including 16 in the third period. Yet they couldn’t solve Clarkson’s stifling defense on the way to the Lakers’ first shutout loss since a 1-0 defeat to Quinnipiac on Oct. 1, 2011.

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Mercyhurst College women’s hockey team has been ranked third in the first edition of the USCHO.com Division I Women’s Poll, released Monday by USCHO.com officials.

The Lakers earned 115 points after finishing the 2009-10 season with a 30-3-3 record.

Defending national champion Minnesota Duluth was ranked first with 148 points and 14 of the possible 15 first-place votes, followed by Cornell in second with 121 points. Minnesota and Wisconsin occupied the fourth and fifth spots with 98 and 87 points, respectively, with the Golden Gophers claiming the final first-place vote. Boston University (86), Clarkson (51), Harvard (35), Boston College (32) and New Hampshire (18) and Providence (18) in a tie rounded out rankings 6 – 10.

The USCHO.com Poll is compiled weekly and consists of 15 voters, including 14 coaches of Division I programs and three women’s hockey writers. Mercyhurst opens its 2010-11 campaign on Friday against St. Cloud State at 7 p.m. at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.

- From Mercyhurst news release