Four seniors from the Mercyhurst College men’s hockey team have signed ECHL contracts.

Forward Ryan Raven signed with the Cincinnati Cyclones on Thursday. He made his debut in a 3-1 win against Greenville on Saturday. Forward Scott Pitt has a point in three games with the Florida Everblades. Forward Mike Gurtler signed with the Bakersfield Condors on Saturday. Defenseman Jeff Terminesi signed with the Victoria Salmon Kings on Friday. He has no points in two games.

Meghan Agosta (Contributed/Mercyhurst College)

Senior forward Meghan Agosta was the Mercyhurst College women’s hockey team’s only player on the Reebok Hockey/ACHA All-America Team. The honorees were announced at the NCAA Women’s Division I Frozen Four’s Welcome Banquet on Thursday at Ambassador Banquet & Conference Center.

Agosta, who leads the nation in scoring with 86 points, earned the honor for the fourth straight year.

She was joined on the first team by four players participating in this weekend’s NCAA Women’s Division I Frozen Four – senior goaltender Molly Schaus (Boston College), sophomore defenseman Laura Fortino (Cornell) and senior forward Meghan Duggan and junior forward Hilary Knight of Wisconsin. Senior defenseman Jocelyne Larocque (Minnesota Duluth) also was named to the first team.

The second team included sophomore goaltender Noora Raty (Minnesota), senior defenseman Catherine Ward (Boston University), sophomore forward Brianna Decker (Wisconsin), senior forward Kelli Stack (BC) and sophomore defenseman Lauriane Rougeau and junior forward Rebecca Johnston from Cornell.

In other news, Mercyhurst freshmen forward Taylor Holstrom was named Atlantic Hockey Association’s rookie of the year. Holstrom, who had nine goals and 33 points in 36 games this season, also was named to the all-rookie team. Senior goaltender Ryan Zapolski, an Erie native, earned a spot on the second team. Seniors Jeff Terminesi, a defenseman, and Scott Pitt, a forward, were on the third team.

What: Mercyhurst College (13-15-4, 11-12-2 AHA) vs. Canisius (10-16-6, 9-11-5)

When: Friday and Saturday, 7:05 p.m.

Where: Friday at Buffalo State Sports Arena; Saturday at Mercyhurst Ice Center

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

Players to watch

Mercyhurst – Sr. G Ryan Zapolski (11-12-3 record, 2.88 goals-against average, .919 save percentage, 2 shutouts), Sr. F Scott Pitt (15-18-33), So. F Paul Chiasson (16-14-31), Fr. F Taylor Holstrom (8-21-29), Sr. F Mike Gurtler (7-16-23)

Canisius – Sr. F Cory Conacher (19-13-32), Sr. F Vincent Scarsella (10-16-26), Fr. D Ben Danford (2-20-22), Sr. F Eric Rex (7-14-21), Jr. G Dan Morrison (7-13-4, 3.50, .903, 1 SO)

Fast facts

Mercyhurst – The Lakers, who are winless in their last four games (0-3-1), will clinch the fifth spot in the Atlantic Hockey Association’s West pod with a win in the regular season-ending series with the sixth-place Golden Griffins. … The Lakers will begin the playoffs on the road against the West pod’s third or fourth seed. … Redshirt sophomore F Phil Ginand (upper-body injury) is out for the season. … Senior F Steve Cameron (lower body) could miss the rest of the season. … Freshman F Nick Jones (upper body) will miss this weekend’s games. But coach Rick Gotkin hopes he will be cleared to play for the playoffs. … Junior D Patrick Goebel (upper body) rejoins the lineup after missing the past two weekends. …The school will honor seniors Cameron, Gurtler, Pitt, Zapolski, Jeff Terminesi, Ryan Raven and Jesse Echternach before Saturday’s game. … The Lakers lost 5-2 to Canisius in October, but they lead the all-time series 34-22-9. … Gurtler needs nine points to become the 15^th player in the program’s NCAA Division I history to reach 100 career points and the third this season (Pitt and Cameron). Gurtler also needs two short-handed goals to equal the program’s Division I career record of 10 set by Louis Goulet (1998-2002), now an assistant coach with the women’s team. … Zapolski, an Erie native, has 46 career wins, four shy of being the Lakers’ first goaltender to reach 50 since Peter Aubry in 2002. … The Lakers are tied for ninth nationally in scoring offense (3.53 goals per game), one spot ahead of Air Force (3.56).

Canisius – The Golden Griffins snapped a three-game losing streak (all by shutout) with a 6-3 win at Niagara on Saturday. … They were shut out in three straight games for the first time in the program’s 31-year history. … Conacher is the Division I program’s all-time leading scorer (132 points). … Danford has set a new program record for points by a rookie defenseman. … Fairview native Rex’s 21 points are eight more than his first three seasons combined. … The Golden Griffins have won four straight against the Lakers and five in a row at MIC.

Up next: at Atlantic Hockey Association tournament – first round (TBA)

* Radio broadcast – home game only

– Victor Fernandes

The Mercyhurst College men’s hockey team allowed a valuable point to slip away Saturday night.

The Lakers squandered a two-goal lead in the final two minutes of regulation before settling for a 4-4 Atlantic Hockey Association tie with Robert Morris at Mercyhurst Ice Center.

RMU (17-9-5, 12-7-5 AHA) erased that 4-2 deficit by scoring twice in a span of 57 seconds with goaltender Brooks Ostergard pulled for an extra attacker. Trevor Lewis scored off a rebound of Denny Urban’s shot to pull the Colonials within 4-3 with 1:58 left. Then with 1:01 left, Urban and Adam Brace assisted on Lewis’ tying goal. The teams failed to score in the five-minute overtime.

The Lakers (13-13-4, 11-10-1) and Colonials exchanged goals in the opening two minutes. RMU’s Furman South scored off a rebound a minute after Mercyhurst’s Phil Ginand scored on assists from Ryan Raven and Nate Jensen.

But a key sequence late in the period allowed the Lakers to take a two-goal lead into the second period.

Senior captain Scott Pitt scored his 13^th goal of the season to snap the tie with 2:40 left. As teammates celebrated the goal, sophomore forward Paul Chiasson scuffled with a fallen RMU player in front of the Colonials’ net. Ostergard intervened, sparking a multi-player altercation.

Chiasson received a 10-minute misconduct. Yet the Lakers received a power play because of Ostergard’s two-minute roughing penalty. Thirty-eight seconds later, junior forward Derek Elliott scored with the man advantage, with assists from Mike Gurtler and Jeff  Terminesi, to hand the Lakers a 3-1 lead.

The Colonials capitalized on a power play late in the second, as Colin South deflected Urban’s point shot past Lakers goaltender Ryan Zapolski, an Erie native, to slice RMU’s deficit to 3-2 at the 15:36 mark.

But 38 seconds later, the Lakers responded on Pitt’s second goal of the game for a 4-2 lead.

Yet RMU overcame a disallowed goal with 2:13 left in the third, which would have moved the Colonials within a goal, to cap a dominant final period with their pair of stunning goals. They outshot the Lakers 15-6 in the period. Mercyhurst finished with a 40-37 advantage overall.

- Victor Fernandes

SUMMARY

Mercyhurst 4, Robert Morris 4

Robert Morris  1  1  2  0  —  4

Mercyhurst  3  1  0  0  —  4

1^st Period — 1. Mercyhurst, Phil Ginand 12 (Raven, Jensen), :35. 2. RMU, Furman South 6 (Blandina, Chiavetta), 1:36. 3. Mercyhurst, Scott Pitt 13 (Terminesi, Holstrom), 17:20. 4. Mercyhurst, Derek Elliott 4 (Gurtler, Terminesi), 17:58 (pp). Penalties — Blandina (R) checking from behind, 5:26; Ostergard (R) roughing (served by C. South), 17:20; Chiasson (M) 10-min. misconduct, 17:20.

2^nd Period — 5. RMU, Colin South 5 (Urban, Longpre), 15:36 (pp). 6. Mercyhurst, Pitt 14 (Holstrom, Chiasson), 16:02. Penalties — Noble (M) tripping, 4:41; RMU, too many men (served by C. South), 6:43; Hervato (R) high sticking, 9:25; Cramer (R) cross checking, 12:06; Elliott (M) boarding, 14:33; Noble (M) slashing, 18:18.

3^rd Period — 7. RMU, Trevor Lewis 8 (Urban, Brace), 18:02. 8. RMU, Lewis 9 (Urban, Brace), 18:59. Penalties — Hervato (R) boarding, 9:30.

Overtime — None. Penalties — Cramer (R) goaltender interference, 3:26; Ginand (M) slashing, 3:26.

Shots on goal — RMU, 11-9-15-2—37; Mercyhurst, 18-12-6-4—40.

Goaltenders — RMU, Brooks Ostergard 13-6-2 (40 shots, 36 saves); Mercyhurst, Ryan Zapolski 11-10-3 (37 shots, 33 saves).

Power plays — RMU (1-3), Mercyhurst (1-6).

Attendance — 793.

HANOVER, N.H. – The Mercyhurst College men’s hockey team nearly pulled off a monumental upset.

The Lakers entered the third period of the Ledyard Bank Classic title game trailing No. 5 Boston College, NCAA Division I’s defending national champion, by a goal. But the Eagles scored twice late in regulation to hand the Lakers a 4-1 loss Friday night at Dartmouth’s Thompson Arena.

BC (13-5-0) built a 2-0 lead on first-period, power-play goals from Kevin Hayes and Brian Gibbons.

Meanwhile, senior goaltender John Muse (30 saves) silenced the Lakers through two periods. But senior defenseman Jeff Terminesi scored a power-play goal on assists from seniors forwards Mike Gurtler and Brandon Coccimiglio 3 minutes, 4 seconds into the third to slice the Eagles’ lead in half at 2-1.

Then with four minutes left in regulation, Mercyhurst (8-10-1) earned its fifth and final opportunity with the man advantage. But Gibbons scored short-handed – his second goal of the game – with 1:20 left.

Barry Almeida’s empty-net goal with 14 seconds left capped the Eagles’ win. Senior goaltender Ryan Zapolski, an Erie native, stopped 34-of-37 shots for the Lakers. Dartmouth, which lost to Mercyhurst in a shootout on Thursday, topped Colgate 4-3 in overtime in the consolation game.

- Victor Fernandes

What: Mercyhurst College (0-0-0) at No. 4 Michigan (0-0-0)

When: Saturday, 7:35 p.m.

Where: Yost Ice Arena – Ann Arbor, Mich.

On the air: www.mgoblue.com (Internet radio)

Phil Ginand (Contributed/Mercyhurst College)

Players to watch: Mercyhurst – F Phil Ginand (15 goals, 19 assists, 34 points in 2008-09), F Mike Gurtler (14-16-30 in 2009-10), F Brandon Coccimiglio (14-14-28), G Ryan Zapolski (15-17-3 record, 2.79 goals-against average, .918 save percentage, 2 shutouts), D Jeff Terminesi (5-13-18, plus-17); Michigan – F Carl Hagelin (19-31-50), F Louie Caporusso (21-22-43), F Matt Rust (13-27-40), F Chris Brown (13-15-28), G Bryan Hogan (18-15-1, 2.33, .901, 4 SO)

Fast facts

Mercyhurst – The Lakers and Wolverines meet on the first official day of the NCAA Division I hockey season. Neither program has begun a season this early in their history. … They meet for the first time since the Wolverines’ season-opening 5-3 home win in 2003-04. The Lakers nearly upset Michigan in their only other previous meeting – in the 2001 NCAA Tournament – before losing 4-3. … Coach Rick Gotkin, who begins his 23^rd season at the school, needs one win to reach 400. … The Lakers begin a season on the road for the ninth straight year. … They have opened a season with Central Collegiate Hockey Association or Western Collegiate Hockey Association teams every year since 2002-03. They are 0-8. … The Lakers are picked to finish second in the Atlantic Hockey Association. … They return 17-of-24 lettermen from a team that finished 15-20-3 overall and 15-10-3 in the conference. … Coccimiglio and F Scott Pitt (7-18-25 in 2009-10) are co-captains. Gurtler and Terminesi are co-captains.

Michigan – The Wolverines return 19-of-25 lettermen from a 2009-10 team that had a 26-18-1 overall record and won the CCHA tournament title and an automatic NCAA Tournament berth after finishing seventh in the regular season (14-13-1). … They are picked to finish first in the CCHA by the media and second by coaches. … The Wolverines have 13 NHL draft picks on their roster, 13 more than the Lakers have produced in the program’s 24-year history. … Coach Red Berenson, who enters his 27^th season, could reach the 700-win mark tonight. … The Wolverines are 19-4-3 in season openers and 22-1-3 in home openers under Berenson. … Hogan and D Kevin Clare are former Erie Otters’ draft picks (2007 and 2008, respectively). … Brown, a Phoenix Coyotes prospect, has ties to Millcreek Township. His parents, Chris and Candy, graduated from McDowell High School in 1985. He still has family in town.

Up next: vs. Queens (exhibition – Sunday, 7:05 p.m.), vs. Western Michigan (Oct. 15-16, 7:05 p.m.)

- Victor Fernandes