Sept. 23, 2005

Erie, Pa, - Mercyhurst had another tremendous season in 2004-05, winning the Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) playoffs for the third time in five years, and giving the Boston College Eagles all they could handle in the NCAA East Regional at Worcester, Mass., before bowing 5-4. Head Coach Rick Gotkin achieved yet another milestone with his 300th career win, all at Mercyhurst.

The Lakers started the 2004-05 campaign slowly and, by early February, were just 8-14-4 overall and an uncharacteristic 7-6-3 in the conference. No one on the coaching staff or team panicked, however, since nine of the setbacks had come by one goal. From that point on, most of the bounces went Mercyhurst's way. The Lakers won seven of eight regular season games down the stretch and finished in a second-place conference tie with Canisius.

With momentum firmly established, the Lakers kept rolling, rallying from a 4-2 deficit against UConn in the AHA Quarterfinals for a 7-4 win before edging both Holy Cross (4-3, ot) and Quinnipiac (3-2, ot) in the conference Semifinals and Championship. Mercyhurst then got 52 saves from goaltender Mike Ella against Boston College in an exciting playoff contest in the Eagles' backyard. Mercyhurst owned 1-0 and 2-1 leads against BC before the Eagles rallied.

Mercyhurst graduated four players from last year's squad, including forwards Rich Hansen and David Wrigley and defensemen T.J. Kemp and Mike Kirby. The quartet combined for nearly 100 points (36g, 63a) in 2004-05. Kemp was an All-Conference First team selection, Wrigley was named to the Second Team, and both made the All-Tournament squad. Wrigley, Kemp, and Hansen all tallied against Boston College.

While the Lakers, as always, lost some quality players, they do return eleven forwards, six defensemen, and three goaltenders.

Mercyhurst returns five forwards who finished with double digit points and were among the top ten in scoring. Junior Scott Champagne, the AHA Tournament MVP. Champagne finished second to Wrigley on the team in scoring with 12 goals and 26 assists for 38 points. His overtime goal against Quinnipiac propelled Mercyhurst to Worcester, Mass., and the East Regional. He ended the season with a 19-game scoring streak. Senior Dave Borrelli was third in scoring with 17 goals and 18 assists while sophomore Ben Cottreau, the Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Year, was fourth with 17 and 17 for 34. Cottreau had the Lakers' other goal against BC in the East Regional and finished the season with at least one point in his final nine games. The other top ten scoring forwards are senior Scott Reynolds (7-16=23) and junior Kyle Gourgon (5-14=19). Reynolds was named the conference's best defensive forward.

Also being counted on up front are sophomore Matt Warren (5-9=14), senior Erik Johnson (4-5=9), sophomore Ryan Toomey (4-4=8), who had the overtime game-winner in the conference semifinals against Holy Cross, junio Jon Asselstine (3-4=7), sophomore Kerry Bowman (2-2=4), and senior Mike Pochatek (1-2=3).

The Mercyhurst defense, which allowed just over three goals-per-game last season, returns six backliners. Seniors Conrad Martin (2-15=17) and Preston Briggs (1-3=40 are the elder statesmen of the unit. Martin was chosen the AHA's best defenseman. Also returning are juniors Pat Henk (0-4=4), Jamie Hunt (5-12=17), and Denis Kirstein (1-5=6), and sophomore Jamie Coghlan (2-1=3).

Three experienced goaltenders are back. Senior Andy Franck (9-12-3, .906, 2.89) played in 26 games with 24 starts last season. Junior Mike Ella played in 15 games, but started the final eight contests of the season. Ella finished with a 9-4-1 record, a .915 save percentage, and a 3.18 goals-against-average. Junior Jordan Wakefield missed the entire 2004-05 campaign because of injury, but did make 14 appearances in 2003-04 (6-6-0, .908, 3.19).

The Lakers will begin their 19th season of varsity hockey with seven new faces on the roster: four forwards, two defensemen, and a goaltender.

The excitement begins October 7 when the Lakers open their season at Michigan Tech in a first-ever meeting. Tech is a member of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA).