Series Notes:
- Lindenwood looks to bounce back after being swept on home ice last weekend against the visiting Syracuse Orange.
- Lindenwood travels to Erie, Pa. for its final regular season series looking to beat its second ranked team of the season.
- The Lady Lions enter play this weekend locked into fifth place in the CHA with 11 points, leaving them eight points clear of Penn State and nine points behind RIT.
- Lindenwood is now guaranteed to go on the road for a best two of three series in the first round of the CHA playoffs. The Lady Lions will play either RIT or Syracuse Feb.28-Mar. 2
- Earlier this season, Mercyhurst came into the Lindenwood Ice Arena and won both games by scoring a total of 11 goals.
- In the first game, the Lakers jumped out quickly to a 3-0 lead including two shorthanded goals in the first period. Lindenwood scored late before falling 7-1.
- Emily Janinga and Christine Bestland each had a hat-trick in the 7-1 win including each scoring a shorthanded goal.
- In the second game, two power-play goals for Mercyhurst propelled them to a 4-1 win.
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Caitlyn Post and
Katie Erickson each had a goal in the series with Erickson's coming via the power play.
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Nicole Hensley played in only the second game of the series and had a .915 save percentage with a 3.50 GAA.
- Lindenwood is 0-10-0 all-time against Mercyhurst, including a 0-4-0 mark in the road contests.
A Look Back at Syracuse:
- Lindenwood was swept in a home series against the Syracuse Orange dropping the first game 5-2 and the second game 2-1.
- Syracuse jumped on the Lady Lions early in the first game scoring three goals in the first period. The Orange also added a power-play goal in the second.
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Kendra Broad and
Katie Erickson scored goals in the third period but it wasn't enough to complete a comeback.
- The Lady Lions dropped the second game 2-1 despite playing one of their better games of the year.
Caitlyn Post scored on a rebound to give LU the lead, however they were unable to hold on for the win.
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Kendra Broad scored in her third consecutive series with her goal in the first game.
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Caitlyn Post had a season-high seven shots in the series finale loss.
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Jocelyn Slattery had an assist in each of the games in her final home series.
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Nicole Hensley made 47 saves on 49 shots in the series finale.
Lindenwood Notes:
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Nicole Hensley continues to be solid between the pipes for Lindenwood. She reached tenth in NCAA history with 1,077 saves on the season.
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Kendra Broad continued to be red hot scoring in her third straight series with her goal in the first game against Syracuse.
- Assistant captain
Chelsea Witwicke continues her standout blue-line play. She blocked two more shots in the last series to add to her team-high 42.
- Lindenwood is locked into the fifth seed in the CHA assuring them a road series against either Syracuse or RIT.
- The loss Friday night to Syracuse broke the team's three-game winning streak, the longest in the team's NCAA History.
- The team's penalty kill continued to step it up holding Syracuse to one of six for the series.
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Kendra Broad's eight goals, nine assists, and 17 points this season all rank in the top-20 for CHA players.
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Katie Erickson lit the lamp again for the second time against the Orange. This was her second goal in as many series.
- The Lady Lions had a lead in the Saturday game against Syracuse going into the third period. The loss was the first this season when the team led after two periods.
- The top line of
Jocelyn Slattery,
Lyndsay Kirkham, and
Kendra Broad has combined for nearly half of the team's goals.
- With the series sweep, Lindenwood falls to 12-3-2 all-time in games played in February.
College Hockey America:
- Two CHA teams are nationally-ranked. Mercyhurst is eighth in both the USCHO.com poll and the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine Poll. Robert Morris is ninth in both rankings.
- This weekend's CHA schedule sees Penn State at Robert Morris, RIT at Syracuse, and Lindenwood at Mercyhurst
- The reigning CHA Players of the Week are Mercyhurst's Emily Janiga (Player of the Week), RIT's Ali Binnington (Goalie of the Week), and Syracuse's Larissa Martyniuk (Rookie of the Week).
About Mercyhurst:
- Mercyhurst comes into the series as one of the hottest teams in the nation ranked No. 8.
- Mercyhurst clinched its 13th CHA regular season title last week with a sweep over Penn State
- The Lakers have one of the top scoring duos in the nation with Christine Bestland and Emily Janiga.
- Bestland sits at fifth in Division I in total points with 46 including 17 goals and a plus/minus of +33.
- Amanda Makela has been a standout in goal with a record of 19-6-3, GAA of 1.88 and a save percentage of .927.
- The Lakers own all top-five spots in CHA for plus/minus this season.
- Michael Sisti is in 12th season as head coach. He has a record of 374-106-33 overall.
Up Next:
- Lindenwood goes on the road for the first round of the CHA Playoffs in a best two of three series at either RIT or Syracuse.
