(Photo Prout)
Erie, PA – It was not a dominant effort but the Mercyhurst University Lakers continued their mastery over the Huskies in a 2-0 shutout win at the Mercyhurst Ice Center in Erie, PA on Friday, October 6. It improved the Lakers record over the Huskies to 10-1-2 since 2001 and an unbeaten streak since 2003.
Two penalties within the first 2:28 of period one led to a pair of power-play goals by the Lakers hometown game hero Marielle Parks and they held up for the balance of the 57:32 in a key rebound win for Mercyhurst who suffered two frustrating losses on the road last weekend. Overall, the effort was there by the #12 ranked Huskies but they could not find the back of the net going 0-6 on the power play and finding it literally impossible to get the puck past the Lakers goaltender Ena Nystram, the Player of the Game who stopped all 26 shots she faced. It was also a rebound effort for Nystram who yielded 11 goals last weekend to St. Lawrence.
“Tip your hat to Mercyhurst. They played a good game – I thought they came out with some hop, they were obviously able to score a couple of goals early, and they defended super well. We need to be better for tomorrow,” Commented head coach Brian Idalski post-game. “I definitely thought that we were adjusting to the rink and skating on the smaller sheet. We turned over too many pucks, and there wasn’t as much flow as we would have liked but at the end of the day it was a special teams battle and we put ourselves in a bad spot.”
“We’ve addressed now that we’re three games in, you start to see some patterns and behaviors – good and bad – developing. I don’t think we’ve started any of our games this year particularly well. We’ve been able to right the ship at home, but playing from behind isn’t the best way to start on the road. I really think we just need to come out stronger – we’ve adjusted to the rink, we’ve adjusted to the referees – we have to be hungry and do what we need to do to come out of here with a win tomorrow.”
The Huskies undoing began immediately in period one with Dayle Ross whistled for tripping at 1:59 and Emma Gentry with the same infraction 29 seconds later. The Lakers capitalized 1:31 later on the five-on-three on a wrist shot from the low right slot by Marielle Parks for the early 1-0 lead. Still on the man advantage, Parks batted another past SCSU goaltender Jojo Chobak in a goalmouth scramble and it was suddenly 2-0 in favor of the Lakers just 4:13 into the contest.
In a physical game with 12 penalties, the Huskies had every opportunity to get back into the contest but failed on two power-play opportunities in each of the three periods going 0 for 6 as Nystram had an outstanding game and her defenders set up a wall in front of her blocking 28 shots during the contest. The Huskies ultimately forged a 26-16 shot advantage during the game but were unable to solve Nystram on several odd-man attacks on the goaltender including a three-on-one early in period three.
In a desperation move, the Huskies skated an extra attacker with slightly over three minutes in the contest and a two-player advantage going on the power play with 1:24 remaining in the game. However, despite intense pressure either Nystram was there to make a critical save or or the defense was blocking shots.
“The two-goal lead gave us some breathing room,” said Laker goaltender Ena Nystram in the post-game press conference. “Obviously it brought us a lot of momentum and we kept it going and made the right plays. (The shutout) is a reflection of our great DE corps and our forwards blocking a lot of shots.”
The win improved the Lakers record to 3-2-0 while the Huskies suffered their first loss of the early season and a record of 2-1-0. The teams will return to action on Saturday in the series finale at 1:00 PM CT.
Game Statistics
Shots on Goal: 26-16 (SCSU)
Goaltender Saves: Nystram (MU) 26/26 (1.00) Chobak (SCSU) 14/16 (.875)
Power Plays: (MU) 2/4 (50%); (SCSU) 0/6 (0%)
Penalties: (MU) 6/12; (SCSU) 5/10
Multi-point Game: Parks (MU) 2-0-2
VIEW FROM CENTER ICE 