On Jan. 5, Mercyhurst defeated Sacred Heart 7-2, a convincing way to start the 2024 portion of the Lakers’ schedule.
Rick Gotkins’ team was 7-9-3 at the time, in the thick of things in the Atlantic Hockey standings.
Then the Lakers experienced what Gotkin called a “rut.” It lasted nine games (0-9), finally coming to an end on Saturday with a 3-2 victory over first-place Rochester Institute of Technology.
“In every season, there are grooves and ruts,” said Gotkin. “We’ve been in a heck of a rut.”
In these situations, the only way out is through, and Gotkin, in his 36th season behind the Mercyhurst bench, says while it’s been a frustrating stretch, his team has stuck together.
“None of us – coaches, players, or fans – want to watch their favorite team lose,” he said. “In that regard, it was frustrating.
“But we found positives in every single game, things that we could take away and learn from. Guys were working hard in practice and still finding ways to make things fun.”
Gotkin says the schedule that the Lakers played during that stretch contributed as well.
“No excuses, but seven straight road games was tough,” he said. “On paper, it didn’t seem like that big of a deal. How much that played into (the losing streak), I don’t know.
“But all the way through this, I thought we were better than the results.”
It was darkest before the dawn for Gotkin and his team. Last Friday, they lost a heartbreaker to RIT that saw the Lakers fall behind 2-1 before mounting a comeback that saw them open leads of 5-3 and 6-4 before the Tigers tied the game with 37 seconds left and won it 13 seconds into overtime.
On Saturday, Mercyhurst never trailed, holding back a furious comeback attempt by RIT to earn a 3-2 win.
“It was a really good win for us,” said Gotkin. “Especially after the wild game on Friday where it was last goal wins. They got the last goal.
“There was less emotion on Saturday. We went about our business and did the things we needed to in order to win and recognized that we beat a very good team and can build on that.”
Freshman Simon Bucheler and sophomore Owen Say combined for 84 saves on the weekend. Say has seen the majority of time in net, but Bucheler has two wins against RIT so far this season, including a 51-save 2-0 shutout on Nov. 11.
“We have great belief in both (goaltenders)”, said Gotkin. “They’re young and have had to go up against more experienced guys. Our league has great goaltending, lots of seniors and fifth-year seniors, and they’ve held their own.”
The Lakers do have experience up front, with juniors and seniors comprising nine of Mercyhurst’s 10 top scorers. But the top spot is occupied by freshman Boris Skalos, who leads the team in goals (12) and is tied for the lead in points (21) with senior Steven Agriogianis.
“We knew (Skalos) was a really good player,” said Gotkin. “Did we expect him to lead the team in scoring? He’s done it kind of quietly. He’s a great kid and really, really good. We lost 17 players from last year, and guys like Boris have been very important.”
Mercyhurst travels to American International for a pair of games this weekend, before ending the regular season with three games against Niagara. The Lakers currently sit in ninth place, three points away from home ice in the first round.
The Lakers have shown throughout the season that come playoff time, they can be a force to be reckoned with. They have defeated first-place RIT (twice) and second-place Sacred Heart this season.
“We’ve seen it before,” said Gotkin. “A seventh or eighth place team winning (the Atlantic Hockey tournament championship).
“We want to play our best hockey at the end of the season, and we’re moving in that direction.”
