ERIE, Pa. – The Penn State women's hockey team heads to Erie, Pa. for their first of back-to-back CHA road series to take on Mercyhurst Friday and Saturday, Jan. 17-18, at Mercyhurst Ice Center.
Winners of six of their last eight games, the Nittany Lions swept their latest two-game series against Lindenwood on home ice Jan. 10-11. PSU sped out to early leads in both games and made the winning plays down the stretch to come out with one-goal victories.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Penn State (9-9-4, 4-3-1 CHA) vs. Mercyhurst (12-8-2, 6-2-0 CHA)
Dates: Friday, Jan. 17 | Saturday, Jan. 18
Times: 3 p.m. | 2 p.m.
Place: Mercyhurst Ice Center
Live Video: Games 1 & 2 (Subscription required)
Live Stats: Games 1 & 2
Game Notes: Penn State Game Notes
TIE-ING UP THE LAKE SHOW
Penn State and Mercyhurst have had several close battles in recent matches, several of which have ended up in ties. Dating back to Nov. 4, 2017, the Nittany Lions and Lakers have played six overtime contests with five ending in ties.
IMPORTANT NUMBERS
1 – Junior forward Natalie Heising needs two more goals to surpass Shannon Yoxheimer for second place on Penn State's all-time goal scoring list. She has 42 goals through 94 career games, including a team-best eight this season.
9 – Shea Nelson has nine points (4G, 5A) in her last nine games, including a five-game point streak (2G, 5A) dating back to Dec. 7 vs. RIT.
8 – Penn State has eight wins this season when leading after two periods of play. PSU is also 7-1-1 when leading after the 1st period and 9-0-1 when scoring the first goal of the game.
SERIES HISTORY VS. THE LAKERS
This weekend's series will mark the 29th and 30th all-time meetings between the two programs. Mercyhurst leads the all-time series 18-3-7.
The last seven matchups between these two teams have resulted in either a tie or a one-goal game with six of the matchups heading to overtime.
Penn State and Mercyhurst last matched up Feb. 15-16, 2019 at Pegula Ice Arena and the series ended with a pair of ties. Katie McMillan notched a game-tying goal late in the second period to force a 1-1 in game one.
In game two, Katie Rankin scored a powerplay goal in the second period to tie the game before a five-on-three power-play goal re-gave the Lakers the lead. With 39 seconds remaining, Natalie Heising scored unassisted to tie the game 2-2 and send the game to another overtime which ended, once again, in a draw.
THE WEEKLY BURKE AWARD
Junior goaltender Chantal Burke picked up her third CHA Goaltender of the Week award after winning both starts and racking up 43 saves last weekend against Lindenwood.
Not 1⃣, not 2⃣, but 3⃣ @CHAWomensHockey Goaltender of the Week Awards for Chantal Burke!
— Penn State Women's Hockey (@PennStateWHKY) January 13, 2020
📰: https://t.co/svlt1hSWpK#WeAre #HockeyValley pic.twitter.com/Qx5hO5MdvI
Burke's 33-save performance in Saturday's game was her fourth 30+ save game of the season. In 16 starts this season, she has had 12 games with at least 20 saves.
Nationally, Burke ranks sixth in both goals-against average (1.57) and save percentage (.937). Both of those marks are also leading College Hockey America.
NEXT UP
Penn State heads to Syracuse for another conference series Friday and Saturday, Jan. 24-25.
For the latest updates on Penn State women's ice hockey, follow @PennStateWHKY on Twitter, "like" the Penn State Women's Ice Hockey page on Facebook, and follow @pennstatewhky on Instagram.