The Official Thread of the Mercyhurst Lakers

[MICZamboni]

Article in today's Erie Times News on yesterdays game against Cornell:

'Hurst women show depth, beat Cornell

By Ron Leonardi
ron.leonardi@timesnews.com

Natalie Payne heard all week how No. 1-ranked Mercyhurst College wouldn't be as efficient missing five top players who are competing in an international tournament in Germany.

Overcoming a short bench, the Lakers relied on their depth and disciplined defensive play in a 2-1 non-conference victory over Cornell on Friday before an afternoon crowd of 371 at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.

Payne, a sophomore defender, and senior defender Lesley McArthur scored for Mercyhurst (17-1-1), which played its first game since Dec. 10.

"I think we do have a lot of depth and the players that are so-called not our superstars really are good players," Payne said. "They can shine, and they did today."

The Lakers played without three of their top five scorers - freshman winger Meghan Agosta, sophomore forward Valerie Chouinard and junior winger Stephanie Jones - plus junior starting goaltender Laura Hosier and freshman defender Katariina Soikkanen.

Four are competing for Canada's Under-22 team, and Soikkanen for Finland, at the Air Canada Cup in Germany. The tournament concludes Sunday.

Mercyhurst's depleted roster left the Lakers missing a lot of speed, skill and offensive firepower. That gave other Lakers an opportunity to step up.

"Some girls who maybe don't get as much special teams time got an opportunity to show themselves and contribute in different ways they may not normally," McArthur said. "It was a gut check to see if certain players could do that, and I think they handled it well today."

Mercyhurst outshot Cornell 42-9 and killed all 10 Big Red power-play opportunities to win its seventh straight game.

Trailing 2-1, Cornell (2-13-1) pulled its goalie with 2 minutes, 4 seconds remaining, but managed just one shot.

McArthur broke a scoreless tie at 11:38 of the second period when she dove and poked in a rebound from the right doorstep with a Cornell defender draped on her. It was her second goal of the season.

Payne scored her first goal of the season at 7:22 of the third period, making it 2-0. Jumping into the play down low, Payne cut down the slot, took a feed from winger Melissa Dianoski and beat goalie Beth Baronick.

Just 9 seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Cornell winger Miranda Callaghan beat Mercyhurst goalie Courtney Drennen to pull the Big Red within 2-1.

"We had the momentum and we lost it, but again, our team, like we've done all year, fought through it," Mercyhurst coach Michael Sisti said. "We took some penalties late that made it tougher and dramatic, but the bottom line is we're all about finding ways to win."

[MICZamboni]

Not looking for Mercyhurst so far. After one period the Big Red is up 2-0. Cornell is outplaying and outworking the Lakers so far. The first Cornell goal was just a good shot from the circle. The second goal rolled up Drennen's shoulder and fell in. The Lakers are going to have to play real hard to catch up even though the Lakers outshot Cornell 12-6.

[MICZamboni]

Mercyhurst just scored on the weirdest looking goal I have ever seen. The Cornell goalie makes a save and Lorsell, I think, uses her stick and literally pushes the Cornell goalie in the net. A Cornell player cross checks Lorsell and she went down hard. The ref skates over to the scorekeeper, says something and then points at center ice. Everyone thought there was going to be a penalty shot. Then Liesering announces the goal. Crazy.

[MICZamboni]

Just as I hit submit Mercyhurst scores again at 7:32 of the 2nd. I think I heard the goal was by Jarrell. Somebody woke up the Lakers!!! Let me tell you, I thought this game was in doubt after the 1st period but hopefully the Lakers keep rolling.

[MICZamboni]

Dianoski scores her first goal as a Laker to put the Lakers up 3-2. Assists to Bourbeau and Pendleton at 14:11. Top shelf. Nice goal.

[MICZamboni]

Pendleton scores from the blue line on a slapper. Deflected on the way in. :19 left in period.

[MICZamboni]

Dianoski scores her second goal of the game as the Lakers have pretty much put the "Big Red" away.

[MICZamboni]

At 14:34 Colizza scores to put the Lakers up 4. Dianoski with another point. I am guessing first star.

[MICZamboni]

Mercyhurst outshot Cornell 38-10 I think. I am not sure of the Cornell shots. Anyway, Mercyhurst looked a lot better the last 2 periods than they did the first. I honestly thought we were in trouble after the first one. Dianoski looked pretty good but I think with some more conditioning she can be very good. Drennen made some real nice saves after that first period. The game got a little chippy in the 3rd but nothing major.

Anyone else at the game can give there assessment as well. I missed some spurts during the 2nd and 3rd.

Next week its Wayne St. They scare me.

Go Lakers

[Hurster07]

I thought the team showed a lot of heart to come back in periods two and three and play as well as they did. The team was an entire shift short...playing with only three offensive lines (plus one winger) and still managed to flat out dominate the last two periods with dead legs (at least I would think). I am no hockey player, but I'd imagine that many extra shifts would be taxing on the legs.

Defense really stepped up and kept the SOGs to a minimum. I thought refs were whistle-happy in the third towards MC...I realize that we were probably fatigured and more apt to make mistakes, but some of them were pretty silly.

Lots of pushing and shoving after the whistle...surprised there was not more unsportsmanlike or similar penalties. They called one on Nuggent, but I didn't even see it. All in all good weekend for the Lakers. They get their fab-five back for practice on Tuesday and Wednesday but leave for Detroit Thursday morning...so this weekend will be tough with the five having jet-lag and such. Should be a good series with a team who always gives us trouble!

[ARM]

The team was an entire shift short...playing with only three offensive lines (plus one winger) and still managed to flat out dominate the last two periods with dead legs (at least I would think). I am no hockey player, but I'd imagine that many extra shifts would be taxing on the legs.Very few women's D-I teams skate their 4th line regularly, except in games where they are ahead/behind by a few goals. The problem is more likely that you have to use players that normally would see very little ice time, so you want to keep your regulars out there as much as possible. It worked out well for the Lakers that they were playing Cornell this weekend, instead of someone who could more closely match their talent.

[FacFan]

I'm a big fan of women's hockey and have been a huge Laker fan since the inception of the women's program. Recently an often ignored aspect of the the women's hockey world has surfaced: people have been commenting on the tremendous fan support the Lakers are getting. Dave DeRemer noted our record crowds in his column, fan support was mentioned in several newspaper articles about the team, and I've had two visiting players (from Princeton and Cornell) remark that the crowd is a major factor. When Melanie Jue observed that Mercyhurst has "unbelievable fan support" I imagined Lynah Rink as it may be for the Big Red women's home games: a fabulous, largely empty, venue.
I remember our early efforts to stimulate fan suppoprt. I had spent the better part of two weeks calling the coaches of the oldest and most venerable women's programs in the country. After a long conversation with Digit Murphy (herself a Cornell alum) the emerging answer to my question "How do you get decent crowds to your games" was "We often don't." If Brown doesn't, I thought, how can we? We tried a lot of stuff. I flipped hamburgers at pre-game tailgates that were free to any Mercyhurst student, we gave away everything from clappers to money to shirts, but we didn't generate fan numbers commensurate with our costs.
Then our numbers began to pick up. First it was the surprising numbers our home games generated, then the bus-ride to Harvard that resulted in an awesome Laker-fan presense at that interminable triple-overtime playoff loss, then the same thing at the Wisconsin game. A lot of hard work goes into generating support, but there seems to be something else afoot. A substantial number of student fans seem to be connecting to the team via relationships that are genuinely personal. Of course it may be, as Melanie Jue observed, that "it can't hurt to be # 1". But many of the programs I contacted have been (or are) at or near the top of the heap, and they almost universally bemoaned their lack of fan support.
So what accounts for the gratifying numbers, and enthusiasm, of Laker fans? Any thoughts? I ask this not to gloat, but in the hope that some day all of us in women's hockey -- all of the teams in both divisions -- will be able to look back on the days of empty rinks and say "We fixed it!"

[MICZamboni]

I'm a big fan of women's hockey and have been a huge Laker fan since the inception of the women's program. Recently an often ignored aspect of the the women's hockey world has surfaced: people have been commenting on the tremendous fan support the Lakers are getting. Dave DeRemer noted our record crowds in his column, fan support was mentioned in several newspaper articles about the team, and I've had two visiting players (from Princeton and Cornell) remark that the crowd is a major factor. When Melanie Jue observed that Mercyhurst has "unbelievable fan support" I imagined Lynah Rink as it may be for the Big Red women's home games: a fabulous, largely empty, venue.
I remember our early efforts to stimulate fan suppoprt. I had spent the better part of two weeks calling the coaches of the oldest and most venerable women's programs in the country. After a long conversation with Digit Murphy (herself a Cornell alum) the emerging answer to my question "How do you get decent crowds to your games" was "We often don't." If Brown doesn't, I thought, how can we? We tried a lot of stuff. I flipped hamburgers at pre-game tailgates that were free to any Mercyhurst student, we gave away everything from clappers to money to shirts, but we didn't generate fan numbers commensurate with our costs.
Then our numbers began to pick up. First it was the surprising numbers our home games generated, then the bus-ride to Harvard that resulted in an awesome Laker-fan presense at that interminable triple-overtime playoff loss, then the same thing at the Wisconsin game. A lot of hard work goes into generating support, but there seems to be something else afoot. A substantial number of student fans seem to be connecting to the team via relationships that are genuinely personal. Of course it may be, as Melanie Jue observed, that "it can't hurt to be # 1". But many of the programs I contacted have been (or are) at or near the top of the heap, and they almost universally bemoaned their lack of fan support.
So what accounts for the gratifying numbers, and enthusiasm, of Laker fans? Any thoughts? I ask this not to gloat, but in the hope that some day all of us in women's hockey -- all of the teams in both divisions -- will be able to look back on the days of empty rinks and say "We fixed it!"

Very well done.

I too have been around since the inception of women's hockey here on campus and have wondered the same thing. I have asked many people why they didn't go to womens game but were at the mens game or even the local Erie Otters game. Quite often it was the same response, "I'd rather watch paint dry". People are now starting to see that it is much more exciting now than it was even 4 years ago. There aren't as many cupcakes as there were even then. Now, I have friends who have never seen a game until the overtime thriller a couple weeks ago and now there hooked.

Let me also say that we get awesome support from our local media. The Erie Times News usually has a big article before and after each series. That definately gets the community interested. There is also many times where our local news is covering different stories either game related or just for local interest.

As for the school community, it definately helps that the ice rink is in the middle of 3 or 4 dorms (apartments). Quite often many of the students leave between periods to cross the walkway back to the dorms for probably a beverage and to use the bathroom. They also have a group of "crazies" that show up lead many of the chants. I do however wish they would come up with some new things. It is the same chants each week and I have heard some pretty good chants that other teams have used on some "chant threads". Maybe someone could direct them to those threads.

Finally, it does help that were #1. There is no denying that.

[dave1381]

Finally, it does help that were #1. There is no denying that.
Indeed. Certainly Mercyhurst deserves credit for the good fan support they've been getting.

That said, it's going to much harder to sustain that support over time than to get it in the first place, though maybe Mercyhurst has a better chance given that they are one of the only shows in town. You hear a lot of comments like, "Once people watch women's hockey, they like it, and keep coming back... " It's hardly that simple. I think a lot of times teams have gotten a lot of buzz for whatever reason, but then they don't sustain it. I can list a ton of examples.

When Brown was No. 1 in the 1999-2000 season, the first time they had that rank (actually national polls didn't exist before then), Brown drew nearly 4000 fans total for the ECACHL semifinals and championship.

In 98-99, the peak of Harvard's buzz, they drew 1500+ each for a game against Brown and a game against UNH. In future seasons when Harvard has been No. 1, there hasn't been quite the same level of interest on a sustained basis, though the Harvard-Dartmouth game consistently gets 1500+ crowds every season, including 1700+ in 2003 and 1900+ in 2004.

In 00-01, when Dartmouth was first No. 1 for the first time, they drew 2500+ for the ECACHL final against Harvard. They still draw 800+ crowds more consistently than anyone in the East.

In 05-06, when St. Lawrence was No. 1 for the first time, and Clarkson was in the top 10, that weekend drew something close to 4000 total for two games.

And of course UMD sold out the DECC in 2003 when it won its third straight national title.

In all these examples, there was an obvious peak moment in the buzz surrounding a team. Naturally, we wouldn't expect attendance to regularly match these in the future. But I don't think there's a huge difference in the attendance of these teams in typical games before those peak moments and after, and that has been disappointing.

[ARM]

I'll leave it to our moderator to decide whether this topic deserves its own thread or should continue in the Lakers' thread.

From trying to fix the same problem, I think it is a complex one with varied issues that don't have a single solution. For example, there is a relatively small potential fan base in cities like Duluth, Bemidji, or Grand Forks. However, if they do achieve success, it is easier to garner interest. In Boston or Minneapolis, it isn't necessary to attract a significant percentage of the population to fill the arena -- the problem is in trying to get women's college hockey to even register as a blip on the radar screen.

Another issue is peak crowd versus smallest crowd. It is one thing to have good attendance for a key series against a rival. It is another challenge to still get people to show up for a nonconference game against a weak opponent in the same time slot as a playoff game for the local NFL team.

Minnesota has had the highest average attendance in the nation every year that I have followed the team, but the numbers are nowhere near where they could be. The Gophers have many advantages. The sport of hockey is big in the area. Because of the large number of high schools that have girls teams, people are at least aware that women's hockey exists. They have two regular season games televised each year. They have their own arena. And they have been a top program, only once finishing outside the top 4.

The flipside is that there is a lot of competition in this market. The pro sports teams garner much of the ink and airwaves. On the day the Gophers won their first NCAA championship, they were the #3 sports story, just among University of Minnesota teams.

Personally, I have decided that there isn't much I can do to "fix" the problem. The best solutions seem to be time and product. Last night, I attended my first girls HS hockey game of the year. I was struck by how far the level of play has come in the last six years. I believe the evolution of the sport, more than any other factor, will increase the size of the crowds. The news that Cornell signed a highly recruited player from the Canadian U-22 team can only be good for women's hockey. Fans are more likely to attend regularly when every opponent has a roster which includes good players that are worth watching. We go to games because we enjoy the competition. There isn't much value in watching the home team skate circles around a hopelessliy overmatched opponent week after week. Being a fan of the team on the wrong end of the drubbings is even less appealing.

Better hockey will produce better crowds in the long run. It is nice to have an Agosta and Chouinard on your roster. It also helps if your opponent has an Ashley Riggs on their team.

[LakersFan]

The real reason attendance has gone up this year for Mercyhurst women's games is because they have started to charge admission this year. Next year, if they charge 8 bucks a game vs 4, attendance should double. I will ignore the sample size of 1 year and the fact the correlation does not imply causation :D

[FacFan]

Great responses. Re MICZamboni's comments, I'm interested in the "crazies" and why so many of them are faithful Laker followers. I've got a meeting scheduled with their leader and hope to gain some insights about how to generate more such groups. And you're right about the chants: not very imaginative and sometimes just bad on the side of sportsmanship. Where are the chant threads? I really appreciated Dave1381's placing this in an historical context. It's easy to miss the lessons implicit in Dave's recounting of the attendance facts. Perhaps we might try to manufacture buzz by "helping" rivalries get established? I'm hopeful that ARM's right that increasing quality may do more than anything else to spur attendance increases. And it sure is true that quality everywhere in women's hockey has increased. Finally, I'm a bit disillusioned by Lakersfan's claim that correlation does not imply causation. Does this mean that my theory about why there are fewer and fewer erratic boards in hockey rinks might be false? The cause might not be the fact that fewer and fewer of the worlds young people are choosing to become full-time, traditional, pirates?

[Hurster07]

As a fourth-year student at Mercyhurst, I can say that each year I've been on the campus the buzz has increased about women's hockey. The team, incidentally, has seemed to have more successful seasons each year as well. There are several reasons I think that it happens, some have been mentioned, others not so much.

First, women's hockey is BY FAR the hardest working team on the campus in terms of promoting their events. I certainly think that nearly every student on the campus knows when our women's hockey team is playing, due in large part to flyers, posters, sidewalk chalk and word of mouth discussions. They make the effort to make sure the fans show up, and it pays off.

Second, the girls on the team are incredibly passionate about their sport and do their part off the ice to promote the team. Often they will ask if so and so is coming to a game, etc. The girls are a great group who love to play hockey and love even more to play hockey in front of 1500 people. I think because of their work in recruiting fans they get a good turnout.

Third, most certainly the buzz of the No. 1 ranking spread through the campus like wildfire. I know in three of my classes the prof. took time to talk about how special it is and make a point to seek out a hockey player that was in the class and congratulate them. Because we are a small campus community, I think more attention is granted to our athletic programs (sucessful ones in particular). I would imagine at a school like Wisconsin, who has a top-ten ranked basketball team, their hockey program is not a top priority for the students like it is here in Erie. On a small residential campus of 3,000 students word travels fast and nearly every conversation I had during that week had mention of that team in it. I know when we had a USA Today article featuring our team I made a point to show my friends just how far the program had come.

Finally, we have a Spirit Club through Student Government that makes an effort to draw out fans to games. They are responsible for giving out the previously mentioned clappers and other noisemakers, which are instrumental in making our rink a great place for college hockey games. I am a huge fan of the team and because of a leadership role on the campus I have been close to their growth over the last four years. I am thrilled to see the big crowds and I can assure all that we will continue to work hard to get them to come out over the coming weeks.

I would be curious to hear from other fans who have attended our games have to say.

[zam.88]

.. and I remember when we (NH) came down a couple years ago... don't you have some nun at every game with a big bell behind the opponents net? Awesome! I sat next to her and we spoke for a whole period.

[Hurster07]

We did for the longest time, however, Sr. Damien past away in August of 2004. She was an amazing person and loved hockey (and most other sports) more than anything on the campus. The class of 2005 honored her by choosing a large bell to be placed in the center of campus as their class gift.