Mercyhurst Lakers men's ice hockey

Chris Cuzzola, who was a student at Mercyhurst playing club hockey at Gannon University, happened to talk to former president of Mercyhurst University, William Garvey, about hockey.[2] As a result of this, hockey would be instated as a club sport competing in the Erie Senior Hockey League for the 1986–1987 season.[3] The coach for the first club season was Bob Cisek who was a Mercyhurst professor at the time. At the club level in the Erie Senior Hockey League, the Lakers went 15-0-3, finishing first in the league.[4]

After just 1 year at the club level, the Mercyhurst Lakers began an independent trial run at the varsity level, Division III in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) South hockey league. Mercyhurst Athletic Director John Leisering stated, “The administration was immediately enthusiastic about a possible move to varsity status and with the support of the hockey people, the move was approved after just a few months.”[5]

Named head coach for the Lakers in their first season at the Division III level was Fred Lane. Lane was one of the founding members for the Gannon University Golden Knights club hockey and was affiliated with the Gannon hockey program since 1967. As a player, he was Most Valuable Player his sophomore, junior, and senior years and coached the team in 1973 returning in 1978. In 10 seasons as the head coach for the Golden Knights, Lane had a record of 153–14–14, winning 2 Western Pennsylvania College Hockey Association league championships, 6 division championships, and was named WPCHA coach of the year 3 times. In addition to coaching, he was a member of the Amateur Hockey Association of the United States (AHAUS) and the Ontario Coaches Association.[3]

Along with Head Coach Fred Lane, was Associate Coach Bob Cisek who ran the program a year ago at the club level. For the 1987–1988 season, the Lakers had a very competitive schedule in their first season as a Division III team playing a combination of both club and varsity teams. The Lakers opened up their first NCAA Division III season on Saturday, October 31 at West Chester University of Pennsylvania playing their home games at both the Erie Civic Center and Glenwood Ice Rink.[6] The highlight of the season being the game against Division I Notre Dame Fighting Irish men's ice hockey on November 25[6] which they lost 7–3. With 18 of the 28 players being freshmen on the team, Mercyhurst Lakers ended their first varsity season going 16–7–0.[7]

Following the 1987–1988 season, on April 29 of 1988, Mercyhurst College Athletic Director John Leisering named Rick Gotkin as head coach of the team saying, “Rick’s playing, coaching, and recruiting credentials were just the mix Mercyhurst was looking for.”[8] At 28 years of age, Rick Gotkin comes from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, which played at the Division I level in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference where Gotkin served as Assistant Varsity Hockey Coach for the past 2 years (1986–1988). Before Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Gotkin was a coach at SUNY-Brockport (Division III), coached the Enschede Lions in the Netherlands, was head coach at SUNY-Canton (NCAA-Junior College), and was head coach of the Fife Flyers of the British Hockey League. After coaching Rensselaer, was hired as head coach for the Mercyhurst Lakers.[8]

For the 1988–1989 season, the Mercyhurst Lakers played in the ECAC-West Division alongside SUNY-Brockport, Canisius College, SUNY-Fredonia, SUNY-Potsdam and St. Bonaventure University.[8] In the Lakers first full season as an NCAA Division III program, the Lakers took a record of 11–1–1 under new Head Coach Rick Gotkin.[7] The first time the Lakers would be ranked was in the 1990–1991 season where they ranked 9th in the short history of the team.[9] During the 1991–1992, the Mercyhurst Lakers opened up their new rink on campus, the Mercyhurst Ice Center. According to the first Division II poll released, the Mercyhurst Lakers ranked 2nd in the 1992–1993 season only behind Bemidji State University.[10] In that season, the Lakers finished with 2 wins and 3 losses against Division I teams. The wins coming against Kent State University and the University of Alabama-Huntsville and the losses coming from Kent State and two from the University of Alaska-Anchorage.[10] The first time the team would be ranked 1st in their history was in December 1994.[11] In the 1994–1995 season, the Lakers went 23-3-2 coming out with their first ever ECAC-West division championship and placing second in the NCAA Division II play-offs.[12]

In September 1997, while the Meryhurst Lakers were playing in the ECAC-West division, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) rounded up 8 teams to form a Division I hockey conference. Joining the conferences of Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, Hockey East, Central Collegiate Hockey Association, and Western Collegiate Hockey Association in NCAA Division I men's ice hockey with 48 schools playing in 5 Division I conferences. The MAAC included Canisius College, Fairfield University, and Iona College (New York) as full members with American International College (AIC), University of Connecticut, Holy Cross College, Quinnipiac College, and Sacred Heart University as associate members with visions of Bentley University and Mercyhurst joining for the 1999–2000 season making the conference 10 teams.[13]

The Mercyhurst men's ice hockey team plays against Air Force in 2018

In May 1998, the Mercyhurst board of trustees approved the transition from Division II non-scholarship to play Division I ice hockey in the NCAA.[14] The Lakers ended their long association with the Eastern College Athletic Conference West division to play Division I hockey in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. In the Lakers first full season at the Division I level in the 1999–2000 season, Mercyhurst went 20-14-2 with Rick Gotkin still as head coach of the team.[7] In 2003, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference reorganized to create the Atlantic Hockey Association with Quinnipiac, Connecticut, AIC, Canisius, Holy Cross, Sacred Heart, Bentley, Army Black Knights, and Mercyhurst as the 9 members of the league.

Currently the Atlantic Hockey Association contains 10 teams; Mercyhurst, AIC, Niagara University, Air Force Falcons, Army, Canisius, Sacred Heart, Bentley, Holy Cross, and Rochester Institute of Technology.

Statistics current through the start of the 2022–23 season.

NCAA Division III / II

AHCA Second Team All-Americans

First Team All-ECAC

Second Team All-ECAC

First Team All-MAAC

Second Team All-MAAC

MAAC All-Rookie Team

First Team All-Atlantic Hockey

Second Team All-Atlantic Hockey

Third Team All-Atlantic Hockey

Atlantic Hockey All-Rookie Team