Mercyhurst has its preseason game next weekend, when it takes on the reigning USports Champion Guelph Gryphons, at the MIC.
As another season is upon us, it makes sense to consider the storylines for the upcoming season. At a high level the storylines are always the same - can you win your regular season (Robert Morris reigns supreme last 3 seasons), can you win the CHA Tournament (3 different winners past 3 years), can you advance to the Frozen Four (last done in 2014 by Mercyhurst)?
I want to look at a couple more micro level story lines, and first up is goaltending. Will we see another goaltending tandem at Mercyhurst this year?
Redshirt junior Kennedy Blair seemed poised to take over the starting role in net after two years of sharing the net pretty evenly with Sarah McDonnell, who just graduated. However, in the summer Mercyhurst announced another incoming freshman, Jenna Silvonen. Silvonen recently won a silver medal at the World Championships, representing Finland, although she did not see playing time in the tournament (not surprising considering Noora Raty is on their roster).
Born in 1999, Silvonen is an older freshman and most recently played for the Espoo Blues in Liiga, posting a .929 save percentage in 28 games. I don't know a lot about Liiga, but it's a 10 team league also referred to as the Finnish Elite League, and as far as I can tell it's funded by the Finnish Ice Hockey Federation (very interesting!). Silvonen's team, the Espoo Blues, play in the top division. Silvonen also represented Finland at the U18 level a couple years ago; suffice to say, the Lakers are getting a promising goaltender.
Meanwhile, in two years Blair has amassed a 15-18-5 record, with a 2.2 GAA, and .914 save percentage, and appeared in all CHA playoff games for the Hurst. She won the CHA goaltender of the year award as a freshman and was selected to the USA Hockey goaltenders camp the past two seasons. Blair has had some really big wins in her time between the pipes, and suffered an injury at the beginning of her sophomore year. My guess is her best college goaltending could still be ahead of her.
Mercyhurst also welcomes freshman goaltender Julia Maguire, from North Muskegon, Michigan, to the team. She played for Honeybaked in high school, and will no doubt also be looking to earn time between the pipes.
Rounding out the goaltending core is Leah Klassen, a junior from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Klassen has only seen playing time in two games, but one of them was a start vs Wisconsin in which she had 35 saves on 39 shots, which is as well as anyone typically does against Wisconsin. Talk about getting thrown into the fire. With two years of experience being on a college team, Klassen can help lead what has the potential to be a strong goaltending group.
In recent history, Coach Sisti has not been afraid to throw a freshman in net. He will look to see if a true number 1 goaltender emerges - whether freshman or veteran, or whether a tandem is again the right approach.
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