Penn State women’s hockey is fresh off a bye week and ready to extend its seven-game win streak in a road series against the Mercyhurst Lakers.

Penn State has faced the Lakers in each of the past four conference championships, split between the AHA and CHA, and has won all four. Head coach Jeff Kampersal recognizes Mercyhurst’s ability to give Penn State a “little bit of a chess match.”

“They’ve had a program of success for a long time, so they’re really good. What makes them successful over a long time is their habits,” Kampersal said. “If we can jump on them with speed and physicality early, hopefully that’ll be to our advantage.

“They’re statistically the best [defensive] team in the country right now [and] have the best penalty killing, so we need to figure out how to combat that. How we’re going to get good-quality scoring opportunities.”

Penn State and Mercyhurst have scored the most and second-most goals in the AHA this season, at 39 and 37, respectively. Mercyhurst has also allowed the fewest goals (18), with Penn State trailing right behind (19).

The Lakers also have a staggering lead in penalty-kill percentage at 98%.

Before the bye week, Penn State swept RIT, outscoring the Tigers 7-0.

“They handle [the breaks] well and come back strong,” Kampersal said.

He added that he wants his team to “just focus on this next little third of the season and try to get as many wins as possible.” Kampersal also highlighted the team’s preparedness and ability to stay fresh through a tough road schedule.

The Nittany Lions have not played a home game since October 17, when they swept Lindenwood, and will not again until their contest against Delaware on November 19.

“I do think the break also came at a good time because we played two road weekends and we have another road weekend coming up, so the break kind of splits up that traveling,” Kampersal said.

“Mercyhurst presents obviously a huge challenge, then Delaware on a Thursday, Friday into Washington, D.C., into Syracuse and Princeton. So we have a pretty intense nine-game stretch here.”

Puck drops against Mercyhurst are at 6 p.m. on Friday and 1 p.m. on Saturday.

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