No matter the season, Mercyhurst almost always find a way to move into first place in Atlantic Hockey.

The Lakers swept American International last weekend to seize the top spot by a point over Rochester Institute of Technology and Air Force – RIT, though, has four games at hand on the Lakers so the lead is dubious at best.

Still, there’s no doubt the Lakers continue to be a viable contender for the championship.

“We’re just plugging along,” said Rick Gotkin, now in his 22nd season at the helm and five wins shy of 400 for his career.

Mercyhurst opened the season at 2-9-1 before rolling off six consecutive wins to start an eight-game undefeated streak. The Lakers took three of four points at Air Force (a 3-3 tie and a 3-1 win) on Dec. 11-12. New Year’s weekend produced a 6-0 loss to Minnesota-Duluth and a listless 4-1 setback to Alabama-Huntsville in Vermont’s Catamount Cup. Gotkin said his team played very well in the loss to UMD but he said his club did not play with any urgency and without a work ethic in the loss to UAH.

“We were playing very well before Christmas, and then we got a (holiday) break and we’re trying to get back into it,” Gotkin said.

The Lakers disposed of AIC by scores of 7-2 and 5-3. Brandon Coccimiglio posted the hat trick on Friday, and his line with center Grant Blakey and right winger Steve Cameron accounted for eight points. Having switched places with Mike Gurtler the next night, Coccimiglio, Scott Pit and Paul Chiasson had a goal and three assists.

Gotkin said the Lakers’ improved play is nothing more than a collection of a lot of little things.

Ryan Zapolski leads all Atlantic Hockey goaltenders in save percentage.

“We were getting very good goaltending, we were getting some timely goals,” he said. “When you start doing things like that, you get confidence and you win some more games, and get some more confidence. It wasn’t one thing.”

Mercyhurst does not have a prolific scorer such as Matt Pierce (24 goals in 2008-09) or Dave Borelli (28 goals in 2005-06) but more Lakers are getting involved in the scoring. Coccimiglio leads the way with 13 goals and 26 points. Steve Cameron has 10 goals and 18 points. Six more skaters have at least five goals, and 11 players have double-digit points.

“We don’t have that dynamic goal scorer yet,” Gotkin said. “We’ve had a lot of guys that have been chipping in, which is great. … We have more of a committee approach, and more guys with two, three, four goals than we ever have. We are different in that regard.”

Surprisingly, the Lakers rank last in Atlantic Hockey on the power play (12.4 percent, 17-for-137), and the penalty kill ranks fourth (82.1 percent, 101-for-123).

Junior Ryan Zapolski is having another good season in the nets. He leads all Atlantic Hockey netminders with a .920 save percentage and ranks fourth in goals against at 2.65. Five of the six starting defensemen are on the positive side of the plus-minus, led by Jeff Terminesi’s plus-13 and 12 points.

Mercyhurst (11-11-2) is 11-5-2 in league play and has 24 points. RIT (11-2-1, 23 points) and Air Force (9-4-5, 23 points) are looming, although the Lakers have finished with both teams … at least in the regular season.

Mercyhurst has played every team in the league except Sacred Heart – the Lakers and Pioneers play a two-game set in Milford, Conn., on Friday and Saturday.

“I think it will be a tough series,” Gotkin said on his bus trip to Connecticut. “Sacred Heart has played very well, especially recently. They beat Air Force at home twice, they took three of four points from Army at home. They won at Dartmouth and Union. That is the sign of an excellent team.”

Bentley visits on Jan. 22-23 before Mercyhurst heads to the Rockies to face Denver and Colorado College on Feb. 5-6. Canisius and Mercyhurst have a home-and-home on Feb. 12-13. Army visits Erie on Feb. 19-20 before the Lakers close the regular season at ninth-place Connecticut on Feb. 26-27. So that’s three series against the teams that will likely be battling Mercyhurst for the final two home-ice quarterfinal berths.

“Like everybody else, we’re jockeying for playoff position here,” Gotkin said. “The parity in the league is greater than it has been, and we’ve held our own.

“The truth is it’s a long season and you have to find your niche, get your confidence and do a lot of the little things to build that confidence over the stretch.”

With six weekends left in the regular season, the Lakers have put themselves in a good position to host a best-of-three quarterfinal series. That’s all you can ask for, Gotkin said.