Dec. 8, 2006

Stats

Erie, Pa. - Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) erased an early 1-0 deficit with a pair of late first period goals and went on from there to defeat Mercyhurst 5-2 Friday night in the opener of a two-game Atlantic Hockey (AH) weekend series. The Tigers won their fourth straight game, all in the conference, and improved to 7-5-2 overall and to 7-2-1 in AH. The Lakers dropped to 4-9-3 and 4-7-2 respectively.

Freshman forward Cody Collins, with help from seniors Kyle Gourgon and Pat Henk, got the Lakers off to a strong start when he blasted his second goal of the season past RIT freshman Louis Menard just 32 seconds into the contest. Menard was a late replacement for junior Jocelyn Guimond, who was injured during warm-up. But the Tigers scored twice within a 2:15 span late in the opening period to take command. Junior forward Matt Smith beat Mercyhurst netminder Tyler Small at 15:26 and freshman winger Anton Kharin followed suit at 17:41. RIT owned a 13-9 advantage in shots in the first twenty minutes.

The Tigers' lead grew to 3-1 early in the second when sophomore defenseman Justin Hofstetter's shot from beyond the blue line eluded Small. Mercyhurst trimmed the deficit to 3-2 when sophomore forward Chris Trafford, with help from Bobby Phillips and Ben Cottreau, registered the game's only power play marker three minutes later. RIT concluded the scoring in the middle period when freshman defenseman Al Mazur found the back of the net at 7:11. The Lakers owned a 10-7 margin in second period shots.

Small was replaced by senior Jordan Wakefield to begin the third and although the Lakers applied periodic pressure, hitting several goalposts in the process, the Tigers prevented further damage. Sophomore forward Steve Pinizzotto finished the scoring late in the final period when his shot from the left wing deflected off a Mercyhurst defenseman's stick and past Wakefield. The Tigers had a slight 10-9 advantage in third period shots and a 30-28 margin overall.

Mercyhurst finished 1 of 6 with the man advantage while the Tigers were 0 for 2. The teams combined for 51 minutes in penalties, 31 to the Tigers.

Fifteen years ago to the day, RIT and Mercyhurst, Division III members of the ECAC, played the first-ever game at the Ice Center with the Tigers prevailing 5-4 in overtime. With Friday's victory, RIT leads the all-time series 17-10-3.

The two teams will conclude the weekend series Saturday night at 7:00.