Jan. 12, 2007

Stats

West Point, NY - Army scored the first three goals of the game and went on from there to trim Mercyhurst 6-3 Friday night at Tate Rink. The Black Knights improved to 9-8-3 overall and to 9-5-3 in Atlantic Hockey. The Lakers dropped to 4-15-4 and 4-11-2.

The contest was scoreless for the first 16 minutes before Army sophomore defenseman Zach McKelvie put one behind Mercyhurst senior goaltender Jordan Wakefield for the first period's only goal. The lamplighter gave the Black Knights a lead they would never relinquish. Army owned a slight 12-11 advantage in shots in the first twenty minutes.

The lead grew to 3-0 in the second when junior winger Luke Flicek, the team's leading scorer, converted a power play goal at 3:31 and senior forward Brady Dolim scored even strength at 9:47. Mercyhurst junior forward Kerry Bowman cut the deficit to two with his second goal of the season at 12:16, but the Black Knights regained the three-goal margin less than three minutes later when junior Ken Rowe found the back of the net. Army outshot the Lakers 12-11 in the middle frame.

The teams alternated a combined four goals in the final period. Sophomore Brett Robinson nailed his 5th of the year at 3:38 and sophomore Matt Pierce scored his 7th at 6:21. But Army countered with sophomore Bill Leahy's goal just 21 seconds after Robinson's and junior Jeff Fearing concluded the scoring with less than two minutes to play. Mercyhurst owned a 13-9 advantage in shots in the third and outshot Army 35-33 overall, marking just the second time that's happened this season. The Black Knights converted 2 of 6 power plays while the Lakers were blanked in only two tries. Sophomore Josh Kassel (9-7-2) got the Army win between the pipes while Wakefield (1-7-1) suffered the loss.

Although Army still trails the all-time series 14-6, the Black Knights have won four of the last five meetings. The two teams will conclude the weekend series, their only regular season meetings this season, Saturday night at 7:00pm.