Feb. 3, 2007

Stats

Colorado Springs, Colo. - Sophomore Chris Trafford's goal, 61 seconds into overtime, the Lakers' only shot in the extra session, gave Mercyhurst a 3-2 come-from-behind win over Air Force Saturday night and a sweep of their two-game weekend series. The Lakers won their fourth straight game, their longest winning streak in more than a year, as they improved to 8-16-5 overall and 8-12-3 in Atlantic Hockey. The Falcons fell to 13-12-5 and 10-7-5.

Trafford's goal, assisted by senior Scott Champagne and sophomore Matt Pierce, was his 9th of the season and 21st of his career. Pierce carried the puck up the right side and circled the Falcon's net before finding Trafford for the clincher. The goal represented the Lakers' only lead of the affair and gave the team its first overtime decision of the campaign. Mercyhurst has now played nine overtime games this season (1-3-5), tying the prior one-season mark set in 2004-05.

Air Force scored the first period's only goal when freshman forward Brett Nylander solved junior netminder Jordan Wakefield at 3:47. The Falcons outshot Mercyhurst 13-5 in the opening frame.

The two teams traded goals in the second stanza. Mercyhurst freshman defenseman Cullen Eddy got the Lakers even at 7:38 when he cashed his third goal of the season on a power play. Junior forward Ben Cottreau and Champagne assisted. Cottreau's helper extended his scoring streak to seven games. But Air Force reclaimed the lead six minutes later when sophomore forward Mike Phillipich scored his 12th of the year with the Falcons up a man. The Air Force owned a 19-8 advantage in shots in the second.

With time running out in the third, Eddy scored his second power play goal of the contest at 16:18, getting help from senior captain Kyle Gourgon and freshman defenseman Matt Fennell. Eddy has now scored three of his four goals this season against Air Force. His two power play goals in the game were also the first of his brief career. The Falcons outshot Mercyhurst 8-5 in the third period.

The Falcons took the first two shots of the overtime before Trafford silenced the crowd.

Wakefield turned in another solid performance, turning aside 40 of 42 Air Force shots. The Falcons outshot Mercyhurst a combined 97 to 43 in the two games, but came away empty. Senior Ben Worker, who allowed six goals Friday night, stopped 16 shots in defeat.

Mercyhurst got goals from nine different players in sweeping the two-game series and avenged twin losses to the Falcons (5-3 and 3-1) at the Ice Center a month ago.

Mercyhurst will return home next weekend for an important series against conference-rival Sacred Heart. The Pioneers defeated the Lakers twice in Connecticut early in November by scores of 6-4 and 5-4 in overtime. SHU has won 5 of the last 6 meetings between the teams and now leads the all-time series 12-10-2.