Waltham, Mass. – The Mercyhurst College men's hockey team scored six power-play goals, including four within a 3:39 span in the second period, to defeat Bentley, 6-4, in an Atlantic Hockey contest Friday evening at the Ryan Skating Arena. The Lakers, winners of their last five, improve to 17-13-3 overall and 15-7-3 in the conference play while the Falcons fall to 16-14-1 on the season and 14-10-1 in AHA action.
More importantly, the Lakers now sit four points ahead of Bentley with 33 in the race for a home playoff series in the upcoming Atlantic Hockey tournament.
Mercyhurst saw its power-play unit click on all cylinders as the team converted 6-for-8 with the extra-man. Sophomore
Scott Pitt led the attack with two goals and two assists while classmate
Steve Cameron, junior
Matt Fennell and senior
Matt Pierce added a goal and two assists apiece.
Pitt and Pierce accounted for both Laker goals in the first period as the teams skated to a 2-2 deadlock. Pitt added his 12th of the year at 5:54 to give Mercyhurst a 1-0 lead while Pierce made the score 2-1 with his team-leading 21st tally at 18:37. Bentley saw all of its offense come from Dustin Cloutier with two goals in the period, including the tying score with just five seconds remaining.
Mercyhurst broke open the game in second, scoring four straight after falling behind on a goal by Erik Peterson at 3:14. Fennell started the run with his second of the year to tie the game at 6:30 followed by a strike from Cameron at 7:50 and the eventual game-winner from freshman
Phil Ginand at 8:11. Pitt finished the barrage with his second of the match at 10:09.
Marc Menzione closed out the game with a goal just under four minutes later at 13:57.
Sophomore
Ryan Zapolski improved his season record to 14-3-3 with 31 saves, including 15 in the third period to hold the Falcons scoreless.
Bentley held a 35-28 advantage in shots and converted 3-for-6 on the power-play.
Mercyhurst and Bentley wrap up the series on Saturday, Feb. 21 with a 7 p.m. contest at the Ryan Skating Arena.
