MILFORD, Conn. – The Mercyhurst College men's hockey team bounced back from a pair of losses to defeat Sacred Heart, 6-2, on Friday evening in an Atlantic Hockey Association contest at the Milford Ice Pavilion. The Lakers, who suffered just their second series sweep of the season last weekend, improve to 5-6-1 on the season and 5-4-0 in AHA play with the win.

Sophomores Grant Blakey and Paul Chiasson led the Lakers to their first win at Sacred Heart since Feb. 15, 2008 with a combined five-point outing. Blakey dished out a career-high three assists while Chiasson scored twice, marking his first two-goal game of the season and first since Feb. 26, 2010 at Connecticut.

Senior Ryan Raven scored a goal and added an assist, freshman Nate Jensen helped out on two scores and senior Brandon Coccimiglio, redshirt sophomore Phil Ginand and freshman Nick Jones each lit the lamp once.

Mercyhurst overcame an early 1-0 deficit with three straight goals that bridged the first and second periods. Strikes by Jones and Coccimiglio gave the Lakers a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission, while a power-play marker by Raven with five seconds to play in the second made it a two-goal advantage going into the third.

The Lakers then closed out the game with another trio of scores after Sacred Heart made it a one-goal game at the 8:17 mark of the third. Chiasson struck with back-to-back scores just three minutes and 25 seconds apart, while Ginand found the back of the net with 18 seconds remaining in the game.

Senior Ryan Zapolski earned the win in goal with 22 saves to improve to 5-3-0 on the season. Mercyhurst outshot Sacred Heart 38-24 for the game and went 1-for-5 on the power play. The Pioneers finished the game 0-for-4 with the man-advantage.

Both teams close out the two-game series on Saturday, Dec. 4 at 7:05 p.m. at the Milford Ice Pavilion.