Complete Box Score
ERIE, Pa - Mercyhurst got first-period goals from freshmen forwards
Chris Bodo and
Ryan Misiak and 49 saves from senior goaltender
Max Strang in turning back Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) 2-1 Friday night before a raucous crowd at the Ice Center. The Lakers snapped a four-game losing streak and opened both home and conference play with an important win. Mercyhurst is now 1-4-0 overall and 1-0-0 in the Atlantic Hockey Association. RIT lost its third straight in falling to 1-3-1 and 0-2-1 respectively.
The two teams played scoreless hockey until the Lakers scored twice within a 1:49 span late in the opening period. Bodo notched his first career goal at 16:33, knocking home a rebound of a shot by freshman linemate
Zac Frischmon. Freshman defenseman
Grant Gettinger had the other assist. Misiak followed that with his first collegiate goal at 18:22, again banging home a rebound of an attempt by sophomore forward
Daniel O'Donoghue. The Tigers outshot the Lakers 15-13 in a wide-open first twenty minutes.
Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the middle period, although RIT owned a sizeable 16-6 advantage in shots.
Strang and the Lakers kept the Tigers off the scoreboard until 15:08 of the third. Mercyhurst coughed up the puck in its own end and sophomore defenseman Nolan Descoteaux made it hurt, tapping a pass from sophomore winger Adam Mitchell by a defenseless Strang. The Tigers pulled their goaltender with just over a minute to play, but the Lakers held their ground.
RIT outshot Mercyhurst 19-8 in the third and 50-27 over sixty minutes. The Tigers were hit with five penalties for ten minutes in the affair while the Lakers were whistled four times for eight. Neither the Lakers (0 for 4) nor the Tigers (0 for 3) scored with the man advantage.
Strang was brilliant in picking up his first win of the season and third of his career. The 49 saves represented a career best.
The Mercyhurst win snapped an eight-game unbeaten streak for RIT in Erie (7-0-1). The last time Mercyhurst beat the Tigers at the Ice Center was February 5, 2006, RIT's first year at the Division I level.
Mercyhurst will step out of the conference Saturday when it travels to Ithaca, NY for a game against Cornell. Mercyhurst will return to home ice November 4 and 5 when it plays a pair of conference games against Connecticut, the start of a six-game conference homestand.
