Box Score

ERIE, Pa. – Despite a late rally in the final 10 minutes, the Mercyhurst College men's hockey team dropped a 6-5 decision to visiting Air Force on Saturday evening at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.

Trailing 6-3 in the third period, senior captain Scott Pitt and freshman Daniel O'Donoghue put a scare into the Falcons when they scored back-to-back at 13:55 and 16:59, making it a one-goal game with a little over three minutes remaining. 

However, after several failed attempts at driving the puck into Air Force territory, the Lakers saw their comeback attempt fall short as the Falcons trapped them in their own zone before taking away any chance at tying the game with the goaltender pulled in the final seconds.

With the loss, the Lakers fall to 13-15-4 on the season and 11-12-2 in Atlantic Hockey Association play. Air Force, meanwhile, improves to 14-11-6 and 12-7-6 in league play.

Along with Pitt and O'Donoghue, three other Lakers provided scores including senior assistant captain Mike Gurtler, sophomore Paul Chiasson and freshman Randy Cure.

Junior Kevin Noble and sophomore Grant Blakey tallied two assists apiece, and senior Ryan Raven, junior Derek Elliott and freshmen Taylor Holstrom and Trent Frey each added a helper.

Air Force commanded play in the first period, outshooting the Lakers 17-8 while jumping out to a 3-1 lead on goals by Jacques Lamoureux and Jason Fabian less than two minutes apart near the midway point and a late strike by Casey Kleisinger with 1:35 to play. Down 2-0, Chiasson cut the lead in half when he connected off a pass from Holstrom and beat the rookie netminder Jason Torf at the 17:58 mark.

Both teams then traded goals in the second to take a 5-3 score into the third. Cure pulled the Lakers back within one when his shot from the blueline made its way through traffic at the 1:50 mark. After two more Air Force tallies at 4:43 and 8:42, Gurtler broke up the run by tapping in Raven's rebound on the rush at 16:24.

The Falcons, however, wiped out Gurtler's effort and started the scoring in the third, as George Michalke found the back of the net on an unassisted play at 7:34.

Air Force held the Lakers to 20 shots through the first two frames before finishing the game with a 37-32 advantage. Senior Ryan Zapolski suffered the loss with 31 saves and one power-play goal allowed (1-for-1). Rookie Jason Torf earned the win with 27 stops and held MC 1-for-2 with the man-advantage.

Mercyhurst closes out the regular season next weekend with a home-and-home series against Canisius, beginning on Friday, Feb. 25 in Buffalo, N.Y.