Complete Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. - Fans at the Hart Center on the campus of Holy Cross got to witness free hockey on Friday night. All of 19 seconds.

Sophomore Daniel O'Donoghue scored his second goal of the game just 19 seconds into overtime, lifting the Mercyhurst men's hockey team to a 3-2 win against the Crusaders of Holy Cross. The Lakers improved to 14-9-2 overall and 11-3-2 in the Atlantic Hockey play. Mercyhurst reamins two points in front of RIT for first place in the standings.

Holy Cross dropped to 10-11-1 overall and 8-6-1 in conference play.

O'Donoghue, who had scored just three goals through the first 24 games of the season, had two goals and an assist on Friday night. It was the third multiple-goal game of his career, and his first since registering back-to-back two-goal games on November 5, 2010 against Air Force and November 12, 2010 against Army.

Sophomore Kyle Just got the Lakers on the board with his second goal of the season at the 7:32 mark of the opening period. Junior Paul Chiasson and O'Donoghue had the assists, giving the Lakers a 1-0 advantage. It was the 15th time that Mercyhurst has scored the first goal of the game this season. The Lakers are 12-3-0 in those contests.

The Crusaders came back as Kyle Fletcher scored his second goal of the season at the 16:44 mark of the opening period, tying the game at 1-1. Andrew Cox had the lone assist.

Mercyhurst outshot Holy Cross 12-9 in the opening period.

O'Donoghue recpatured the one-goal lead for the Lakers just 1:44 into the second period with his fourth goal of the season. Senior Kevin Noble and freshman Chris Bodo had the assists. Noble, a native of Sparwood, British Columbia has a career-high 15 points this season (four goals, eleven assists).

Again, the Crusaders would come back. With Holy Cross on the power play, Shayne Stockton beat Mercyhurst goaltender Max Strang for his third goal of the season, tying the game at 2-2 at the 10:23 mark of the middle period. Jay Silvia and Erik Vos had the helpers.

Shots again favored Mercyhurst in the second period, this time by a 12-11 margin.

Then Strang took over. The senior stopped all 17 Holy Cross shots in the third period, setting up O'Donoghue's heroics in overtime. Holy Cross held a 17-5 shot advantage in the final twenty minutes.

The Lakers took one shot in overtime and made it count. O'Donoghue beat Holy Cross goaltender Derek Kump for his second goal of the night and fifth of the season on assists from Chiasson and Just.

Just now has seven points in seven games this season after his two-point effort on Friday night. For his career, the sophomore from Arnprior, Ontario has 14 points in 15 games. Chiasson also had a two-point night with two assists. He now has five multiple-point games in the last nine contests.

Strang improved to 12-9-1 on the season by stopping 35-of-37 Holy Cross shots. Kump suffered his first loss of the year, dropping to 1-1 with a 27-save effort. Holy Cross had the only power play goal of the night, finishing 1-for-3. Mercyhurst was 0-for-4.

The two teams will wrap up their weekend series on Saturday night in Worcester, Mass. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.