Complete Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst men's hockey team exploded for six goals in the second period, including four during a five-minute power play, and finished with a season high nine goals in a 9-1 victory over visiting Sacred Heart at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Friday night. The win, coupled with an Air Force tie against Holy Cross, moved the Lakers into a first-place tie in the Atlantic Hockey Association standings. The Lakers improved to 11-8-2 overall and 8-2-2 in conference play, while the Pioneers dropped to 1-17-1 overall and 0-11-1 in the conference.

After a quiet first period, the floodgates opened in the second period. Mercyhurst was awarded a five-minute power play at the 10:42 mark of the period when Sacred Heart's Chad Barthelmess was whistled for a contact to the head major and a game misconduct. The Lakers made the Pioneers pay, scoring four times on the power play, all within the first 1:54 of the infraction. Freshman Daniel Bahntge scored twice during the power play and finished with a natural hat trick in the second period - his first career three-goal game.

All told, six players finished with multiple points for the Lakers, led by Bahntge's career-high four-point night. Senior Kevin Noble, junior Grant Blakey, and freshman Nardo Nagtzaam each had three-point nights, with Nagtzaam collecting his second multi-goal game of the season with two markers. Senior Patrick Goebel and junior Paul Chiasson each had two points in the victory. It was the most goals by Mercyhurst since scoring nine on January 8 of last season in a 9-4 win at Connecticut. The last time Mercyhurst scored more than nine was on December 6, 2008 when it defeated American International 11-1.

Nagtzaam got Mercyhurst on the board at the 12:42 mark of the opening period with his seventh goal of the season, concluding a brilliant tic-tac-toe play with Bahntge and Noble for the period's only goal. Mercyhurst held a slim lead in shots after twenty minutes, 7-6.

The Lakers did not waste any time extending the lead in the second period. Senior Derek Elliott scored his team-high, and career-best, tenth goal of the season just 29 seconds into the middle stanza, giving the Lakers a 2-0 lead on his unassisted goal. Then, at the 4:44 mark, Bahntge got on the board with his fifth goal of the season on assists from Nagtzaam and Blakey.

Then, the power play barrage began. Chiasson got the ball rolling with his sixth goal of the season just four seconds into the five-minute advantage. Blakey won the faceoff and Chiasson beat Sacred Heart's starting goaltender Steven Legatto at 10:46, which ended his night between the pipes. Andrew Bodnarchuk came on in relief and was greeted rudely by Bahntge just 50 seconds later on assists from Chiasson and Noble. Again, less than a minute later, at the 12:29 mark, freshman Tyler Shiplo scored on a one-timed slapshot from the point for his third goal of the year. Sophomore Nick Jones and freshman Ryan Misiak had the helpers. Finally, just 11 seconds later, Bahntge completed his natural hat trick, and completed the second period scoring with his seventh goal of the season. Noble and sophomore Kyle Just had the assists.

The Lakers held a 22-6 shot advantage in the second period.

With Sacred Heart on the power play early in the third period, the Lakers made it 8-0 when sophomore Daniel O'Donoghue one-timed a feed from freshman Matthew Zay for his third goal of the season at the 4:39 mark. It was Mercyhurst's first shorthanded goal of the season. Goebel had the other assist on the goal.

The Pioneers would get on the board at the 9:51 mark as Sacred Heart's leading scorer Matt Gingera beat Mercyhurst goaltender Jordan Tibbett for the Pioneers' only goal of the night. Tibbett played the third period, his first action since November 19, 2010, and stopped 13-of-14 Pioneer shots on goal. Senior Max Strang started and played the opening two periods.

Nagtzaam, who started the scoring, would end the scoring as well, with a goal at the 18:14 mark. Blakey and Goebel had the assists.

Sacred Heart held a 14-11 shot advantage in the third period, aided by a 5-on-3 power play midway through the period, which the Lakers were able to kill off. Mercyhurst outshot the Pioneers 40-26 for the game.

Strang picked up his 10th win on the season, stopping all 12 shots he faced in his two periods of work. He is now second in the conference with a .948 save percentage. Legatto took the loss for Sacred Heart, stopping 17-of-21 Laker shots. Bodnarchuk allowed five goals on 19 shots in relief. The Lakers finished the game 4-of-6 on the power play, and moved into sixth place in the nation in power play percentage, which now stands at 25.5%. The Pioneers, meanwhile, went 0-for-5 with the man advantage. The Lakers' penalty killing unit has now killed off 22 straight opponent chances.

Mercyhurst and Sacred Heart will conclude their weekend series on Saturday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.