Box Score

WATERTOWN, Mass. - Senior Grant Blakey scored his second goal of the season, 2:33 into overtime, to lift the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team to a 4-3 victory at Bentley University on Friday night at the Ryan Skating Arena. With the win, the Lakers got back to .500 overall at 4-4-1 on the season. More importantly, however, Mercyhurst improved to 4-1-0 in the Atlantic Hockey Association standings. The Falcons dropped to 5-5-0 overall and 4-3-0 in conference play.

It was Blakey's third career game-winning goal and his second career game-winner in overtime. The senior from Canton, Michigan also scored in overtime, during his sophomore season, in a 3-2 victory at home over Holy Cross on January 15, 2011. It was his first game-winning goal of the season and his first since the overtime winner against the Crusaders nearly two years ago.

Blakey's winning goal came as the Falcons tried to clear the puck from their defensive zone, only to have Mercyhurst intercept the attempt. Sophomore Matthew Zay found himself on the right wing with open space as the Falcon defenders were caught out of position. Zay then zipped a pass to a wide open Blakey standing at the far post, who one-timed it past Bentley goaltender Brandon Komm to give Mercyhurst its first overtime victory since January 20, 2012 against Holy Cross.

The teams went back-and-forth the entire contest with each team scoring a single goal in all three periods.

The hosts got on the board first when Brett Switzer scored his first goal of the season, beating Mercyhurst senior goaltender Max Strang for a 1-0 Bentley lead at the 10:02 mark of the opening period. Andrew Gladiuk had his first of two assists on the night on the goal.

The lead would be short-lived as junior Daniel O'Donoghue responded with a goal at the 13:40 mark of the opening period. O'Donoghue, who had been held scoreless through the first five games of the season, now has three points in his last four games. Sophomore Zac Frischmon and junior Trent Frey had the assists on the O'Donoghue goal. It was Frischmon's first point of the season while Frey now has three assists in seven games.

Bentley outshot Mercyhurst 11-8 in the opening twenty minutes.

Sophomore Chris Bodo gave the Lakers their first lead of the night with a power play goal at the 4:53 mark of the second period. Bodo's initial shot was stopped by Komm, but he picked up his own rebound and slid it under Komm's pads for a 2-1 Mercyhurst lead. Junior Kyle Just had the lone assist on the goal.

This time, however, it was Bentley's turn to come back as Matt Bloomquist beat Strang to tie the game at 2-2 at the 7:45 mark of the middle stanza. Jared Rickord and Alex Kubiak had the assists.

Mercyhurst held a 20-10 shot advantage in the second period.

The score would remain 2-2 until junior defenseman Nick Jones untied the contest with just four minutes left in regulation. It was Jones' third goal of the season and his first power play goal of the year. Just and Bodo had the assists.

However, Bentley would send the game to overtime in dramatic fashion. With Mercyhurst freshman Mychal Monteith in the penalty box, the Falcons pulled Komm, creating a 6-on-4 opportunity in the waning seconds. And, the Falcons would capitalize on the fifth goal of the season from Steve Weinstein with 29 seconds remaining in regulation. Gladiuk and Bloomquist had the assists.

The Lakers held a 43-30 shot advantage for the contest, including a 35-19 margin over the final two periods and overtime. It was the third straight game that Mercyhurst has outshot its opponent.

Strang stopped 27-of-30 Bentley shots to improve to 3-3-0 overall and 3-1-0 in conference play. Komm made 39 saves for the Falcons in a losing effort. He dropped to 4-5-0 on the season.

Just (two assists) and Bodo (one goal, one assist) each had two points for the Lakers to lead the offense. It was Just's first points since scoring a goal and an assist in a 7-3 loss at Ferris State in the second game of the season. Meanwhile, Bodo has all four of his points this season in his last four games.

Both teams had success on the power play, albeit with minimal chances. Bentley was 1-for-2 while Mercyhurst converted 2-of-3 opportunities.

The two teams will conclude their weekend series on Saturday at the Ryan Skating Arena in Watertown, Massaschusetts. Faceoff is scheduled for 4:05 p.m.