Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team played its first home game of the 2012-13 season on Friday night, but suffered a 7-3 setback at the hands of American International College. The Lakers dropped to 5-6-1 overall and 5-3-0 in the Atlantic Hockey Association standings. The Yellow Jackets earned their first conference victory of the season, improving to 4-7-3 overall and 1-5-3 in conference play.

The Yellow Jackets wasted little time quieting the 1,300 fans at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Friday night, getting on the board just 2:44 into the opening period on a goal by Jason Popek. Popek skated across the Laker blue line and snapped a shot past junior goaltender Jordan Tibbett for the 1-0 advantage. AIC was not done as it scored just under nine minutes later to take a 2-0 lead on a goal by Steve Mele at the 11:14 mark.

Mercyhurst got the fans back into the game just moments later, at the 13:43 mark, when sophomore Chris Bodo poked home a rebound for his fifth goal of the season, and his first even-strength goal of the year. Sophomore Nardo Nagtzaam took the initial shot and Bodo, along with sophomore Grant Gettinger, provided traffic in front. The rebound came free and Bodo was there, cutting the AIC lead to 2-1. Nagtzaam and Gettinger had the assists. The goal also brought a barrage of stuffed animals that were thrown onto the ice for the second annual Teddy Bear Toss, which benefited the local Toys For Tots program.

But, the Yellow Jackets would reclaim their two-goal lead at the 18:33 mark of the opening period on a goal by Nick Grasso. Play continued after Grasso let go of a slapshot that got behind Tibbett but took a hard bounce off the end boards. After the officiating crew discussed the situation and then checked the net behind Tibbett, they concluded that the puck did in fact go in as it created a hole in the back of the net.

Shots were dead even at 15-15 in the opening twenty minutes.

AIC would take a 4-1 lead at the 10:55 mark of the second period on a goal by Brandon Fagerheim. Popek and Matt Cassidy had the assists. The lead would then balloon to 5-1 at the 12:26 mark when Nathan Sliwinski beat Tibbett, which ended the junior goaltender's night. Alexander MacMillan and Jon Puskar had the helpers.

Sophomore Jimmy Sarjeant replaced Tibbett in goal for the Lakers and Mercyhurst responded with a goal at the 18:12 mark of the second period, which cut the AIC lead to 5-2. Sophomore Ryan Misiak redirected a shot from junior Nick Jones, on a 5-on-3 power play, for his fourth goal of the season. Sophomore Daniel Bahntge had the other assist. The Lakers would nearly cut the lead to two goals before intermission, but AIC goaltender Ben Meisner robbed Nagtzaam on the doorstep to keep the three-goal lead intact.

Shots favored Mercyhurst in the second period, 18-13.

Mercyhurst would get to within two goals at the 8:50 mark of the third period when sophomore Tyler Shiplo notched his third goal of the season, cutting the AIC lead to 5-3. Shiplo's shot from the point, with the Lakers on the power play, changed direction off an AIC defender's stick and got past Meisner. Nagtzaam and junior Kyle Just had the assists on the power play tally.

But, AIC would close things out from there. Richard Leitner beat Sarjeant at the 13:48 mark, giving the visitors a 6-3 lead. Then, with Sarjeant pulled for an extra attacker, Chris Porter scored an empty net goal at the 16:57 mark to close out the scoring.

Tibbett allowed five goals on 27 shots, as his record dropped to 2-3-0 on the season. Meanwhile, Sarjeant played well in relief, stopping 17-of-18 AIC shots in just under 27 minutes of action. Meisner was brilliant for the Yellow Jackets, stopping 43-of-46 Mercyhurst shots. The shots were dead even for the contest, 46-46.

Mercyhurst's power play, which has been on fire as of late, continued the trend on Friday. The Lakers converted 2-of-4 power play opportunities and have now scored on 10 of their last 26 opportunities (38.5%). AIC went 0-for-1 on the power play.

Mercyhurst and AIC will conclude the weekend series at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Saturday, December 8. Faceoff is scheduled for 4:05 p.m.