Box Score

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Sophomore defenseman Anthony Mastrodicasa scored the first two goals of his collegiate career on Saturday, but it wasn't enough as the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team dropped a 5-2 decision to Clarkson University in the consolation game of the Ice Breaker Tournament in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The loss dropped the Lakers to 0-2 on the season while the Golden Knights improved to 3-1 on the year.

Like Friday night's loss to fifth-ranked Minnesota, the game was fairly even except for a disastrous second period. Last night, Mercyhurst was outscored 3-0 and outshot 20-5 in the middle stanza as the Golden Gophers blew open the game. On Saturday, despite the shots being even at 11-11, Clarkson outscored Mercyhurst 3-1 in the second and took a 4-1 lead to the locker room after forty minutes of action.

Mastrodicasa made things interesting in the third period, but the Golden Knights sealed the victory with an empty net goal in the closing minute of the contest.

Clarkson led 1-0 after the opening period thanks to a goal by Jeff DiNallo at the 4:43 mark. A.J. Fossen assisted on DiNallo's first goal of the season.

Shots favored the Golden Knights in the opening period by a 9-6 count.

The Golden Knights took a 2-0 lead against redshirt junior goaltender Jordan Tibbett at the 6:10 mark of the second period when Perry D'Arisso beat the Laker netminder for his first goal of the young season. Jarrett Burton and Ben Sexton had the assists.

But, just 57 seconds later, Mastrodicasa scored his first collegiate goal to cut the Clarkson lead in half at 2-1. The Woodbridge, Ontario, native had five assists in 27 games as a freshman last season but did not take long in his sophomore campaign to get in the goal column. Redshirt junior Kyle Just and junior Matthew Zay had the assists.

A sophomore defenseman, Mastrodicasa also had a goal in the exhibition contest against Guelph at the Mercyhurst Ice Center last Tuesday.

It remained a 2-1 contest until Clarkson scored a pair of goals in the final two minutes of the period to take a 4-1 lead after forty minutes. James Howden made it a 3-1 game at the 18:05 mark with his first goal of the season. Sexton made it 4-1 with a power play goal at 19:51.

Tibbett was pulled after forty minutes and junior Jimmy Sarjeant took over between the pipes. Sarjeant made two saves early in the period before the Lakers had a golden opportunity to get back into the game when Sexton was given a five-minute major for checking from behind and a corresponding game misconduct at the 5:18 mark.

Mastrodicasa scored during the five-minute power play, notching an unassisted goal at the 9:34 mark of the third period to cut the Clarkson lead to 4-2. That, however, would be the only goal during the major power play and would be as close as Mercyhurst would get.

Simon Bessette sealed the game with an empty-netter at the 19:11 mark.

After stopping 42-of-48 Minnesota shots on Friday, Tibbett turned aside just 16-of-20 shots over two periods on Saturday to drop to 0-2 on the season. Sarjeant stopped all eight Golden Knight shots he saw in the third period. Meanwhile, Clarkson starter Steve Perry stopped 23-of-25 Mercyhurst shots to improve to 2-0 on the year.

Clarkson outshot Mercyhurst 29-25 for the game.

Both teams had one power play goal during the contest on ten combined power play opportunities. Mercyhurst was 1-for-6 while Clarkson converted 1-of-4 man advantage chances.

The competition will not get any easier as Mercyhurst will jump right back into action on Tuesday night when it hosts Ferris State at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Bulldogs were the national runners-up two years ago. Faceoff from the Ice Center is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.