Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - Junior forward Zac Frischmon broke a 2-2 tie with a pair of third period goals to lift the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team to a 4-2 victory over the Purple Eagles of Niagara University on Tuesday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. With the victory, the Lakers improved to 4-6-1 overall and 3-1-0 in the Atlantic Hockey Association standings. Niagara dropped to 3-7-1 and 3-2-1 in conference play.

Frischmon couldn't have picked a better time to register his first collegiate multiple-goal game. He snapped a 2-2 tie just 1:10 into the third period with his third goal of the season and then tacked on his second goal of the night at the 3:46 mark to propel the Lakers to their third victory in four conference games this season. Frischmon now has two career game-winning goals, with his other coming against Army in game one of the first round of the AHA playoffs last March.

A native of Ham Lake, Minnesota, Frischmon has already tied his career-high of four goals he established in 41 games as a sophomore last season. He leads the Lakers in points scored in conference games this season with four goals and two assists in four games. In fact, all six of Frischmon's points this season have come against conference opponents.

Mercyhurst improved to 8-11-1 lifetime against Niagara, snapping a three-game losing streak against its conference rival.

The hosts jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 8:09 mark of the opening period when freshman Kyle Dutra beat Niagara freshman goaltender Jackson Teichroeb for his second goal of the season. Dutra found himself all alone between the circles and one-timed a centering feed from senior Daniel O'Donoghue to put the Lakers in front. Junior Nardo Nagtzaam had the other assist.

Dutra leads all Laker freshmen in scoring with two goals and four assists for six points. Meanwhile, the assist for O'Donoghue was his 50th career helper.

Niagara came right back, tying the game at 1-1 just 28 seconds later when Chris Lochner beat Laker netminder Jimmy Sarjeant. Mike Conderman took the initial shot from the left wing circle that Sarjeant turned aside. However, the Mercyhurst goaltender could not corral the rebound and Lochner dove, sliding the puck under the pads of Sarjeant for his second goal of the season.

But, Mercyhurst responded less than two minutes later on the penalty kill. With senior defenseman Randy Cure in the penalty box, a great forecheck by O'Donoghue and junior Matthew Zay resulted in a shorthanded tally for the Lakers, giving Mercyhurst a 2-1 lead after the opening period. The duo battled inside the Niagara zone, killing time off of the Purple Eagle power play. The puck came free to Zay, who was left one-on-one with Teichroeb. The junior from Glendale, New York put a deke on Teichroeb and then backhanded a shot into the back of the cage for his fifth goal of the season. O'Donoghue earned the lone assist.

Shots were dead even at a dozen apiece after the opening twenty minutes.

The visitors would not go quietly, however, as the Purple Eagles would tie the game at 2-2 on the power play just 56 seconds into the second period. Vince Muto took a shot from the right point that carromed off the stick of Conderman in front of the Laker goal. Niagara got a fortunate bounce as the puck ended up right on the stick of Isaac Kohls, who hammered a shot into the back of the net for his third goal of the season.

Shots favored Niagara in the second period by a 10-9 margin.

But, Frischmon took over. Just 70 seconds into the final stanza, good puck movement inside the Niagara zone by juniors Ryan Misiak and Chris Bodo resulted in a wide-open Frischmon in front of the Niagara goal. Frischmon backhanded a shot just under the crossbar and past Teichroeb for his third goal of the season and a 3-2 Laker lead.

Frischmon was not done. Less than three minutes later, Cure was able to keep the puck alive inside the Niagara zone and played it right to the stick of Misiak. Misiak fed the puck in between the circles to Frischmon, who sniped a shot over the glove of Teichroeb, which nicked the crossbar, but found the back of the net for his first career multi-goal game.

Sarjeant and the Lakers did the rest as Mercyhurst earned its first victory against Niagara since February 4, 2012 and its first victory on home ice against the Purple Eagles since February 5, 2011. Sarjeant improved to 4-2-1 overall and 3-0-0 in conference play with a 27-save performance on Tuesday night. In three conference starts this season, Sarjeant has allowed six goals on 106 shots (.943 save percentage).

Teichroeb dropped to 1-4-0 with 28 saves in defeat.

Niagara finished the night 1-for-3 on the power play while Mercyhurst was 0-for-2, but did have a shorthanded goal.

Mercyhurst will have little time to rest as the team jumps right back into action with a pair of home games against 14th-ranked Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23. Head coach Rick Gotkin served as RPI's assistant coach from 1986-88 prior to taking over the head job at Mercyhurst for the 1988-89 season. The Lakers are 2-6 lifetime against the Engineers, but these will be the first games between the two schools at the Mercyhurst Ice Center in the all-time series. Faceoffs from the MIC are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. both nights.