Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - RIT's Adam Hartley scored 67 seconds into overtime on Friday night, handing the Mercyhurst University men's hockey a 3-2 overtime loss at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Lakers dropped to 14-12-3 overall and 12-8-2 in the Atlantic Hockey Association standings. The Tigers improved 11-13-5 overall and 9-9-4 in the conference standings.

Mercyhurst, winless in its last three games (0-2-1), suffered its first overtime loss since game two of the Atlantic Hockey Association quarterfinals at Connecticut on March 12, 2011. The Lakers had been 4-0-7 in overtime games since that loss nearly two years ago.

The standings have tightened up considerably with the Lakers on a three-game skid. The loss, coupled with Air Force's 3-1 win over Canisius, dropped the Lakers to third place in the conference standings, one point  behind the second-place Falcons. Holy Cross, with two games in hand on the Lakers, is fourth with 24 points, followed by a three-way tie for fifth-place among RIT, Canisius, and Connecticut, all with 22 points. Bentley and Robert Morris are tied for eighth place with 21 points, followed by Army in tenth with 18, and surging American International in 11th with 15 points.

The Lakers started the scoring at the 10:58 mark of the opening period when sophomore Chris Bodo buried his team-leading 14th goal of the season past Tigers' netminder Jordan Ruby to give Mercyhurst a 1-0 lead. The line of Bodo, junior Kyle Just, and sophomore Zac Frischmon, who played excellent all night, created the scoring opportunity deep inside the Tigers' end. Frischmon found Just, who then hit Bodo with a pass. The sophomore made a couple of dekes, then beat Ruby upstairs to give him three goals in his last four games.

Mercyhurst mounted all sorts of pressure on RIT during the first period, outshooting the Tigers 16-7 in the opening twenty minutes. However, the turning point of the game came with 44 seconds left in the first, when Jeff Smith banged home a rebound past Mercyhurst goaltender Max Strang to the the contest at 1-1. Alexander Kuqali and Ben Lynch had the assists.

Things went south after that point, as the late goal by the Tigers seemed to take the wind out of the Lakers' sails.

RIT took a 2-1 lead just 18 seconds into the second period. A giveaway by the Lakers in the neutral zone went off the stick of RIT's Dan Schuler and right to the Tigers' Matt Garbowsky. The Tiger forward snapped a shot from between the circles past Strang, giving the visitors the one-goal advantage.

RIT continued the attack, but Strang made some big saves to keep the Lakers within striking distance.

That strike came at the 11:33 mark of the second period, when, what seemingly looked like a harmless shot from the point by junior Nick Jones, was redirected past Ruby by junior Daniel O'Donoghue for his ninth goal of the season. Senior Grant Blakey won the faceoff in the offensive zone and worked it back to Jones. Jones skated from the right point to the left point and snapped a shot along the ice that was tipped by O'Donoghue, who extended his point-scoring streak to seven games.

Mercyhurst made a late rally towards the end of the period, but Ruby made a number of saves to keep the score deadlocked at 2-2 after two periods. RIT outshot the Lakers 14-12 in the second.

The third period saw a number of scoring chances, with the best chance coming with 4:30 left in regulation. Frischmon picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and had a step on the RIT defenders. The Laker sophomore snapped a shot from the left-wing circle that was destined for the top corner, but was gloved by Ruby to keep the score tied at 2-2. RIT outshot Mercyhurst 10-8 in the final twenty minutes.

Mercyhurst started the overtime shorthanded, as senior Paul Chiasson was whistled for a boarding penalty with one minute left in regulation. The Lakers did a great job of killing the penalty, not even allowing a shot on goal for the two minutes. However, just eight seconds after Chiasson exited the box, RIT struck. Mercyhurst was unable to clear the zone and Hartley picked up the puck along the left wing, skated around a couple of Laker defenders, and then slid a shot between the legs of Strang, on the backhand, to give the Tigers the victory. Garbowsky and Chris Saracino had the assists on the goal.

The Lakers outshot the Tigers 36-32 for the contest, with both teams finishing the night 0-for-3 on the power play. Strang stopped 29 shots to drop to 11-7-2 on the season. Ruby stopped 34 Mercyhurst shots to improve to 4-6-1 on the year.

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