Box Score

PITTSBURGH, Pa. - For the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team, eight has certainly been enough over the last two contests.

Mercyhurst scored eight goals for the second straight game, getting goals from eight different players Tuesday night, in an 8-1 rout over the Colonials of Robert Morris at the 84 Lumber Arena. The win extended the Lakers' unbeaten streak to four straight games and moved their record to a season-high four games over .500 at 14-10-2 overall. More importantly, Mercyhurst picked up two crucial points in the Atlantic Hockey standings and now owns a 12-6-1 conference mark, good for 25 points. Robert Morris dropped to 14-10-2 overall and 9-9-1 in the conference standings.

The Lakers are nine points behind conference-leading Niagara and are now three points ahead of third-place Air Force, whom the Lakers will play at the Mercyhurst Ice Center this Friday and Saturday nights.

The 16 goals over the last two games are the most by a Laker team in back-to-back contests since scoring 17 goals in a weekend sweep at American International on December 5 and 6, 2008 (6-3 and 11-1). The two-game total is tied for the fourth-most goals scored by a Laker squad since joining Division I at the start of the 1999-2000 season. The Mercyhurst Division I record is 18 goals scored against Holy Cross (W 6-2) and Bentley (W 12-0) on October 27 and 28, 2000.

During the Lakers' four-game unbeaten streak, Mercyhurst has outscored its opponents by a 22-5 margin.

Mercyhurst got goals from seniors Paul Chiasson and Grant Blakey, juniors Daniel O'Donoghue and Trent Frey, and sophomores Daniel Bahntge, Chris Bodo, Ryan Misiak, and Matthew Zay in the victory. Zay finished the night with a goal and two assists, while five Lakers had two points on the night - O'Donoghue (one goal, one assist), Misiak (one goal, one assist), junior Kyle Just (two assists), junior Nick Jones (two assists), and sophomore Edward DeWald, who recorded his first career multiple-point game with two helpers.

The Lakers wasted just 19 seconds before jumping on the scoreboard. Chiasson buried his team-leading 13th goal of the season to give the visitors a 1-0 advantage. It marks the third straight contest that Chiasson has scored the first goal of the game. He leads the team by scoring the first goal of the game five times this season. Jones and O'Donoghue had the assists.

Just 1:18 later, with sophomore Grant Gettinger in the Laker penalty box, Misiak scored his first career shorthanded goal to give Mercyhurst a 2-0 lead. It was Mercyhurst's seventh shorthanded goal of the season, the most by a Laker team since the 2009-10 season when Mercyhurst had eight man-down goals. The Lakers are now tied with Robert Morris for the national lead with seven shorthanded tallies. Jones and Just had the helpers.

The goal would also prove to be Misiak's second consecutive game-winning goal, and his third game-winner of the season.

Mac Roy would score the Colonials' lone goal of the night, beating Mercyhurst goaltender Max Strang at the 5:41 mark of the opening period, cutting the Laker lead in half at 2-1. David Friedmann and Andrew Blazek had the assists.

Robert Morris outshot Mercyhurst 13-9 in the opening period.

The Lakers would recapture their two-goal lead at the 7:39 mark of the second period. With Friedmann in the penalty box for the Colonials, O'Donoghue would score seven seconds into the power play to give the Lakers a 3-1 lead. It was the junior's first power play goal of the season, and the third of his career. Zay and fellow sophomore Tyler Shiplo had the assists on O'Donoghue's eighth goal of the season.

Bodo then gave the Lakers a comfortable three-goal lead at the 16:13 mark of the second period. Just would add his second assist of the contest on Bodo's 12th goal of the season - surpassing his freshman total of 11 goals he scored last season.

Mercyhurst led 4-1 after forty minutes despite being outshot through two periods, 24-18 (11-9 in the second period).

Robert Morris changed goaltenders to start the third period, as Terry Shafer relieved starter Eric Levine. The move worked for a while, until Mercyhurst scored four goals in the span of 3:41 late in the third period to blow the game wide open.

Bahntge started the flurry at the 15:52 mark to give the Lakers a 5-1 lead. The sophomore got behind the Colonial defense and flipped a backhander over Shafer for his 11th goal of the season - also surpassing his freshman total of 10 he scored a year ago. Zay and Misiak had the assists.

Just 41 seconds later, Blakey picked up a lose puck inside the neutral zone and took a shot from between the circles that beat Shafer for a 6-1 lead, ending Shafer's night. Blakey's unassisted goal was his seventh goal of the season.

The Colonials went to their third goaltender, Eric Ferber, but he had little success against the Laker offense as well. Just 73 seconds into Ferber's entrance, at the 17:54 mark, Frey greeted the Robert Morris goaltender rudely with his first goal of the season. It was the junior's first goal since scoring a pair of goals in a 7-2 win at American International on January 14, 2012 - a span of 37 games. DeWald scored his first point of the season, and just the second of his career, with the lone assist.

Zay would tack on the final goal at the 19:33 mark. DeWald took the initial shot that was stopped by Ferber, but started to trickle behind the Colonial netminder. Zay was there to poke it into the empty net for his 10th goal of the season.

Mercyhurst outshot Robert Morris 10-8 in the third period, but was outshot for the game by a 32-28 margin. Strang improved to 11-5-1 on the season with 31 saves. He is now 10-3-1 against conference opponents this season. In his last 11 appearances, covering 638:21, Strang is 8-2-1 with a 1.60 goals against average and a .948 save percentage (313-of-330). Three Robert Morris goaltenders combined to turn aside just 20 of 28 Mercyhurst shots. The starter, Levine, took the loss and dropped to 13-8-2 on the year.

The Lakers went 1-for-3 on the power play and killed off all five Robert Morris opportunities.

Mercyhurst will return home for a two-game series with the Falcons of Air Force on Friday, February 8 and Saturday, February 9. The teams have split 22 previous meetings (10-10-2), with the Lakers winning the only meeting this season by a 5-4 final in Colorado Springs. Faceoffs both nights are scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from the Mercyhurst Ice Center.