Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - Junior defenseman Nick Jones' goal, with less than three minutes left in regulation, rallied Mercyhurst to a 2-2 overtime tie with Air Force on Saturday night at the Ice Center. Each team picked up a point in the Atlantic Hockey Association standings, keeping the Lakers one point ahead of the Falcons for second place with six games left in the regular season. The Lakers are now 14-11-3 overall and 12-7-2 in the conference while the Falcons left Erie with records of 12-10-7 and 10-6-5 respectively. The regular season series between the teams ended 1-1-1.

The Lakers scored the first goal of the game for the 16th time this season (8-5-3) when sophomore forward Chris Bodo beat Air Force netminder Jason Torf on a first-period slapper between the circles at 15:31. Junior linemate Kyle Just found Bodo in the neutral zone. The St. Thomas, Ontario, native sped past an Air Force defenseman before releasing a shot that eluded Torf. Freshman defenseman Anthony Mastrodicasa had the other assist. It was Bodo's 13th lamplighter of the season, tying him with senior Paul Chiasson for the team lead. There was no further scoring in the period. Air Force owned an 11-7 advantage in shots.

The game remained 1-0 until Air Force senior winger Kyle DeLaurell scored his first of two power play goals at 14:01 of the middle period. The goal came after Mercyhurst was assessed a bench minor for too many men on the ice. Air Force owned a 12-9 advantage in shots as the teams were whistled for two minor penalties aside.

The Lakers had two power play chances in the third, the second limited to just eight seconds because of an ensuing Mercyhurst infraction, but were limited to just one shot on goal. Air Force was awarded its fourth power play of the night, with less than five minutes left in regulation, and DeLaurell struck again. The Falcons' senior snared a puck deep in the Mercyhurst zone and beat Lakers' senior netminder Max Strang with a quick turnaround from the left side,

Then, along came Jones.

With the clock winding down, Mastrodicasa took a shot in the Air Force end that was blocked. Junior forward Daniel O'Donoghue and sophomore Ryan Misiak worked the puck back to Jones who one-timed it just beyond the circles. It was the Cranberry Twp., Pa., native's sixth goal of the season. The shots were even in the third at eleven apiece.

Both teams used timeouts in the extra session following icing calls. Sophomore Zac Frischmon had the Lakers' lone shot in overtime while Air Force had three. Another Air Force shot, off the stick of junior winger Ryan Timar, rang off the crossbar with less than 30 seconds left.

Mercyhurst finished with 28 shots and failed to score on three power plays, one of which was limited to eight seconds. Air Force fired 37 shots at Strang and finished 2 of 4 with the man advantage.

Air Force collected three points in the two games and now leads the all-time series 11-10-3 and is 6-3-2 at the Ice Center.

The Lakers, locked in a fierce battle for a top-four finish in the conference and a first-round bye, have six regular season games left, four at the Ice Center. Two of those home games will be played next weekend when RIT comes calling for games on Friday and Saturday at 7:05.