Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. - Mercyhurst junior netminder Jordan Tibbett couldn't have picked a better time to record his first career shutout.

Tibbett stopped 28 Holy Cross shots on Sunday night and senior Grant Blakey scored the game's lone goal as Mercyhurst defeated Holy Cross 1-0 at the Hart Center in Worcester, Mass. The win was the second for Mercyhurst in a best-of-three Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) Quarterfinal series and propelled the Lakers (18-16-5) into the AHA semifinals next Friday against Connecticut (19-13-4) at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, N.Y. Game time is set for 7:05.

The other semifinal will pit Niagara, the AHA regular season champion, against Canisius.

Holy Cross ended its season with a 20-14-3 overall record.

Blakey scored his 13th goal of the season  thanks to a centering pass from linemate Daniel Bahntge at 6:49 of the first. Little did anyone at the Hart Center realize that would be the only lamplighter of the contest.

It would prove to be Blakey's second game-winner of the series. He scored the game one winner near the midway mark of the third period. He has five game-winning goals this season.

The Crusaders were penalized five times in the game: once in the first, twice in the second, and twice more on back-to-back infractions late in the third. Holy Cross pulled Ginn late in the game, but could not get the equalizer. Blakey put the icing on the contest by winning a face-off deep in the Mercyhurst zone with 24 seconds left. He gently sent the puck down the ice where junior winger Daniel O'Donoghue reached it first and effectively killed the clock.

Both goaltenders were brilliant. Holy Cross sophomore Matt Ginn (19-13-3) stopped 32 Mercyhurst shots as the Lakers held an overall 33-28 advantage. Ginn played all three games between the Holy Cross pipes.

When Tibbett (6-6-1), who combined with Blakey to win Friday's first game 3-2, wasn't standing on his head Sunday, he got great help from his defense, particularly from junior Nick Jones. With the Indianapolis native out of position midway through the third, Jones protected his empty net by blocking a Brett Lubanski shot from in close to keep the Lakers in front. Later in the third, with the crowd on the edge of its seats, Mercyhurst senior forward Paul Chiasson thought he had scored an insurance goal. But, after a brief discussion among the officials, the goal was disallowed much to the chagrin of the Mercyhurst faithful.

Nonetheless, Mercyhurst held on and sent Holy Cross packing for the second straight year, having ended the Crusaders' 2011-12 campaign by an identical two games-to-one margin (2-1, 1-3, 3-1) in the AHA quarterfinals held at the Ice Center.

The Lakers failed on all five power play chances, but took only one penalty themselves in the entire 60 minutes.

Mercyhurst and Connecticut split a pair of regular season games at Storrs, Connecticut. The Lakers bowed 5-4 on Friday, January 18, before rebounding for a 5-0 win the next night. Tibbett started game one, but left after 28 minutes with the Lakers trailing 4-0. Senior Max Strang relieved and allowed one goal the rest of the way before pitching a shutout the next night.

The winners of Friday's two semifinal games will clash Saturday for the AHA championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA playoffs.