Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - Senior Grant Blakey and junior Daniel O'Donoghue each scored a pair of goals to lead the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team to a 5-2 victory over the Black Knights of Army on Saturday night in game two of their Atlantic Hockey Association first round matchup. The Lakers won the series two games to none. Mercyhurst, now with a four-game unbeaten streak (2-0-2), improved to 16-15-5 overall. The Black Knights ended their season with a 7-22-5 overall record.

The win was the 450th for Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin. He became the 26th coach all-time, at any division, to win 450 career games at the collegiate level.

With the series victory, the Lakers will travel to Worcester, Massachusetts for a best-of-three quarterfinal series against the Crusaders of Holy Cross. It marks a rematch of last season's quarterfinal series at the Mercyhurst Ice Center, where the Lakers won a hard-fought series two games to one. In that three-game matchup, Laker goaltender Max Strang stopped 111-of-115 Crusader shots to send Mercyhurst to the AHA Semifinals in Rochester, N.Y.

Mercyhurst jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 5:24 mark of the opening period when Blakey notched his ninth goal of the season. Sophomore Matthew Zay broke into the Army zone 1-on-1 with a defender. However, Blakey, who had just come off the Mercyhurst bench, came sprinting down the slot with no Army defenseman there to pick him up. Zay fed a saucer pass to the Laker captain, who then beat Army goaltender Rob Tadazak for the opening tally. Sophomore Chris Bodo had the other assist.

It was the only goal of the opening period, as Mercyhurst outshot Army 15-11 through the first twenty minutes.

O'Donoghue gave the Lakers a 2-0 lead at the 4:38 mark of the second period with his career-best 11th goal of the season. Junior Kyle Just dug out a loose puck behind the Army cage and found O'Donoghue left all alone in front. Sophomore Zac Frischmon had the other assist.

The line of O'Donoghue, Just, and Frischmon played together during the series for the first time all season. The trio combined for four goals and seven assists in the two-game sweep, including two goals and five assists on Saturday.

Army would finally solve senior goaltender Max Strang at the 13:39 mark when Willie Faust cashed in a power play goal for the Black Knights. Faust buried a rebound for his fifth goal of the season, cutting the Mercyhurst lead to 2-1. Christian Pomarico and Zak Zaremba had the assists.

The Black Knights, in a do-or-die situation, took it to the Lakers in the middle stanza, outshooting Mercyhurst 18-9. However, Mercyhurst led by a goal after 40 minutes.

Blakey regained the two goal lead for the Lakers at the 8:56 mark of the third period with his second goal of the night and tenth of the season. Just and junior defenseman Nick Jones had the assists.

But, the Black Knights would not go quietly, making things interesting when Joe Kozlak scored with 4:53 left in regulation. Kozlak picked up a loose puck inside the Mercyhurst zone and fired a shot towards Strang that the Laker netminder never saw. Kozlak's seventh goal of the season was assisted by John Clark.

However, O'Donoghue thwarted Army's comeback bid just 1:21 later with his second goal of the night and 12th of the year. Just took the initial shot from the right wing circle that was stopped by Tadazak. Frischmon and O'Donoghue both got their sticks on the rebound, and it was the junior who slid it past the Army goaltender.

Sophomore Ryan Misiak added an empty net goal at the 19:10 mark of the third period from just inside the center red line for the final margin. Jones had the assist on Misiak's empty netter. The sophomore is now tied with Bodo for the goal scoring lead with 17 apiece.

Mercyhurst outshot Army 15-9 in the third period and held a slim 39-38 margin for the contest. Strang stopped 36-of-38 Army shots to improve to 12-9-3 on the season. Tadazak again played well in defeat, turning aside 34 Mercyhurst shots. He finished his season with a 3-13-4 record.

The teams combined for just four minor penalties in the contest, with three assessed to Mercyhurst. Army went 1-for-2 on the power play while the Lakers did not have a man-advantage opportunity.

Mercyhurst improved to 29-9-4 lifetime against Army, including a 21-1-2 record in games played in Erie. The Lakers also moved to 6-0 lifetime in postseason games against the Black Knights.

The Lakers and the Crusaders of Holy Cross will battle in the Atlantic Hockey quarterfinals beginning next Friday, March 15 from the Hart Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. All games in the best-of-three series are slated to begin at 7:05 p.m.