Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team saw its seven-game unbeaten streak come to an end on Saturday night as it lost a 7-4 decision to Canisius College at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Lakers dropped to 14-10-4 overall and suffered just their second loss in conference play (12-2-3). Both losses have come against the Golden Griffins. Canisius improved to 9-13-2 overall and 8-7-2 in the Atlantic Hockey Association standings.

Mercyhurst not only suffered a loss on the scoreboard, but it also lost junior goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant to an undisclosed injury with 6:16 left in the second period. With Mercyhurst leading 3-1 at the time, Sarjeant made a save up high and immediately fell to his stomach on the ice. He skated off under his own power, but was shaken up and had to be replaced by redshirt junior goaltender Jordan Tibbett.

That proved to be the turning point in the contest.

Canisius greeted Tibbett with a goal just 29 seconds after entering to cut the Mercyhurst lead to 3-2 and then scored another roughly four minutes later to tie the game at 3-3 heading to the third period. The Golden Griffins tallied two goals in the span of 18 seconds to start the third period and never looked back, sealing it with an empty-net tally with 1:12 left in the contest.

Tibbett suffered the loss in goal, falling to 0-6 overall and 0-2 in conference action. He allowed five goals on just 17 shots in 25:33 of action. Sarjeant turned aside 15-of-16 Canisius shots prior to his early exit. It was Tibbett's first action since his start at Ohio State on December 29.

With the Lakers on the game's first power play, Mercyhurst scored first when sophomore defenseman Anthony Mastrodicasa fired a slapshot from the left point past Canisius goaltender Tony Capobianco at the 3:56 mark of the opening period. The sophomore's fourth goal of the season was assisted by juniors Ryan Misiak and Zac Frischmon.

The Golden Griffins tied the game at 1-1 at the 5:02 mark of the opening frame when Geoff Fortman took a shot from the right point that Sarjeant never saw. The shot hit off the far post and deflected into the goal for Fortman's first collegiate goal. Logan Roe and Carl Larsson had the assists.

Shots favored Canisius in the first period by a 13-8 margin.

Mercyhurst capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play at the 5:57 mark of the second period to take a 2-1 lead. With Doug Jessey in the box for a five-minute major for charging into Sarjeant and Ryan Bohrer in the box for tripping, junior Daniel Bahntge received a centering pass from junior Matthew Zay and deposited the puck past Capobianco for his 13th goal of the season. Senior Daniel O'Donoghue had the other helper.

With Jessey still in the box, O'Donoghue gave the Lakers a 3-1 lead at the 8:13 mark with his 11th goal of the season. Senior Nick Jones fired a slapshot from the point that trickled past Capobianco but not across the goal line. But, O'Donoghue was there to finish the job for his first goal since scoring at Army on January 4. Zay had the other assist.

Then, the roof caved in.

After Sarjeant's exit, Canisius' Taylor Law took advantage of a Laker giveaway inside the Mercyhurst zone and beat Tibbett with a forehand from between the circles to cut the Mercyhurst lead to 3-2. It was Law's first of two goals on the night.

The Golden Griffins tied the game at 3-3 with a power play tally from Kyle Gibbons at the 18:29 mark. Shane Conacher and Cody Freeman had the assists on the goal.

Shots favored Mercyhurst in the second, 14-7.

Patrick Sullivan and Law then scored a pair of goals at 1:19 and 1:37 of the third period to give Canisius its first lead of the night and prompting Mercyhurst to take a timeout. Jessey followed just over five minutes later, at 6:57, with a power play goal to give Canisius a 6-3 advantage.

Zay cut the lead to 6-4 at 13:38 with his team-leading 15th goal of the season, benefitting from some great passing inside of the Canisius zone. O'Donoghue and Bahntge had the assists. Both Zay and O'Donoghue finished the night with a goal and two assists while Bahntge had one goal and one assist as the Lakers' top line provided a majority of the offense.

The Lakers, however, could get no closer and Ralph Cuddemi sealed the Canisius win with an empty net goal at 18:48 from just outside the Laker blueline.

Capobianco stopped 22-of-26 shots for his fifth victory of the season. He improved to 5-7-2 overall. Both teams were excellent on the power play - Canisius finished 2-of-6 while Mercyhurst was 3-of-7.

The Lakers will have a first-place showdown at the Mercyhurst Ice Center next Friday and Saturday, January 31 and February 1 when second-place Bentley makes the trip to Erie for a weekend series. With Bentley's victory over Holy Cross on Saturday, the Lakers hold a two-point advantage over the Falcons for the top spot in the league as the final month of the regular season approaches. On Saturday, the Stanley Cup - the holy grail of professional hockey - will make a visit to the Ice Center. Stay tuned to hurstathletics.com throughout the week for all of the details on the Cup's visit to Erie. Both faceoffs next weekend are scheduled for 7:05 p.m.