COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team bounced back from a disappointing season opener on Friday night to earn a weekend split against the Falcons of Air Force after picking up a 4-2 victory on Saturday night at the Cadet Ice Arena. Both teams start the season with a 1-1 overall record and a 1-1 conference record in the opening weekend.

Senior goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant turned aside 40-of-42 Air Force shots on Saturday night to pick up his 20th career victory. He stopped all 17 shots he faced in a scoreless first period, added 11 more in the second, and a dozen in the third for his seventh career game in which he has stopped at least 40 shots.



One night after Air Force scored three goals in a 78-second span late in the second period, the Lakers returned the favor on Saturday night. Mercyhurst broke open a 1-1 tie with three goals in 2:03 late in the second period to take a 4-1 advantage into the third period. In fact, the Falcons jumped out in front 1-0 before the Lakers rattled off four consecutive goals, in 9:03, to close out the middle stanza.

After a scoreless first period that saw Air Force outshoot Mercyhurst, 17-8, the Falcons drew first blood just 43 seconds into the second period when Cole Gunner buried his first goal of the season. Gunner cut down the left wing and sent a harmless shot towards Sarjeant and, after Sarjeant came out of his crease to make the initial save, Gunner picked up his rebound and beat the Laker netminder for a 1-0 Falcon lead. Scott Holm and Johnny Hrabovsky had the assists.

Sophomore Kyle Dutra tied the contest at the 9:38 mark of the second period after banging home a rebound past Air Force goal Chris Truehl from between the circles. An initial shot was taken by freshman Jonathan Charbonneau that was sticked aside by the Air Force netminder. However, the puck ended up on the stick of Dutra who then snapped a shot into, essentially, an empty net for his eighth career goal. Senior Matthew Zay picked up his first of three assists on the night with the secondary helper.

Then, the Mercyhurst onslaught began.

Charbonneau gave the Lakers their first lead of the series when he beat Truehl for his first collegiate goal at the 16:38 mark of the second period. Zay and freshman defenseman Tyler Enns, who was playing in his first collegiate game after sitting out Friday, picked up the assists.

Just over a minute later, at 17:50, junior Alec Shields found a loose puck in front of the Air Force crease after and beat Truehl over the glove hand to give the visitors a 3-1 lead. Shields, who had his only three goals in the Atlantic Hockey Association postseason a year ago, has picked up where he left off after posting a goal and an assist in the two games at Air Force. The goal by Shields proved to be his second career game-winning goal. Seniors Zay and Chris Bodo had the assists.

The Lakers were not done. After a turnover inside the Air Force zone, senior Zac Frischmon intercepted a clearing attempt and found a wide-open Nardo Nagtzaam stationed at the side of the goal. Nagtzaam one-timed the pass from Frischmon and beat Truehl for his first goals of the season and the 24th of his career at the 18:41 mark of the second to give the Lakers a 4-1 lead after two.

Shots on goal in the second favored Mercyhurst by an 18-12 margin.

Air Force came out firing on all cylinders in the third and scored just 30 seconds into the period when Gunner beat Sarjeant for his second goal of the night. A beautiful centering pass by Chad Demers set up the one-timer for Gunner which cut the Mercyhurst lead to 4-2 with still plenty of time on the clock.

But, Sarjeant stood his ground, stopping the final 12 Air Force shots on the night to preserve the Laker victory. Mercyhurst was outshot in the third period by a 13-2 count.

Sarjeant evened his record at 1-1 on the season with his 40-save performance. Truehl dropped to 1-1 on the season after stopping 24-of-28 Mercyhurst shots. Neither team could convert on special teams on Saturday. One night after Air Force went 3-for-5 on the power play, the Lakers killed off both Air Force power plays on Saturday. Meanwhile, Mercyhurst was 0-for-3.

Zay's three assists put him one point shy of becoming the 17th player in the Division I era at Mercyhurst to record 100 career points. The senior from Glendale, New York sits at 35 goals and 64 assists in his career. Meanwhile, Charbonneau (1g, 1a) and Enns (1a) each scored their first collegiate points on Saturday.

Mercyhurst will have next weekend off before returning to action on Friday, October 24 and Saturday, October 25 when Merrimack invades the Mercyhurst Ice Center for the Lakers' regular season home opening weekend. Faceoffs both nights are scheduled for 7:05 p.m.