ERIE, Pa. – The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team scored three second period goals and hung on to defeat Hockey East-foe Merrimack College, 3-2, on Saturday night and to salvage a split of their weekend series. The Lakers improved to 2-2-0 overall in the young season while the Warriors lost for the first time and are now 4-1-0.

It was only Mercyhurst's third-ever victory against a Hockey East opponent, two of which have come against Merrimack. The Lakers only other win against a team from Hockey East came against the Maine Black Bears in January of 2013.



Senior goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant allowed Mercyhurst to survive a listless first period. The Lakers were outshot 15-8 in the opening twenty minutes, but, thanks to the senior netminder, went to the locker room in a scoreless tie.

Things changed dramatically in the second.

After a near goal by Merrimack in the opening seconds (a video review showed the Mercyhurst goal to be dislodged before the puck went in), the Lakers struck twice within a 45-second span. Junior Alec Shields gave the Lakers a 1-0 advantage for the second straight night when his shot eluded Merrimack freshman netminder Collin Delia, who was making his collegiate debut. Senior linemate Zac Frischmon and junior defenseman Anthony Mastrodicasa assisted on Shields' second goal of the season at 2:13.

Less than a minute later, junior Kyle Cook doubled the lead after a Merrimack turnover. Redshirt freshman Jack Riley found Cook whose shot beat Delia. Freshman defenseman Zach Todd collected his first collegiate assist on Cook's initial goal of the campaign.

The lead grew to 3-0 when senior Kyle Just deflected a pass from Riley that found its way behind Delia at 10:33, proving to be the game-winning tally. The goal was initially waved off by the officiating crew, who thought it had been knocked in with a kicking motion by the redshirt senior. However, the call was overturned when the referees watched the video replay. Cook also helped on Just's first goal of the season.

Merrimack got on the board, and ended Mercyhurst's momentum, late in the middle frame when freshman winger Alfred Larsson's shot along the ice from a bad angle in the right wing corner eluded Sarjeant. The Lakers owned a 12-9 advantage in shots in the second.

Mercyhurst spent much of the third period killing penalties. The Lakers actually took the game's final six infractions, from 11:37 of the second through late in the third. The Warriors used the final penalty to draw within a goal as freshman winger Brett Seney lit the lamp in a 6-on-4 situation - with the Merrimack net empty - late in the third. The Warriors pulled Delia again in the last minute but couldn't get the equalizer.

Merrimack outshot Mercyhurst 10-2 in the third and 34-22 over the entire 60 minutes. The Warriors finished 1-for-7 with the man advantage while the Lakers went 0-for-4. Sarjeant, victimized last night, stopped 32 Merrimack shots to square his season record at 2-2. His win was the 21st in his career (21-7-7).

The line of Cook, Just, and Riley combined to score two goals and three assists in the victory. In fact, Riley, who played in just seven games as a freshman before missing the final 34 games due to injuries, earned his first career mulitple-point effort with his two helpers.

The one-goal game was the fifth straight for Merrimack while the Lakers avenged a one-goal loss in overtime to the Warriors (5-4) the night before. Both teams have now won twice in four career meetings. The teams also split a pair of games last October (3-2, 2-5) in Massachusetts.

Ten different Lakers have now scored at least one goal in the team's four games while 16 have at least one point.

Mercyhurst will travel out-of-conference next weekend when it visits #4 Colgate for a pair of contests. Faceoffs from Hamilton, New York are scheduled for 7:35 p.m. both nights.