ERIE, Pa. - Senior goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant is "starting to see the puck well again" and that does not bode well for the rest of the Atlantic Hockey Association.

Sarjeant was masterful in game one of a weekend series against Army on Friday night in front of a near-capacity crowd at the Mercyhurst Ice Center, turning aside 39 shots for his second career shutout, as the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team blanked Army, 2-0. The Lakers improved to 4-3-0 overall and 2-1-0 in the conference standings while the Black Knights fell to 2-5-1 overall and 2-4-1 in league play.



"I had a great week of practice," said Sarjeant after his second career shutout. "I was really focusing on seeing pucks, tracking pucks, and getting back to the basics. I got into a rhythm early and, as a goaltender, once you get into a rhythm, it definitely makes your life a lot easier."

The Aurora, Ontario native was at his best in the second period when the Lakers had to kill off a major penalty against freshman Kane Elliot with 7:01 remaining and then had to endure another barrage of shots when the Black Knights were given a 5-on-3 power play late in the period. All told, Sarjeant stopped 18 shots in the middle stanza with 13 of those shots coming while Army was on the power play.

His only other shutout came last January 10 when he turned aside 51 shots in a 1-0 victory at Holy Cross. The 51 saves represented the most saves by a Laker goaltender in a shutout performance since the program moved to Division I in 1999-2000.

Mercyhurst got its only offense in the span of 44 seconds late in the first period. Elliot tallied his first collegiate goal, which also proved to be the game-winner, at the 16:45 mark of the opening period when he beat Army goaltender Parker Gahagen with a snapshot over the glove hand from the right wing circle. Sophomore Philippe Drouin and junior Kyle Cook had the assists.

Then, just seconds later, senior Zac Frischmon forced a turnover inside the neutral zone which led to an odd-man rush. Mercyhurst put together some brilliant passing between the newly-formed line of Frischmon, junior Alec Shields, and freshman Jonathan Charbonneau, with Frischmon ending up on the receiving end of a beautiful feed from Shields and then beating Gahagen for his first goal of the season at the 17:29 mark.

Frischmon and Charbonneau are now tied for the team lead in scoring with five points through seven games.

Mercyhurst would have a goal disallowed with 2:10 left in the third period when the referees converged and decided, after watching the video replay, that the net had been knocked off its pegs before the puck crossed the goal line. Originally ruled a goal on the ice, which would have been Frischmon's second goal of the game, the newly-installed instant replay system at the Mercyhurst Ice Center decided to change the officiating crew's minds.

But, the story of the night was Sarjeant, who lowered his goals against average to 2.71 and upped his save percentage to .926. Over his last two starts in wins against at #4 Colgate and at home against Army, the senior goaltender has turned aside 78-of-79 shots (.987 save percentage).

The Laker penalty killing unit, backstopped by Sarjeant, did a tremendous job in keeping Army off the scoreboard. While Mercyhurst did allow 14 shots during Army power plays, the Laker defense blocked a number of shots and finished with 16 blocks on the night, giving them a total of 40 over the last two games. The Black Knights were 0-for-6 on the power play as the Lakers were whistled for seven penalties (25 minutes). Meanwhile, Mercyhurst was 0-for-2 with the man advantage.

Mercyhurst and Army will conclude the weekend series on Saturday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Fans that bring a teddy bear to the game will receive free admission to the contest. Then, when Mercyhurst scores its first goal, fans can throw their stuffed animals onto the ice with all toys collected being donated to Toys For Tots. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.