Box Score

ERIE, Pa. - The regular-season champions are heading back to the Atlantic Hockey Association semifinals.

Junior goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant stopped 45 shots and redshirt freshman Alec Shields scored his first collegiate goal, which proved to be the game-winner, lifting the Mercyhurst University men's hockey team to a 4-1 victory over Holy Cross in game two of the best-of-three quarterfinal series at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Saturday night. Coupled with the thrilling 5-4 overtime victory on Friday night, the Lakers swept the series and will be heading to the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York next Friday for the AHA semifinals.

Mercyhurst extended its unbeaten streak to eight (6-0-2) and improved to 21-12-7 overall. The Crusaders ended their season with a 14-22-3 overall mark. It was the third consecutive season that the Lakers defeated Holy Cross in the quarterfinal round. Mercyhurst improved to 33-13-5 lifetime against Holy Cross, including an 8-2 mark in postseason play.

The Lakers are hoping that the third time will, in fact, be the charm as this marks the program's third consecutive trip to the AHA Final Four. Mercyhurst lost to Air Force in the semifinals two years ago and then were knocked off in the title game by Canisius last season.

After allowing nine goals in his last two starts, Sarjeant was brilliant again on Saturday, turning aside 45-of-46 Holy Cross en route to his 18th victory of the season. The junior lost his shutout bid with 3:08 left in regulation when Mike Barrett one-timed a shot from between the circles that got the visitors on the scoreboard. By that time, however, Mercyhurst had built a 4-0 cushion on goals by senior Nick Jones, juniors Matthew Zay and Ryan Misiak, and Shields.

Sarjeant improved to 18-4-6 with his fifth 40-plus-save performance of the season. The junior has not suffered a loss since December 28 at Ohio State.

Jones scored the only goal of the opening period, beating Holy Cross netminder Matt Ginn with a blast from the top of the right circle at the 2:27 mark. The puck squirted free to the right wing after a mad scramble in front of the Crusader goal and ended up on the stick of Jones, who one-timed a slapshot for his ninth goal of the season. Junior Daniel Bahntge and senior Daniel O'Donoghue had the assists.

Holy Cross outshot Mercyhurst, 11-10, in the opening twenty minutes.

The hosts jumped in front 2-0 on Shields' first collegiate goal at the 2:41 mark of the middle stanza. The Lakers developed a 3-on-2 break into the Holy Cross zone and the redshirt freshman was the recipient of some brilliant tic-tac-toe passing that was started by juniors Zac Frischmon and Chris Bodo. Shields had four assists in his first 20 career games before notching his first goal on Saturday.

The lead ballooned to 3-0 at the 15:20 mark of the second after a miscue behind the Holy Cross goal. Junior Tyler Shiplo rifled the puck up the left wing boards, from his own end, that O'Donoghue was able to get a stick on to nullify an icing call. The senior hustled down the ice and forced a turnover behind the goal after Ginn had trouble playing the puck. He found Zay cutting down the slot and the junior buried his team-leading 17th goal of the season - his first goal since February 1 against Bentley.

The Lakers held a 16-13 shot advantage in the middle stanza.

Misiak gave Mercyhurst a 4-0 lead with 4:14 left in regulation, beating Ginn with a backhander over the glove hand for his 13th goal of the year. Freshman Stephen Hrehoriak and redshirt junior Kyle Just had the assists.

Sarjeant lost his shutout bid just 66 seconds late when Barrett beat him off assists from Logan Smith and Tim Driscoll. The Crusaders had a 6-on-4 opportunity for a full two minutes to close out the contest after pulling Ginn and drawing a penalty on senior Randy Cure. But, Sarjeant stopped seven shots on the two-man advantage to preserve the three-goal win.

Holy Cross outshot Mercyhurst 46-36 for the game which included a 22-10 margin in the third period. Sarjeant turned aside 45 while Ginn stopped 32 in a losing effort. He ended his season with an 11-21-3 record. Neither team could convert on the power play - Mercyhurst had four chances while Holy Cross had three.

The Lakers will be in the AHA Semifinals next Friday at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. Stay tuned to hurstathletics.com for an opponent and a time which are yet to be determined.