Box Score

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team saw its season come to an end on Friday evening when Canisius' Stephen Farrell beat Laker goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant at the 13:30 mark of double overtime to defeat Mercyhurst, 5-4, in the Atlantic Hockey Association semfinals at the Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York. The Lakers ended their season with a 21-13-7 overall record while the Golden Griffins advance to the AHA title game with a 17-20-3 overall mark.

Farrell snapped, what seemed to be, a harmless shot from inside the right point with 6:30 left in double overtime that fooled the Laker netminder and ended the longest playoff game in Atlantic Hockey Association tournament history. It was Farrell's first goal of the season and Logan Roe and Ralph Cuddemi had the helpers.

The game featured 109 total shots on goal, with the Lakers outshooting the Golden Griffins by a 62-47 margin. The difference was Canisius netminder, senior Tony Capobianco, who turned aside 58 Laker shots to even his record at 13-13-2 on the season. He stopped all 22 shots he faced after regulation. Sarjeant, meanwhile, stopped 42 shots and finished his season with a 18-5-6 overall record.

Redshirt freshman Alec Shields scored a pair of goals and senior Daniel O'Donoghue finished his Laker career with a goal and an assist in the loss. It was O'Donoghue who sent the game to overtime when he beat Capobianco with 8:12 left in regulation.

The game went back-and-forth with neither team leading by more than one goal. Mercyhurst had leads of 2-1 and 3-2 while Canisius had 1-0 and 4-3 advantages during regulation.

The Golden Griffins took a 1-0 advantage at the 7:40 mark of the opening period when Ralph Cuddemi redirected a shot from the point by Doug Jessey that got past Sarjeant for his 14th goal of the season. Mitch McCrank had the assist.

Shields responded exactly two minutes later, getting help from Farrell in front of the Canisius goal, to tie the game at 1-1. The redshirt freshman hustled down the ice to nullify an icing call and then centered a pass that carromed off of Farrell in front and past Capobianco for his second goal of the season, and his second in as many games. Sophomore Mychal Monteith had the assist.

Senior Nick Jones scored on the power play at the 17:34 mark of the first period to give the Lakers their first lead of the game. Jones made a great play to keep the puck inside of the zone and rifled a shot along the ice that beat Capobianco for his tenth goal of the season. Redshirt junior Kyle Just and O'Donoghue had the assists.

Shots favored Mercyhurst in the opening period, 14-10.

Cuddemi struck back at 1:19 of the second period with his second goal of the game and his 15th of the season to tie the contest at 2-2. In eight career games against Mercyhurst, Cuddemi has seven goals.

Shields responded, batting home a centering feed from junior Zac Frischmon, to give the Lakers a 3-2 lead. Shields entered the postseason tournament with zero goals in his first 20 collegiate games. He scored the game-winner in the game two victory over Holy Cross and then recorded his first multi-goal game on Friday evening, finishing the season with three goals and four assists for seven points.

Patrick Sullivan tied the game for Canisius at 3-3 with a rebound goal at the 17:10 mark of the middle period. Kyle Gibbons and Doug Jessey had the assists.

Canisius outshot Mercyhurst 13-9 in the second period.

McCrank gave Canisius a 4-3 lead nearly seven minutes into the third period with his eighth goal of the season and was trying to become the hero for the second weekend in a row. McCrank scored a hat trick in the decisive game three win at Bentley last weekend. Shane Conacher and Mathew Backhouse had the helpers.

But, O'Donoghue had other ideas, sliding home a centering pass from junior Matthew Zay, to knot the game at 4-4 with 8:12 left in regulation. It was O'Donoghue's 15th goal of the season and was also assisted by junior Daniel Bahntge.

Both teams had opportunities throughout the remainder of regulation and during the first overtime but neither team could score until Farrell ended it abruptly.

The Lakers finish their season with a 21-13-7 overall record after winning the AHA regular season championship for the first time since being a member of the league when it started in 2003-04.