ERIE, Pa. – The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team opened its 29th varsity season on Friday night with a 5-2 loss to the 20th-ranked Raiders of Colgate University in front of nearly 1,200 fans at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Lakers, members of the Atlantic Hockey Conference (AHC), fell behind 2-0 after a period and couldn't recover against the Raiders, members of the ECAC.

Colgate freshman Hunter Racine got the Raiders on the board at 5:16 of the first when, near the end of a Colgate power play, he jammed home a rebound past Mercyhurst sophomore goaltender Brandon Wildung. Sophomore forward Evan Peterson doubled the Colgate lead to 2-0 when he scored, even strength, at 16:01.

The Raiders had a sizeable 11-3 advantage in first period shots against a Mercyhurst team which features 22 underclassmen among 29 players on its roster.

After a giveaway inside the Mercyhurst zone, Colgate junior Derek Freeman extended the lead to 3-0 at 5:15 of the second with an unassisted tally. Another Derek, Lakers' freshman Derek Barach, scored the Lakers' first goal of the 2015-16 campaign seven minutes later. Barach was helped by senior forward Kyle Cook and sophomore defenseman Zach Todd.

With momentum on its side, Mercyhurst, unfortunately, took a penalty moments later and Colgate senior Tylor Spink restored the three-goal lead just eight seconds into the power play.

Mercyhurst sophomore winger Michael Verboom, who joined the Lakers in January of 2015, closed the scoring in the middle period with an unassisted marker at 17:06 after intercepting a clearing attempt by Colgate junior goaltender Charlie Finn. It was Verboom's first collegiate goal.

Colgate outshot Mercyhurst 9-6 in the second period.

Mercyhurst played its best period in the third but was unable to get any closer on the scoreboard. Then, with Wildung pulled for an extra attacker, Racine closed the scoring  - and ended the Lakers' comeback hopes - with his second of the contest at 17:38.

Mercyhurst had 10 of the combined 19 shots on goal in the third.

The Raiders outshot Mercyhurst 29-19 and finished with two power play goals in three chances. The Lakers were 0-for 3 with the man advantage. Colgate also won 37-of-60 faceoffs with a pair of freshmen - Barach and Josh Lammon above .500 in the faceoff dot for the Lakers. Barach won 9-of-16 draws while Lammon won 5-of-9. 

The Lakers blocked 19 shots in the defensive zone on Friday night with a game-high five coming from junior forward Kyle Dutra.

Wildung (0-1) stopped 24 Raiders' shots while Colgate junior Charlie Finn (1-0) made 17 stops for the Raiders.

Mercyhurst, which split a pair of games at then #4 Colgate last season (0-4, 2-1), fell to 2-7 all-time against the Raiders. The Lakers fell to 0-16-1 in season-openers at the Division I level with only a 4-4 overtime tie at Michigan on October 2, 2010 being the non-loss in 17 career season openers. Mercyhurst later won the Michigan game in a shootout but it went down as a tie in the record books.

The two teams will finish the weekend series on Sunday afternoon at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. Faceoff is scheduled for 4:05 p.m.