ERIE, Pa. – The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team scored three times in the first period and went on from there to down Niagara 4-1 and sweep the Atlantic Hockey Conference (AHC) weekend series. The Lakers improved to 16-10-4 overall and to 14-7-3 in the conference while the Purple Eagles dropped to 3-24-3 and 3-18-3 respectively. The win also propelled the Lakers into a second-place tie in the AHC with Bentley, seven points back of front-running Robert Morris.

Two players, who hadn't scored goals since a 5-4 win over Holy Cross January 17, got the Lakers off to a 2-0 lead with lamplighters 33 seconds apart in the first period. Senior defenseman Tyler Shiplo registered his fourth of the season, helped by senior Ryan Misiak and freshman Jonathan Charbonneau, at 12:05. Charbonneau then followed with his sixth of the year, from freshman Michael Verboom, who recorded his first collegiate point, and Misiak, at 12:38. Mercyhurst extended the lead to 3-0 when senior Kyle Just found the back of the net at 19:31. Just's 10th of the season came with help from seniors Daniel Bahntge and team captain Matthew Zay.  Mercyhurst had a slight 10-9 advantage in first-period shots.

The Purple Eagles got back in the contest at 2:42 of the second when sophomore forward TJ Sarcona scored on a Niagara power play. There was no further scoring in the period, one highlighted by two major infractions against the Purple Eagles. The first, a face-masking penalty, came at 12:12 but the Lakers couldn't capitalize. The second, a contact to the head, came with less than a minute to play in the period. Niagara outshot Mercyhurst 9-8 in the middle period.

The second major proved too much for the Purple Eagles to overcome, however, as Just scored his second of the game with only 36 seconds having elapsed in the third. Zay and Bahntge had the helpers. That goal proved to be the last of the contest. For Just, it was his second two-goal game of the season and he pulled to within two points of becoming the fourth player this season, and 20th overall, to record 100 career points at the Division I level in school history.

The Lakers had a 13-7 shot advantage in the final period and a 31-25 margin overall. Mercyhurst finished 1 for 7 with the extra attacker while the Purple Eagles ended up 1 for 4.

Both teams returned Friday's starters between the pipes – freshman Brandon Wildung (8-4-3) for Mercyhurst and sophomore Jackson Teichroeb (3-16-3), the last-man-on-defense for Niagara. Wildung improved to 4-0-0 in his last four appearances and has allowed four goals on 94 shots during the stretch.

Mercyhurst has now won four successive games for the first time this season. The Lakers are 11-4-3 when scoring first and 12-1-3 when leading after forty minutes.

The Lakers and Canisius will play a home-and-home next weekend, starting Friday night, February 20, at the Ice Center. That will mark "Senior Night" as eleven Lakers will be recognized. Mercyhurst and Canisius are separated by a point in the conference standings.

The top five finishers in the regular season get opening round byes in the AHC playoffs.

Mercyhurst will conclude the regular season the following weekend with a pair of games at Rochester Institute of Technology.