ERIE, Pa. – Canisius College snapped a 1-1 tie with two second period goals, about 90 seconds apart, Friday night and held on to defeat the Mercyhurst Unviersity men's hockey team, 4-2, in an important Atlantic Hockey Conference (AHC) game in front of 1,158 fans at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Golden Griffins, 14-10-7 overall and 13-6-6 in the conference, jumped ahead of Mercyhurst and moved into a second-place tie with Bentley. The Lakers, 16-11-4 and 14-8-3, fell to fourth, a point behind Canisius and Bentley, which played to a 1-1 overtime tie at Army Friday.

Eleven Mercyhurst seniors were honored before the game: defensemen Tyler Shiplo, Grant Gettinger, and Ryan Misiak; forwards Nardo Nagtzaam, Zac Frischmon, Kyle Just, Edward DeWald, Matthew Zay, Chris Bodo, and Daniel Bahntge; and injured goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant.

Canisius silenced the large "Senior Night" crowd early when sophomore forward Shane Conacher collected his tenth goal of the season, from junior Ralph Cuddemi and senior Doug Jessey, at 7:34 of the first. Mercyhurst knotted the contest three-and-a-half minutes later when Nagtzaam scored his third of the year on a shot from the left wing circle that snuck just inside the far post. Bodo and Misiak collected the assists.

It was Nagtzaam's second goal and fourth point in four games after missing twenty consecutive games due to injury.

Shots favored Mercyhurst, 8-5, in the opening twenty minutes.

The Golden Griffins reclaimed the lead at 4:41 of the second when junior Chris Rumble took advantage of a Laker penalty to tally his sixth of the season. Canisius senior Mitch McCrank then opened a two-goal lead for the Griffs, scoring the eventual game-winner, when he beat Mercyhurst freshman goaltender Brandon Wildung (8-5-3) at 6:09. There was no further scoring in the period, one in which the Lakers outshot the Griffs 14-9.

A pair of freshmen drew the Lakers to within a goal at 0:41 of the third when forward Bryan Sienerth jammed home a rebound for his first collegiate goal with help from redshirt freshman Jack Riley. The Griffs took their first – and only - penalty of the game a bit more than a minute later, but the Lakers couldn't capitalize.

Later in the period, the Lakers were inches away from tying the game at 3-3 when Just fired a shot from between the circles that rang off the crossbar behind Canisius goaltender Keegan Asmundson.

Mercyhurst pulled Wildung down the stretch, but eventually gave up an empty-net lamplighter to Cuddemi, his team-leading 19th of the year, at 19:35 to finish the scoring.

The Lakers outshot Canisius 15-13 in an action-packed third period and 37-27 for the game. Mercyhurst has now outshot its opponents in the last six contests. Mercyhurst was 0-for-1 on the power play while the Griffs were 1-for-2.

Asmundson (9-7-4) stopped 35 of 37 Mercyhurst shots to get the win. Wildung (8-5-3) suffered the loss, his first setback in his last five decisions, making 23 saves.

Robert Morris clinched the AHC regular season crown Friday with a 4-3 win at RIT. The top five teams in the eleven-team AHC get an opening round bye. Holy Cross and RIT trail the Lakers, who have 31 points, by four with Air Force another point back. The Lakers, Tigers, and Falcons have three games remaining while the Crusaders have only two.

Although Mercyhurst still leads the all-time series against the Griffs 40-31-10, Canisius is 7-3-1 in the last eleven and 2-0-1 this season. Mercyhurst won 41 of 77 faceoffs and doubled the Griffs in attempted shots, but the Canisius defense was solid, blocking 22 shots in front of Asmundson.

The two teams will meet in Buffalo tomorrow night at 7:35 to conclude the home-and-home weekend series. Mercyhurst will then end the regular season at RIT next Friday and Saturday.