ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Mercyhurst University men's hockey team saw its season come to an end on Saturday night with a 5-1 loss to Rochester Institute of Technology in the Atlantic Hockey Conference Championship game at the Blue Cross Arena. The Lakers ended the season with a 19-16-4 overall record while the Tigers, who also receive the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, improved to 19-14-5 on the season.

The Lakers entered the third period trailing 2-0 but had been in late-game deficits in each of their last two victories – a decisive game three win in the quarterfinal round at Bentley last Sunday and the team's semifinal win on Friday, in overtime, against top-seeded Robert Morris.

Sophomore Stephen Hrehoriak fired a shot from between the circles that beat RIT senior netminder Jordan Ruby just 2:55 into the third period to cut the Tiger lead to one goal, giving the Lakers life and a shot at another comeback.

Senior defenseman Grant Gettinger and freshman forward Bryan Sienerth had the assists on Hrehoriak's first goal of the season.

"When it was to 2-1 and there were just over five minutes left in the game, I was thinking it, and saying it to the guys that this is 'our kind of game'," said Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin. "We really started to try to open it up and we did have some looks, but RIT did a great job to counter and didn't allow us to have a lot of looks. I guess the magic ran out for us."

The Tigers recaptured their two-goal lead with 5:15 left in regulation when Andrew Miller beat Mercyhurst freshman goaltender Brandon Wildung on a 2-on-1 break after going top shelf over the glove hand of the Laker rookie.

Just moments prior to the Tigers taking a 3-1 lead, Sienerth had a golden opportunity to knot the game at 2-2 when Ruby got caught between staying in the goal and coming out to play a puck. Sienerth won the race and looked as if he had a wide-open net, but Ruby was able to get a toe on the shot to force it wide.

Then, with 2:39 left, RIT's Brad McGowan made it 4-1 with his 22nd goal of the season, beating Wildung with a quick snapshot from the left wing circle.

McGowan sealed the Lakers' fate with an empty net goal from center ice with 1:18 left.

"I thought our guys left everything they had on the ice and they represented Mercyhurst well," said Gotkin. "They played hard but sometimes the bounces go the other way. We've certainly gotten our share of bounces over the last couple of weeks, but tonight we just didn't get those bounces. But, that's hockey."

Wildung, who was named to the All-Tournament Team, picked up where he left off on Friday by blanking the Tigers on 16 first-period shots. It came after an Atlantic Hockey Tournament record 59-save performance in the Lakers' 4-3 overtime win over Robert Morris.

"It's a great honor and I'm thankful for that," said Wildung, who stopped 90-of-97 shots this weekend and 190-of-203 shots during the Lakers' postseason run. "I didn't come here to win that honor, I came here to help our team to win the whole thing. I'm happy for the award but I'd trade it for the real hardware any day."

Wildung was the only Mercyhurst player named to the All-Tournament Team.

RIT finally solved Wildung when Matt Abt redirected a centering feed at the 2:03 mark of the second period. The goal was reviewed but was upheld.

Josh Mitchell made it 2-0 with a goal at the 9:51 mark of the second to give the Tigers a 2-0 advantage.

After being outshot, 16-8, in the first period, Mercyhurst and RIT played even in the shots category over the final two periods – 11-11 in the second and 9-9 in the third.

RIT was 0-for-4 on the power play, which included a 5-on-3 advantage after it had taken a 2-0 lead. The Lakers went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.

Mercyhurst will say goodbye to, arguably, the most prolific senior class in program history – forwards Nardo Nagtzaam (the hero in game three against Bentley), Zac Frischmon (the hero in the semifinal game against Robert Morris), Kyle Just (a 100-point scorer), Edward DeWald, Matthew Zay (a 100-point scorer), Chris Bodo (a 50-goal scorer), and Daniel Bahntge (a 100-point scorer); defensemen Tyler Shiplo, Grant Gettinger, and Ryan Misiak (a 100-point scorer); and goaltender Jimmy Sarjeant.