LEWISTOWN, N.Y. -- The Mercyhurst men's hockey team saw their comeback bid come up just short in a 2-1 loss to host Niagara Saturday night at Dwyer Arena. 

Trailing 2-0 in the third, Steven Ipri took a bouncing puck from behind the net and beat Chad Veltri with 7:30 left to play cutting the Niagara advantage to 2-1. 

The Lakers continued to push in the third out shooting the Purple Eagles 10-4 in the final from but couldn't find the equalizer. 

Niagara scored at the 9:50 mark of the first period on an Eric Cooley goal. Ludwig Stenland scored the eventual game-winner with 7:46 gone in the third period.  

Mercyhurst goalie Kyle McClellan held the fort early making 12 of his 25 saves in the opening period. Austin Heidemann and Carson Briere each tallied three shots on goal to pace the Laker offense.

With just a pair of games left in the regular season the Lakers are fourth in Atlantic Hockey's western pod with a .479 point percentage. Currently Mercyhurst is chasing RIT for the third spot and a likely opening round bye as the Tigers have .555 point percentage.  

Mercyhurst will close out the regular season next week with a Thursday contest at Robert Morris and then host RIT in the season finale at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Saturday.