Moon Township, Pa. — Mercyhurst finished the home and home series against Robert Morris with a 4-3 loss on the road. The Lakers lead for a majority of the game but the Colonials comeback efforts saw them in front from the final ten minutes until the end as they take both games in the series.

How It Happened
With redemption on the Lakers minds, they got this one off to a fast start. Just shy of two minutes into the game, they went on the power play, helping them keep the puck down in the Colonials zone. A build up at the wall saw Dustin Geregach slide it out to Kyler Head whose shot deflected off of RMU goalie Francis Boisvert. Keanan Stewart was able to feed the deflection back to Head who buried it on his second attempt for an early 1-0 lead. 

Only about a minute later, the home side brought the game back even. Dominic Schimizzi picked up the puck behind the Mercyhurst goal, bringing him self even with the side of the goal before firing it in, somehow sneaking it to the back of the net on an almost impossible angle. The lead was grabbed back by the Lakers inside the final two minutes of the period through leading scorer Boris Skalos. The puck ended up with Mark Reifenberger at the edge of the zone, to which he slung it forward to Trent Sambrook on the left side for him to slide it to Skalos, who was eye to eye with Boisvert, and easily netted it to go up 2-1 into the second period.

The Colonials fought back early in the second period, getting a short-handed goal in their opening five minutes of the frame. Gavin Gulash stripped the Laker attack, poking the puck free for Dallas Tulik to break away, one on one with the keeper, to which he hurried in the back of the net. Five minutes later though, Mercyhurst regained their lead. A deflected shot in by Barrett Brooks fell to Ryan Coughlin, he played it off to Philip Waugh, who slashed it in from the left side of the net in a very similar fashion to the Schimizzi goal from earlier. The Lakers put on a great defensive effort to pick up a penalty kill in the final minutes of the period to bring their 3-2 lead to the third period.

Yet again Robert Morris got off on the front foot of the period early, this time with Tanner Klimpke bringing it even. A breakaway with Luke Johnson and Cameron Garvey got him in front of goal to net a backhand around the keeper to make it 3-3. A few minutes later the Colonials took their first lead of the game. Johnson played a perfect pass in front of the Laker goal for Tulik to net his second on the day. Mercyhurst pushed until the end to try and send it to overtime, eventually going empty net, but they couldn't rewrite the 4-3 scoreline signaling a loss.

Highlights
Kyler Head scored his 6th goal on the season.
Brois Skalos got his team leading 11th goal of the year.
Philip Waugh netted his 10th goal of the season.
Dustin Geregach got his 13th assist on the year.
Keanan Stewart claimed his 5th assist of the season.
Marko Reifenberger and Trent Sambrook both got their 6th assist on the year.
Ryan Coughlin picked up his 4th assist of the season.
Barrett Brooks got his 3rd assist.
Simon Bucheler had 34 saves on 38 shots faced.

Scoring Summary
P1: 3:08 (PP) - Kyler Head from Keanan Stewart and Dustin Geregach

P1: 18:18 - Boris Skalos from Trent Sambrook and Marko Reifenberger

P2: 10:04 - Philip Waugh from Ryan Coughlin and Barrett Brooks

Next Up
Mercyhurst is back home next weekend hosting RIT for a two game set, starting Friday, February 9th at 7:00 PM.