For a stretch of the opening period, it was Connecticut, not Mercyhurst, churning out the best offensive chances. But a flurry of goals in the bookends of the first frame gave the Lakers a 4-0 lead that turned into a 5-1 win Friday night at Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum. <\/p>\n
“We got some timely goals early and then we got some pretty good goaltending in our end and that was a pretty good recipe for success tonight,” Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin said.<\/p>\n
The win, coupled with Canisius’ 8-0 loss at RIT, assured Mercyhurst (15-17-3 overall, 15-9-3 in Atlantic Hockey) of a home ice berth in the conference playoffs.<\/p>\n
Paul Chiasson’s strike 23 seconds in gave Mercyhurst an early lead. The freshman took a pass from linemate Neil Graham and motored down the slot, beating a UConn defender before briefly losing the puck, but was able to recover, reaching out and poking the puck past Connecticut goalie Garrett Bartus. <\/p>\n
After looking sluggish on the attack following the Lakers’ early goal, UConn turned up the offensive pressure, generating several scoring chances midway through the period.<\/p>\n
Andrew Olson’s drop pass for Brad Cooper was right on target, giving the sophomore a prime opportunity from point blank range. But Cooper couldn’t control the puck and Connecticut’s (5-25-3, 5-19-3) chance to tie the game trickled away seven minutes into the first period.<\/p>\n
Just over a minute later, Husky defender Alex Gerke grabbed the puck near the left post and got twisted around, and still managed to get a shot off from close in. But Laker goalie Ryan Zapolski (41 saves) was there to deny the freshman with his left pad.<\/p>\n
“We tested him from outside,” Connecticut head coach Bruce Marshall said of Zapolski. “We didn’t get a lot of activity down low for rebounds and second chances were he’d have to make two or three saves in a row. We generated a lot of shots but they had time to prepare.”<\/p>\n
Goals by Mike Gurtler and Chiasson as 15:23 and 16:28, respectively, gave Mercyhurst a 3-0 lead. Chiasson’s second tally of the period signaled the end of the night for Bartus, who gave way to Brad McInnis (21 saves) after giving up three goals on just nine shots. <\/p>\n
“We did play fairly play well in the [first] period and we were getting some chances,” Marshall said. “But you look at the scoreboard and the shots are 10-4 in our advantage and we’re down 3-0.”<\/p>\n
Connecticut’s Jason Krispel was whistled for tripping at 19:03 and the Lakers wasted little time capitalizing on the power play, as Jeff Terminisi’s goal at 19:11 gave them a 4-0 lead after one.<\/p>\n
Neither team scored in the second period until Justin Hernandez found the back of the net at 19:52 to cut Mercyhurst’s lead to 4-1. <\/p>\n
The Lakers’ added the game’s final goal on Cody Collins’ empty netter at 19:21.<\/p>\n
“UConn always plays pretty well against us,” Gotkin said. “Despite the score there were stretches were they took it to us pretty good. [They] worked hard and at times outworked us.” <\/p>\n
The teams wrap up the 2009-10 regular season with Connecticut’s senior night Saturday at 7:05.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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