Jan. 26, 2008

Stats

Watertown, Mass. - Freshman Erik Peterson's second goal of the game, with just 13 seconds left in regulation, rallied Bentley to a second successive 3-3 overtime tie with Mercyhurst Saturday night. The Lakers, in the midst of a six-game road trip, are now 7-14-5 overall and 7-6-5 in Atlantic Hockey. The Falcons finished weekend play 6-13-5 and 6-7-5 respectively.

Junior Matt Pierce gave Mercyhurst a 1-0 lead at 7:21 of the first when he connected on a Lakers' power play. Pierce's 4th of the year was helped by freshmen Jeff Terminesi and Scott Pitt. Mercyhurst had a 12-8 edge in first period shots on goal.

Bentley scored twice within three-and-a-half minutes of the middle period to take a 2-1 advantage. Freshman Erik Peterson tied the game at 1-1 at 2:31 and junior Jeff Gumaer put the Falcons ahead for the first time at 6:01. Sophomore Neil Graham leveled things again when he beat Bentley netminder Joe Calvi at 14:29 for his third goal of the season and first since November 16 at RIT. Sophomore linemates Chris Risi and Nick Vandenbeld assisted. Bentley outdistanced Mercyhurst 16-7 in second period shots.

Pierce put the Lakers ahead with his second of the game at 15:35 of the third, but Bentley's Peterson scored in a 6-on-4 advantage, thanks to a late Mercyhurst penalty and an empty net, with just 13 seconds left in regulation.

The best chance in overtime came when the Falcons had a three-on-one rush, but a shot to the open side of the net was blocked by the stick of Mercyhurst junior defenseman Bobby Phillips to save the game for the Lakers.

Bentley outshot Mercyhurst 40-39 although the Lakers owned a 20-16 advantage in the game's final 25 minutes. The Lakers were 1 of 4 with the man advantage while the Falcons finished 1 of 7.

Mercyhurst netminder Matt Lundin made 37 saves as the Lakers record in overtime this season dropped to 0-2-5, including four straight no decisions.

For Pierce, it was his first multiple-goal game of the season as he increased his goal output from 3 to 5.

The Lakers are 0-1-3 on the road swing so far. All three overtime games ended 3-3 and the lone loss was by a 3-2 count at UConn last weekend.

Mercyhurst will end the road trip next weekend when it visits Holy Cross Friday and Saturday. The Lakers went 0-1-1 against the Crusaders at the Ice Center in late October. Holy Cross won the opener 4-1 before the teams battled to a 2-2 overtime draw the next night.