Feb. 10, 2007

Stats

Erie, Pa. - Sacred Heart freshman forward David Jarman's second goal of the game, a third period power play score, put his team ahead to stay as the Pioneers outlasted Mercyhurst 4-2 in an exciting game Saturday night at the Ice Center. The Pioneers, 5-2 victors Friday night, improved to 17-9-4 overall and to 14-6-4 in Atlantic Hockey. Mercyhurst, a combined 3-9 in one and two-goal games this season, fell to 8-18-5 and 8-14-3 respectively.

Mercyhurst rallied twice from one-goal deficits, but could never overtake the Pioneers. As it did Friday, Sacred Heart got on the board first when senior defenseman Kalen Wright banged home his first goal of the season at 7:38 of the first. The advantage stood until 9:19 of the second when freshman defenseman Cullen Eddy drew the Lakers even with his fifth goal of the season. Eddy was helped by defense partner, freshman Matt Fennell, and sophomore forward Matt Pierce.

Sacred Heart reclaimed the lead a little more than two minutes later when Jarman scored his first of two. But resilient Mercyhurst squared things again before the end of the middle frame when senior captain Kyle Gourgon collected his 11th of the year from linemates Ryan Toomey and Cody Collins. That set the stage for Jarman's heroics in the third. SHU senior Pierre-Luc O'Brien then sealed the Pioneers' win with an empty net marker, his 15th of the season, with only 25 seconds to play.

Sacred Heart outshot Mercyhurst 38-33 and finished 1 of 5 with the man advantage. The Lakers failed in seven power play chances.

Jarman picked up the game's first star while winning goaltender Stefan Drew (31 saves) and losing netminder Jordan Wakefield (34 stops) were awarded second and third accolades. The Pioneers have now won seven of the last eight games between the teams and lead the all-time series 14-10-2.

Mercyhurst, with three conference games left in the regular season, will travel to Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) next Friday and Saturday before returning home to battle Canisius on February 24 at 7pm.