Feb. 16, 2007

Stats

Rochester, NY - Atlantic Hockey's first-place team, RIT, rallied from a three-goal, second period deficit to defeat visiting Mercyhurst, 6-5, Friday night at the Ritter Center. The Lakers, in 8th place in the conference at the start of the night, dropped to 8-19-5 (8-15-3 AH), while the Tigers improved to 20-9-2 (19-5-1 AH).

After spotting RIT an early 1-0 lead on a lamplighter just 13 seconds into the contest by Simon Lambert, Mercyhurst scored four unanswered goals and enjoyed a 4-1 advantage early in the second period. Goal scorers for the Lakers were Matt Warren, Neil Graham, and Nick Vandenbeld - all in the first period - and Chris Risi early in the second. Warren's and Vandenbeld's markers came on power plays.

But the Tigers retaliated with three straight markers to tie the game at four early in the third period. Risi scored his second of the night to give the visitors a 5-4 advantage with under 14 minutes to play, but RIT tied the affair four minutes later. Disaster struck in the period's closing seconds. The Lakers picked up a minor penalty at 19:53 and, five seconds later, it was game over as Dan Ringwald beat Mercyhurst senior goaltender Jordan Wakefield for the dramatic game-winner.

RIT had a decisive advantage in shots, 55-32 with Wakefield making 49 saves. RIT's Louis Menard started the game and made 14 saves in about 23 minutes of work. Jocelyn Guimond earned the win after making 13 saves over the final 37 minutes.

Mercyhurst was 2-for-six on the power play while RIT was 4-for-7, scoring three times with the extra skater in the third.

The two teams will conclude the weekend series Saturday at 7:00 p.m.