March 10, 2007

Stats

STORRS, Conn. - Jordan Wakefield made 31 saves but Mercyhurst fell 5-4 in the Atlantic Hockey Quarterfinals to UConn.

The Lakers trailed 5-2 midway through the third period, but made it interesting with a pair of late goals. Mercyhurst was undone, however, by a pair of B.J. Crum power play scores.

UConn (16-17-2) scored its first goal of the game on a 5-on-3. Wakefield saved five straight shots before a sixth, off the stick of Crum, found the back of the net with just six seconds remaining on the first Mercyhurst (9-20-6) penalty.

The next two scores came within a span of 42 seconds of one another. The second goal came from Michael Coppola at 11:59, and UConn made it 3- at 12:41 when Nick Schneider crossed the puck across the goal to Matt Scherer on a 2-on-1 breakaway.

The Lakers got one back in the second period at 3:48, when Scott Champagne left the puck for Ben Couttreau, who dished back to Champagne to cut the deficit to 3-1.

Mercyhurst made it a one goal game at 12:32 of the second with a Cody Collins deflection of a Kyle Gourgon slap shot on a Laker power play.

Brett Olinyk made it 4-2 in favor of the Huskies when he stole a Laker pass and went in unassisted up the right side of the ice.

Crum scored his second power play goal of the game in the third period, again with just six seconds left on the man advantage. The Lakers had faced a a 5-on-3 for 1:21, but managed to kill the first penalty successfully.

Matt Pierce took an assist from Matt Warren to cut the deficit to 5-3, at 11:40 in the third. The Lakers chipped away at the lead and made it a one goal game when Toomey poked in a rebound with just 1:42 left in the game.

Both teams had 36 shots on goal. Mercyhurst was 1-of-7 on the power play, while UConn was 2-of-8.

Beau Erickson had 32 saves for the Huskies.