Oct. 20, 2007

Stats

Orono, Maine - #17 Maine completed a two-game sweep of Mercyhurst by downing the Lakers 4-1 Saturday night at Alfond Arena. Maine evened its record at 2-2 and improved to 4-0-1 lifetime against Mercyhurst. The Lakers dropped to 0-4 with all losses to Division I ranked teams.

Senior defenseman Bret Tyler had the lone marker of the opening twenty minutes. He scored his second of the series and extended his goal-scoring streak to three at 4:57 to give the Black Bears a quick 1-0 lead. Maine outshot Mercyhurst 14-6 in the opening period.

Mercyhurst senior captain Ben Cottreau got the Lakers even with his second of the series and second of the season just 21 seconds into the second frame. But Maine responded quickly when freshman winger Glenn Belmore scored his first collegiate goal two minutes later and the Black Bears' had their second one-goal advantage. Senior forward Wes Clark stretched the Maine lead to 3-1 with his second of the year at 8:34. Maine doubled Mercyhurst, 12-6, in second period shots on goal.

Junior forward Chris Hahn ended the scoring with just seven seconds left in the game with a shorthanded, empty net goal. Maine junior netminder Ben Bishop, who won his second straight decision by making 15 saves, picked up his second career assist on the play.

Maine outshot Mercyhurst 12-4 in the final period and 38-16 overall. The Lakers were able to muster just 6, 6, and 4 shots by period against a stingy and talented Maine defense. After a combined 76 minutes in penalties in Friday's opener, the teams divided eight minor penalties evenly and were both 0 for 3 with the man advantage. Freshman Ryan Zapolski made his third straight start between the pipes for Mercyhurst and was credited with 34 saves.

Both the weekend games were complete sellouts (5445).

"Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Maine are the types of teams we want to play to get ready for our conference", said long-time Mercyhurst head coach Rick Gotkin. "I've seen a lot of positives so far. We just need to start putting some pucks in the net and we'll be fine."

Mercyhurst hadn't played at Orono in nearly five years. The only other time there, the Lakers were outscored a combined 12-0. Last year, the Lakers held Maine to a 1-1 overtime tie in Portland.

The Lakers have been outscored 14-4 so far but have been competitive in every contest. The second period has proved the most troublesome as Mercyhurst has been outdistanced 8-2.

Mercyhurst plays its first regular season games at the Ice Center next weekend when Atlantic Hockey rival Holy Cross visits for a 7:35 game Friday and a 7:05 contest Saturday. The Lakers lead the all-time series 16-8-3, including a 2-1-1 mark last season.

Following Holy Cross, Mercyhurst returns to the road for three successive weekends: at defending conference champs, Air Force, November 2 and 3; at 2007 national champs, Michigan State, for first-ever meetings on November 9 and 10; and at defending conference regular season champs, RIT, November 16 and 17.