Dec. 1, 2006

Final Stats

Springfield, MA - American International, playing only its third home game of the season and its first in three weeks, scored the initial four goals of the game Friday night and held on to defeat Mercyhurst 4-2 in an Atlantic Hockey (AH) contest. The Yellow Jackets won for the first time in 13 games (1-12-0) and improved to 1-9-0 in the conference. The Lakers, who had been unbeaten in their last four and who had won the last 15 meetings in the all-time series, dropped to 3-8-3 and 3-6-2 respectively.

AIC scored twice in each of the first two period. Junior forward Jerome Tendler lit the lamp at 6:53 of the first and, nearly nine minutes later, senior defenseman Jeremy Leroux connected on a power play for a 2-0 lead after twenty minutes. The Yellow Jackets owned a 12-6 advantage in shots in the opening period.

The lead grew to 3-0 at 8:24 of the second when senior winger Mark Fuqua put one behind Mercyhurst netminder Tyler Small and, when junior Greg Genovese banged home his first of the year at 15:27, the Yellow Jackets appeared to be home free. But, just nine seconds after the ensuing faceoff, Mercyhurst senior forward Scott Champagne collected his sixth of the year to get the Lakers on the board. Sophomore forward Matt Pierce then cut the lead to two with his sixth of the season at 17:54. But Mercyhurst would get no closer as the teams traded goose eggs in the third.

AIC owned a slim 32-30 advantage in shots and converted 1 of its 3 power play chances. The Lakers finished 0 for 6.

The Lakers lost for only the second time in history against the Yellow Jackets (20-2-1). They incurred their only prior setback (5-4, ot) at AIC in February of 2001.

AIC sophomore Tom Fenton stopped 28 shots in picking up the win. Small made 28 saves in absorbing the defeat.

The two teams will conclude the weekend series Saturday afternoon at 4.