Mercyhurst College scored five power-play goals for the second consecutive night to beat Bentley College 10-5 in Atlantic Hockey action Saturday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. The Lakers broke the game open early with six first period goals, four of which were on the power play. With the win Mercyhurst swept the weekend series and improved to 9-6-0 and 8-2-0 in Atlantic Hockey play, while Bentley fell to 5-7-2 and 3-3-2.
The Lakers picked right up from the night before scoring a power play maker just 2:55 into the contest. Jamie Hunt took a shot from the right point, but it was saved by freshman goaltender Jason Kearney. The rebound popped up in the air and Dave Borrelli batted the puck out of the air past Kearney for his seventh goal of the season.
Mercyhurst doubled the lead minutes later, again on the power play, as Chris Trafford beat Kearney for his sixth goal. Bentley hit right back to cut the deficit to one as freshman Anthony Canzoneri scored his fourth goal of the season. Canzoneri won a draw in Mercyhurst zone back to senior defenseman Brendan McCartin, whose shot from the right point struck Mike Ella off the cage. The rebound fell to Canzoneri who snapped a shot past Ella to get Bentley on the board.
Things went downhill for the Falcons after the Canzoneri goal as the Lakers would rattle off four consecutive goals before the end of the first period. A slap shot by Erik Johnson to the far post beat Kearney to make it 3-1 at 9:20. The Lakers hit on the power play for the third time five minutes later on a slap shot from Scott Champagne, his 10th goal of the year.
Mercyhurst made it 5-1 as Brett Robinson fired a wrist shot past junior Ray Jean, who replaced Kearney after the fourth goal, on the glove side. The Lakers got their fourth power-play goal of the period on Borrelli’s second goal of the game with 3:47 remaining on the clock.
The second period continued at a frantic pace, beginning with the second Bentley goal on freshman Dain Prewitt’s third goal of the season. He skated into the left side of the Laker zone and cut to the middle past a Mercyhurst defenseman into the slot before shooting a wrist shot past Ella to make it 6-2.
Mercyhurst hit back minutes later scoring a pair of goals within 17 seconds to make it 8-2 in favor of the hosts. Freshman Jeff Gumaer scored Bentley’s third of the game midway through the period. Sophomore Anthony Pellarin collected the puck behind the Laker goal and flipped the puck in front where Gumaer backhanded the puck past Ella. Junior John Hooks scored his second goal of the season with 2:26 to go in the period as he jammed home a rebound after senior Brett Murphy drove to the net.
The Lakers opened the third period with their fifth power-play goal of the game to make it 9-4. Bentley replied on Gumaer’s second tally of the night on the power play after Canzoneri made a cross-ice pass from the left corner to the right circle. Mercyhurst scored their 10th and final goal as Borrelli netted a hat trick with 7:48 to go in the game.
Ella picked up his second straight win making 45 saves, while Jean made 19 saves and Kearney made 4 stops for Bentley. Mercyhurst finished the night five for ten on the power play and 10 for 20 on the weekend.
