Men's Hockey | 2/14/2014 10:15:00 PM

Box Score

ROCHESTER, NY – Visiting Mercyhurst (16-12-5, 14-4-4 AHA) scored third unanswered goals in the second period to erase a 2-1 deficit and defeat the RIT men's hockey team (8-16-5, 7-12-3 AHA) by a score of 6-3 in front of 1,457 fans at Ritter Arena on Friday evening.

Ryan Misiak led the Lakers with two goals and an assist, while Nick Jones dished out three assists. Zach Frischmon tallied a pair of goals, while Nardo Nagtzaam and Daniel Bahntge also scored. In net, Jordan Tibbett stopped 39 shots in the win.

Caleb Cameron (Sunridge, Ontario/Listowel Cyclones) scored his first collegiate goal for RIT, while Ben Lynch (Blaine, MN/Lincoln Stars) and Danny Smith (Edmonton, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) also scored for the Tigers. In goal, Mike Rotolo (Rochester, NY/Cedar Rapids Roughriders) stopped 37 shots.

Both teams fired 42 shots on goal. Mercyhurst was 2-for-7 with the man-advantage and scored a shorthanded, empty-net goal, while RIT was 1-for-7 on the power-play. There were 18 minor penalties in the game, 17 of which were called in the first two periods.

"I thought we missed some chances we needed to bury and missed some saves at the other end, which was the difference tonight," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "I was much happier with the way we responded to start the third period. Mercyhurst is a good team, very balanced offensively."

The first period was a throwback to games against Mercyhurst in the past, with nine penalties and three goals.

RIT got into penalty problems right off the bat, going down two men for 1:03 just 4:27 into the contest. The RIT penalty-killing group of Lynch, Noyes, Alexander Kuqali (Pittsburgh, PA/Sioux City Musketeers), and Brad Shumway (Lafayette, CO/Chicago Steel), did a great job down the two men, killing off both penalties.

Just 26 seconds after the second penalty expired, RIT got on the board, as Cameron was able to redirect a pass from Dan Schuler (Webster, NY/Powell River Kings) from in front past a sprawling Tibbett for his first collegiate tally.

Mercyhurst tied the game on the power-play at the 9:29 mark, as Frischmon made a nifty spin move in front and beat Rotolo over the shoulder from in close.

Lynch gave RIT a 2-1 lead with 56 seconds left in the opening period, completing a dazzling passing play on the power-play for his ninth goal of the season. Adam Mitchell (Crofton, MD/Baystate Breakers) had the puck on the left side and found Brad McGowan (Langley, British Columbia/Surrey Eagles) in the slot. McGowan made a quick pass to Greg Noyes (Lucan, Ontario/Salmon Arm Silverbacks), who fed a wide open Lynch at the side of the net. Lynch was easily able to beat Tibbett to the open side.

The Lakers took control in the second period, scoring three unanswered goals, one in the first minute, and one in the final second, to take a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes of play.

Just 36 seconds into the period, Misiak potted his first of the period, taking a feed from Jones at the doorstep, while the teams were playing 4-on-4 for his 10th goal of the season.

Nagtzaam gave the Lakers a 3-2 lead at the 6:07 mark, intercepting a pass in the neutral zone, skating in over the RIT line and ripping a hard slap shot over the shoulder of Rotolo and off the crossbar and in for his fifth tally of the season.

Misiak just beat the second period buzzer with 0.6 seconds left in the period, taking a feed from Chris Bodo in front on the power-play and putting a shot over the shoulder of Rotolo to make it 4-2 Lakers.

RIT came out firing in the third, creating several good chances. With 10:34 to go, Brandon Thompson (Vancouver, British Columbia/Handsworth) caused a turnover inside the Mercyhurst zone, feeding Smith, who wired a shot past Tibbett from the slot for his fifth goal of the season.

Moments later, Cameron had a golden chance in front with an open net after Tibbett made the initial save on McGowan, but the puck trickled under his stick, and into the glove of the goaltender.

Mercyhurst tallied a big insurance goal with 5:59 left in regulation, as Bahntge beat the RIT defenders to the net and scored on a rebound off a long shot from Randy Cure to make it 5-3. Frischmon ended the scoring with under a second remaining, scoring from his own blue-line into the open net for his second goal of the game.

RIT is now 0-4-2 over its season-high seven-game home stand. The six-game home winless streak is the longest in the Division I era.

The Tigers are 30-17-6 all-time against the Lakers, including a 14-8-3 mark since 2005. The two teams were also long time Division III rivals as part of the ECAC West conference. Earlier in the season, Mercyhurst defeated RIT at the Mercyhurst Ice Center, 3-2 on Nov. 8.

The Tigers and Lakers wrap up the regular season on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m., once again at Ritter Arena. There are now just two more games left at Ritter Arena before RIT moves into the Gene Polisseni Center in time for the 2014-15 season.

Tomorrow, RIT will "Remember Ritter Arena", with a handful of exhibits in the arena to help capture the storied 46-year history of Ritter Arena. In addition, there will be trivia during selected breaks during the game, with fans encouraged to tweet their answers to @RITMHKY. Prizes will be awarded to fans in attendance.