ERIE, PA – The RIT men's hockey team (8-11-2, 7-7-1 Atlantic Hockey) suffered a 6-3 loss at Mercyhurst University (11-10-2, 8-7-2 Atlantic Hockey) on Tuesday night from the Mercyhurst Ice Center.
 
Mercyhurst led 4-0 after one period and 6-0 after two periods before RIT made a late push in the third period, scoring three unanswered tallies, while out-shooting the Lakers, 20-3.
 
Erik Brown (Keene, Ontario/Kemptville 73's), Alden Dupuis (Edmonton, Alberta/Bonnyville Pontiacs ) and Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings) scored third period goals for RIT. Brubacher added an assist for a multiple-point night. Logan Drackett (Calgary, Alberta/Calgary Canucks) started and made six saves before being replaced by Ian Andriano (Barrie, Ontario/Ottawa Jr. Senators). Andriano played the final two periods and made 15 saves on 17 shots.
 
Derek Barach led the Lakers with two goals and an assist, while Les Lancaster, Patrick Piacentini and Taylor Best scored a goal and added an assist apiece. Joshua Lammon scored a shorthanded goal. In net, Brandon Wildung made 31 saves for his 10th win of the season.  
 
RIT out-shot Mercyhurst 34-27. The Lakers were 3-for-7 on the power-play, while RIT was 1-for-6.
 
"Mercyhurst jumped on us right away and was the better team tonight," said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson. "We need to regain our confidence and swagger to get back to playing the way we are capable of."
 
The Lakers would jump on RIT in the opening period, scoring four times to build a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes of play on the strength of a shorthanded marker and two power-play goals.
 
Just four minutes in, Lammon finished off a nifty passing play on a 3-on-1 shorthanded rush to open the scoring. Lancaster made it 2-0 at the 7:28 mark, firing in a rocket through a screen over the shoulder of Drackett on a power-play. Barach gave the Lakers a 3-0 lead on a power-play later in the period, going around a defenseman and roofing a shot from in tight past Drackett. Best made it 4-0 late in the period, tucking in a backhand from in close.
 
The Lakers added to the lead with two second period goals. Barach scored right after a power-play with a deflection on shot through traffic that eluded Andriano to make it 5-0. Piacentini scored a power-play goal just before the halfway mark of the second period to give the Lakers a 6-0 lead.
 
The Tigers would rally in the third period, out-shooting the Lakers, 20-3 while scoring three times. Brown tapped in a pass from Myles Powell (Courtenay, British Columbia/Cowichan Valley Capitals) 3:09 into the period for his 13th goal of the year, a power-play marker that got RIT on the board.
 
Dupuis scored his fifth goal of the season with 10:59 left in regulation, taking a long stretch feed from Matt Abt (Leduc, Alberta/Whitecourt Wolverines) and blasting a hard slap shot from the left circle for his fifth goal of the season. Ryan Kruper (Sherwood Park, Alberta/Sherwood Park Crusaders) also assisted on the goal.
 
With 3:12 left, Brubacher ripped a shot from the slot on the rush for his fifth goal of the season, as Mark Logan (Calgary, Alberta/Brooks Bandits) and Max Mikowski (Cheekotwaga, NY/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) assisted on the goal.
 
Tuesday's contest was the first of four regular season meetings between the two schools in 2017-18. RIT and Mercyhurst will meet again at the Mercyhurst Ice Center on Feb. 12. The Tigers will also host the Lakers for a pair of games to close out the regular season on Feb. 23-24. RIT and Mercyhurst were originally scheduled to play on Dec. 29-30, but the games were postponed due to weather.
 
RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 39-21-6, including a 23-12-3 edge since moving to Division I in 2005.
 
RIT is right back in action on Friday and Saturday, as Atlantic Hockey foe Canisius College comes to the Gene Polisseni Center for two contests. Both games get underway at 7:05 p.m.