Oct. 21, 2006

Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Holy Cross men's hockey team fell to Mercyhurst, 7-5, in Atlantic Hockey action at the Hart Center on Saturday. With the loss, the Crusaders fall to 1-2-0 overall (1-1-0 AHA), while Mercyhurst improves to 1-3-0 overall (1-1-0 AHA). Freshman Ryan Driscoll (Dorchester, Mass.) scored his first two collegiate goals to lead the Crusaders, while Ben Cottreau netted a hat-trick for the Lakers.

After Mercyhurst scored two goals at the 13:05 and 16:30 marks of the first period, the Crusaders tied the game with back-to-back goals by Driscoll at 17:53 and 19:54. Each team had 11 shots for the period.

The Lakers took a 3-2 lead in the second period when Matt Fennell scored his first goal of the season at the 9:55 mark. Holy Cross then took a 4-3 lead with goals by senior Sean Nappo (Northville, Mich.) and junior Chris Trovato (North Attleboro, Mass.). Holy Cross outshot Mercyhurst 16-11 in the period.

At 5:35 into the third period, Cottreau tied the game at 4-4 with his second goal of the game. The Crusaders took a 5-4 lead at 7:35 when junior Dale Reinhardt (Livingston, N.J.) scored a shorthanded goal for his team-leading fourth goal of the season. The Lakers then tied the game with Cottreau's third score at 9:09. Mercyhurst's Matt Pierce then scored the game-winner with just 37 seconds left in the game and Kyle Gourgon added an empty netter with 10 seconds left for the 7-5 win.

Holy Cross freshman goaltender Tyler Chestnut (Faribault, Minn.) made 31 saves and is now 1-1 on the season, while Mercyhurst's Tyler Small stopped 34 shots to improve to 1-3. Holy Cross outshot Mercyhurst, 39-38.

The Crusaders return to action when they hit the road to take on Hockey East member Merrimack on Tuesday, October 24 at 7:00 p.m.