ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Mercyhurst senior Zac Frischmon scored 3:04 into overtime to lift the Lakers to a 4-3 win over top-seeded Robert Morris on Friday in the first semifinal game of the Atlantic Hockey tournament.
Frischmon took a feed from Nardo Nagtzaam and wristed a shot past Colonials goaltender Dalton Izyk.
[scg_html_aha2015]Mercyhurst had tied the game with an extra attacker goal with just 34.4 left.
Robert Morris put a program-record 62 shots on Mercyhurst rookie goaltender Brandon Wildung, who made 59 saves. Both are Atlantic Hockey semifinal records.
“We’ve been here a lot,” said Mercyhurst coach Rick Gotkin. “We played a bunch of semifinal games, and we’ve won a few and lost a few. Tonight, we found a way.”
“Unfortunately the hockey gods were not with us tonight,” said Colonials coach Derek Schooley. “Hats off to their goaltender. Any time you make 59 saves, you might be the difference.”
“[Robert Morris] throws a lot to the net and drive their players there,” said Wildung. “My job was to focus and try to make the first save. I didn’t always leave rebounds where I wanted to but my defensemen did a good job of clearing them out.”
Mercyhurst started the game on the offensive, scoring two power-play goals in the first seven minutes.
Kyle Just opened the scoring, picking the top corner from the left faceoff circle. Two minutes and three seconds later, Ryan Misiak’s shot through a screen found the back of the net to make it 2-0.
Robert Morris got a power-play goal of its own shortly after. At 8:12, Cody Wydo’s attempted cross-crease pass went off a defender’s skate and onto the stick of Zac Lynch, who buried it to draw the Colonials to within one.
Robert Morris dominated the final two periods of regulation. The Colonials outshot the Lakers 27-6 in the second period, and were finally rewarded in the final minute of the second stanza.
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Robert Morris continued to control play in the third period and took the lead with 5:19 left in regulation. Scott Jacklin put a rebound past Wildung off a scramble in front, and after a long video review the goal stood.
Then it was time for Mercyhurst to stage a dramatic comeback, as it had the weekend before in a quarterfinal series win at Bentley.
Chris Bodo slammed home a loose puck with 34.4 seconds to play and Wildung on the bench for an extra attacker, and then Frischmon ended it early in overtime.
“I was thinking about changing,” said Frischmon. “But Nardo passed me the puck. We talk in overtime about just getting the puck on the net.”
The goal ended defending champion Robert Morris’ season. It was the third consecutive year that the top seed went down in the semifinals, including Mercyhurst last year, which lost to Canisius 5-4 in double overtime. This time, it’s the Lakers who will advance to the title game.
“We were in this situation last year, so we know how it feels,” said Gotkin. “That’s a great hockey team [in Robert Morris].
“We felt in overtime like we were playing with house money. We’ve been fighting all year, so why not? We found a way to gut it out.”
“We have a can’t-lose attitude,” said senior Grant Gettinger. “We’re not dead yet.”
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