Feb. 6, 2004

Final Stats

MILFORD, CT (February 6, 2004) - The Sacred Heart University men's ice hockey team dominated Mercyhurst in a 5-2 win on Friday night in an Atlantic Hockey contest at the Milford Ice Pavilion. Peter Giatrelis and Garrett Larson netted one goal with one assist each in the opener of the weekend series.

The Pioneers opened a 1-0 lead at the 12:41 mark of the opening period, a lead they never relinquished, on a goal from Andrew Billinghurst. Assisting on the goal were Giatrelis and Bernie Chmiel.

SHU pulled away in the second period as they extended their lead to 2-0 on Giatrelis' seventh goal of the season. O'Brien made it 3-0 at 6:00 with what stood to be the game-winning goal.

Rocco Molinaro made it a 4-0 game from Larson and Marc-Andre Fournier. It was the last shot Lakers goaltender Andy Franck would face in the game as he was pulled in favor of Jordan Wakefield.

Mercyhurst tried to get back into the game on goals from Rich Hansen and Mike Carter to pull back within a two-goal deficit at 4-2.

Pioneers head coach Shaun Hannah then called his timeout to settle the troops and get them refocused on the game. It worked like a charm as the team settled in and played solid defense the rest of the way.

The game was put out of reach with 2:07 remaining in the game when Larson chipped in his own rebound to make it a 5-2 game. Wakefield stopped the initial two shots from Fournier and Larson, but was unable to get back into position for the final shot of the exchange.

Sacred Heart goaltender Kevin LaPointe made 25 saves in the game as he recorded his seventh win of the season. Frank 19 saves in taking the loss while Wakefield made 13 saves in relief.

The two teams will meet again tomorrow afternoon at 5:00 pm at the Milford Ice Pavilion.