Box Score ERIE, Pa— Freshman Vito Bavaro picked up the game winning goal 1:53 into overtime to give the Sacred Heart men's hockey team the 4-3 victory over Mercyhurst on Saturday night. The Pioneers (10-14-4, 8-12-2 AHA) picked up three big points over the weekend and have now recorded double digit wins in each of the last four seasons.
SHU had four different scorers on the night with seniors Mitch Nylen, Erlich Doerksen, Jeff Caroll and the rookie Bavaro all scoring at the Mercyhurst Ice Center. A pair of sophomores led the six Pioneers to record assists, sophomores Zach De Concilys and Liam Clare both picked up two assists in the victory. De Concilys recorded his first multi-assist game while Clare recorded the fifth of the season and his team leading 19th assist.
Mercyhurst (11-14-4, 10-10-4 AHA) got things going early as Taylor Best picked up the first goal of the game at 11:43 in the opening period. Sacred Heart responded on its first power play opportunity at 16:18 in the first with Nylen firing in the goal on the assists from Jordan Minello and Clare to tie the game at 1-1. Doerksen gave the Pioneers the 2-1 lead at 4:47 as freshman Austin McIlmurray found him wide open in the slot for the score. The Lakers answered back just a minute later with the power play strike from Kyle Dutra, who put home the pass from Derek Barach.
As the game went into the third tied up at 2-2, Carroll rifled in the shot from the left circle at 7:41 past Brandon Wildung to reclaim the lead for SHU once again. Mercyhurst tied things up at 12:28 as Josh Lammon chipped in the putback shot off the initial shot by Matt Whittaker. Both teams continued to chip at it for the game winner in regulation but the game headed into the second overtime of the weekend. The Pioneers got a rush into the Lakers zone where Bavaro collected the rebound from Mike Crocock's shot and fired the puck into the back of the net to send SHU home with the win.
Sacred Heart outshot Mercyhurst 35-25 in the game. Both teams were even on the man advantage, both going 1-for-3. Wildung recorded 31 saves for the Lakers and sophomore Brett Magnus recorded 22 saves in goal for the Pioneers.
The Pioneers return home for a weekend series with Atlantic Hockey standings leader, Canisius beginning Friday Feb. 10 at 7:00pm at Webster Bank Arena.
