Senior Cody Collins advances the puck as the Lakers press the offensive attack.
The Mercyhurst College Lakers men’s hockey team extended its winning streak to six games with two wins over the University of Connecticut this past weekend.

With these two victories, the Lakers move to third place in the Atlantic Hockey Conference with a conference record of 8-5-1. The Mercyhurst College Lakers men’s hockey team extended its winning streak to six games with two wins over the University of Connecticut this past weekend.

With these two victories, the Lakers move to third place in the Atlantic Hockey Conference with a conference record of 8-5-1.

Mercyhurst first shut out UConn on Friday, 5-0. Junior Brandon Coccimiglio opened the scoring about two minutes into the first period.

In the second period, junior Scott Pitt and freshman Grant Blakey scored within 10 seconds of each other to extend the Laker lead to 3-0. Three minutes later, Blakey added his second goal of the night, giving Mercyhurst a 4-0 lead.

Senior Nick Vandenbeld scored the final Laker goal at the 19:26 mark of the third period. The Lakers more than doubled the Huskies’ shots on goal, by a margin of 43-21.

Lakers offered a repeat performance on Saturday night, beating UConn 3-1, giving Mercyhurst its sixth straight win. Sophomore Kevin Noble scored the first Laker tally with 6:46 left in the first period. Junior Jeff Terminesi scored his third goal of 2009-10 to give Mercyhurst a 2-0 lead early in the second period.

Junior Scott Pitt scored the third goal of the game, and the Lakers held to Huskies 3-0 until the end of the second period. UConn scored a little past the halfway point in the third period, giving the Huskies their only goal of the game.

Mercyhurst also took four straight games before the series with UConn, taking two from American International College (8-2, 2-0) and the College of the Holy Cross (5-1, 4-1).

Following the games against UConn, the Atlantic Hockey Association awarded junior netminder Ryan Zapolski AHA Goaltender of the Week.

Mercyhurst travels to Colorado Springs, Col., this weekend to take on the Air Force Academy Falcons on Friday, Dec. 11, and Saturday, Dec. 12.