The Mercyhurst College men’s hockey team split a two-game series this weekend with the Bentley University Falcons.

Mercyhurst fell to Bentley 4-2 in the first game on Friday night.

At the end of the first, the score stood 1-1 as both teams swapped goals near the end of the period. Junior Brandon Coccimiglio opened the scoring at the 14:51 mark, netting his third tally of the year.

Bentley answered back with two goals of their own in the second period, but Lakers junior Mike Gurtler evened the game up at 8:40 in the second.

The Falcons added two more goals in the third, including a power-play goal, to bring the final score to 4-2 in the Falcons’ favor.

Junior Laker netminder Ryan Zapolski stopped 28 of 32 shots on goal.

In the second game of the weekend, on Saturday, six different Mercyhurst players scored en route to a 6-2 rout of Bentley.
Junior Steve Cameron, freshman Grant Blakey, senior Matt Fennell, Coccimiglio, sophomore Patrick Goebel and freshman Charlie Carkin all found the back of the net, posting a season-high six-goal game for the Lakers.

Mercyhurst scored two goals in every period, with Bentley scoring in the first and second periods. Zapolski blocked 23 shots and Mercyhurst edged Bentley on shots on goal, 32-25.

Sophomore Patrick Goebel for scored his first collegiate goal at 2:23 in the second period.

“It’s nice to get the monkey off my back,” Goebel said. “I was brought in to score goals and last year I didn’t. Now that I got the first one out of the way hopefully it will be happening more often. Growing up as a little kid I always dreamed about playing D-I college hockey, so scoring my first goal means a lot to me. I will remember it for the rest of my life.”

The Lakers return home to Mercyhurst on Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. for their home opener against the Canisius College Golden Griffins. They then travel to Buffalo on Saturday, Nov. 7, to play at Canisius.