Sacred Heart completed a weekend sweep of Mercyhust with a 5-2 win on Saturday evening at the Milford Ice Pavilion. Pierre-Luc O’Brien scored two goals and added an assist as the Pioneers extended their winning streak to four games.
The Lakers jumped out to a 1-0 first-period lead with 2:48 remaining on Kyle Gourgon’s eighth goal of the season, assisted by Mike Pochatek.
In the second period Sacred Heart took control, starting with O’Brien’s first goal at 8:47, with the lone assist credited to Chris Connerty.
Mike Reagan gave the Pioneers the lead at 2-1 with his ninth goal of the season from Charles Veilleux. The assist was the first point of Veilleux’s collegiate career.
Rocco Molinaro made it 3-1 at 4:26 into the third, and Peter Ferraro extended the lead to three goals with his seventh goal of the season.
Jamie Hunt brought Mercyhurst back within two, but O’Brien answered 20 seconds later with an empty-net power-play goal at 19:18 to seal the win for Sacred Heart.
Kevin LaPointe made 44 saves, including all 18 shots he faced in the second period as he recorded his eighth win of the season. Jordan Wakefield stopped 33 shots for the Lakers.
“Coming into the weekend we knew we needed to be strong defensively because Mercyhust is a very explosive team offensively,” said head coach Shaun Hannah. “We needed to play responsibly with the puck and capitalize on our scoring chances. When there was a defensive breakdown and we needed a save Kevin LaPointe was there. He had an amazing weekend for us.”
