ERIE, Pa. – Rookie Trevor Fidler continued his hot start to the season with his second goal in three games, but the Army hockey team dropped an Atlantic Hockey decision to Mercyhurst, 5-2, on Saturday night at the Mercyhurst Ice Center.
Army (0-3-0, 0-2-0 AHA) saw Fidler extend his point streak to three games with his second tally of the season. Both of his scores have come on the power play. Junior Ryan Nick found the net for the first time this season with eight minutes left in the second period. Rookies Taylor Maruya and Nash Worden each added their first collegiate points in the loss.
In net, Cole Bruns got the nod and made 31 stops with 11 in the first and second periods.
Mercyhurst (5-3-0, 4-0-0 AHA) remained unbeaten in league play with two goals in the second and third periods. Chris Markowski scored twice in the win, including one on the man advantage. Philippe Drouin chipped in with a game-high three points on a goal and an assist. Adam Carlson made the start in net for the Lakers and stopped 33 shots, including 16 in the second period.
There were a ton of shots and penalty minutes in this game as the Lakers had a 36-35 shot advantage in the contest, while the teams combined for 65 minutes of penalties.
Markowski got the scoring started for the Lakers with 8:35 left on the clock in the first period. He made it 1-0 with a feed from Kane Elliot and Bryan Sienerth was given the second assist on the play. Army evened the score just under three minutes later with Fidler scoring on the power play with assists to Conor Andrle and Worden. Andrle has assists in all three games this year and is tied with Fidler for the lead in points among Black Knights.
Both teams came out shooting in the middle frame as the shots were 17-13 in favor of Army. The Lakers, however, built up a two-goal lead with Jonathan Charbonneau scoring with 10:37 left in the second stanza, while Markowski added his second of the night with a power play tally at the 10:37 mark and Meryhurst had a 3-1 lead.
The Black Knights clawed their way back in the game thanks to Nick’s first of the season on assists to Maruya and Shane Hearn. Army had three power plays in the period, but couldn’t capitalize and the Lakers went into the second intermission with a 3-2 advantage.
Drouin pushed the lead back to two goals with the Lakers on his second of the season, 3:10 into the final frame. Derek Barach then put the game out of reach for the Black Knights with less than four minutes remaining to give the Lakers a 5-2 victory.
Army returns home on Saturday afternoon for a special Halloween edition of Hockey Knight at West Point. The game against Bentley begins at 3:05 p.m. and then the Black Knights head to Brooklyn to face the Falcons on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. at the Barclays Center.
Ice Shavings: Fidler has scored at least one point in his first three games as a Black Knight … Tyler Pham had points in his first four games last season as a rookie … Army has scored a power play goal in all three games … the second line of Maruya, Fidler and Andrle had three points tonight … senior Luke Jenkins got the start as the left win on the fourth line for his first action of 2015-16 … Hearn tallied a point in his 101st game as a Black Knight and Nick is the first defensemen to score this season … Army finished the weekend with 35 or more shots in both games at Mercyhurst … the power play stands at 18.8 percent with three goals on 16 chances.
