ERIE, Pa. – Bentley dropped a back-and-forth game to Mercyhurst 4-3 on Friday night in a contest that went down to the final seconds.

Freshman defenseman Seth Bernard-Docker (Canmore, Alberta) scored his first career goal in the 1^st period. Freshman defenseman Pat Lawn (Waltham, Mass.) scored his first career goal in the second period and graduate student captain Dylan Pitera (Culver, Ind.) netted a shorthanded goal in the 2^nd period.

Bernard-Docker's goal came at 7:13 of the 1^st period to give Bentley a 1-0 lead. Freshman Nicholas Niemo (Middlebury, Vt.) brought the puck into the offensive zone and dropped the puck off to Bernard-Docker, who fired a shot past Lakers goalie Tommy Harmon from the right faceoff circle.

Mercyhurst though scored two goals 42 seconds apart, four minutes after Bentley's goal, to take a 2-1 lead with 7:20 left in the opening period.

With just over six minutes gone in the 2^nd period, Bernard-Docker appeared to tie the score with his second goal of the night after a slap shot blast, only to have it overturned after a review.

The Lakers increased their lead to two goals less than two minutes later when Jonathan Bendorf found the back of the net with a quick shot from the slot.

Bentley though fought back and notched two goals in the latter parts of the period to tie the score 3-3. Lawn blasted in a slap shot from above the right faceoff dot after a cross-ice pass from Lucas Vanroboys (Thamesville, Ontario) ricocheted to him off the boards.

Pitera then scored a short handed goal with 2:50 left in the period after he took a pass from Stephen Castagna (North Vancouver, B.C.) in the defensive zone. That sprung Pitera for a breakaway and he finished with a shot that beat Harmon to his stick side for his seventh goal of the season.

The 2^nd period though had one more twist when the Lakers were awarded a penalty shot with 12 seconds remaining and was converted by left wing Paul Maust to give them a 4-3 lead.

Late in the 3^rd period, Bentley went on the power play after a tripping call on Mercyhurst with 1:35 remaining. They called timeout and brought out the extra-attacker for a 6-on-4 advantage. Bentley won the offensive zone faceoff peppered Harmon's net with shots in search of the tying goal.

The best chance came with just five seconds remaining when defenseman Nick Bochen (North Vancouver, B.C.) found Matt Gosiewski (Stamford, Conn.) open on the right faceoff circle, but Harmon robbed him with a diving save.

In all Harmon made nine saves in the final 95 seconds and 39 saves overall on the night.

Bentley will look for the series split when these teams meet again on Saturday at 5:05 PM.