UAA opens with 5-3 win over Mercyhurst

That form held on all fronts Friday night when UAA, which hasn't lost its tournament opener since 2000, used a combined five points from Lunden and Grant to bag a 5-3 win over Mercyhurst in the Kendall Hockey Classic at Sullivan Arena.

Seawolves center Craig Parkinson got in on the good times too, with a pair of goals, and freshman defenseman Lee Baldwin debuted with two assists.

And the Seawolves, who were not especially overpowering on special teams during last season's 14-17-5 campaign, remedied that shortcoming in their season opener. They killed all seven Lakers power plays and received a short-handed strike from Parkinson, and they also generated two power-play goals on five opportunities before an announced crowd of 3,712.

All that supported 19 saves from goaltender Jon Olthuis.

"I thought the positives were the special teams were good and Johnny came up with some big saves when we needed them,'' said UAA coach Dave Shyiak. "And at times we showed what our game is all about by controlling the puck down low.''

Lunden has traditionally feasted in this tournament and that trend continued Friday, when he scored one goal -- that marked the senior's 40th career strike -- and added a helper. In seven career tournament games, Lunden has racked 8-4--12 totals, and he was the tournament's Most Outstanding Player as a sophomore in 2007.

After Grant and Lunden sandwiched first-period goals around one from Mercyhurst's Neil Graham, Grant's power-play blast eight minutes into the second period delivered the Seawolves a 3-1 lead. He walked in from the right-wing boards to the face-off circle and unleashed a laser between the pads of Lakers goalie Ryan Zapolski (24 saves).

"The seas parted there for a second and I just kind of took the biggest wind-up I could and shot it as hard as I could,'' Grant said.

Grant last season scored one goal and one assist in a tournament-opening win over Connecticut. And after leading the Seawolves with 15 goals last season, he's off to another strong start.

"I get excited,'' Grant said. "Good summer, I guess.''

With his third career two-goal game, one assist, an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty and a goalie interference penalty, Grant delivered what passes for a Gordie Howe hat trick in college pucks.

The Seawolves tonight play nationally-ranked Michigan. The Wolverines, who absorbed a 2-0 loss to UAF in the tournament opener, sit third in one poll and fourth in another.

Lunden's first-period goal, a power-play deflection of Baldwin's long wrister, provided UAA a 2-1 lead it never lost.

Mercyhurst's Cullen Eddy pulled the Lakers within 3-2 late in the third period with a goal in a 4-on-4 situation. But Parkinson regained UAA's two-goal lead at 4-2 just 52 seconds later when he took Kevin Clark's 2-on-1 feed and fired a shot that leaked through Zapolski.

Parkinson's second-career short-handed goal, which furnished a 5-2 advantage midway through the third period, came after winger Sean Wiles stole the puck in Mercyhurst's zone and fired a shot on net. The two-goal game was the first of Parkinson's career.

Ryan Raven cut UAA's lead to 5-3 with a goal with less than four minutes to go.

Still, the Seawolves' lead was never seriously threatened.

"We were on top of them the whole night,'' Olthuis said. "Even on the back-check, we were going really hard. I thought the boys were hungry.''

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Find Doyle Woody's hockey blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

UAA 5, Mercyhurst 3

Mercyhurst 1 1 1 -- 3

UAA 2 2 1 -- 5

First Period - 1, UAA, Grant 1 (Leinweber, Haddad), 5:55; 2, Mercyhurst, Graham 1 (Collins), 9:01; 3, UAA, Lunden 1 (Baldwin, Grant), 18:52 (pp). Penalties - Portwood, UAA (goaltender interference), 2:00; Clark, UAA (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:49; Grant, UAA (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:49; Chiasson, Mercyhurst (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:49; Goebel, Mercyhurst (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:49; Parkinson, UAA (interference), 10:47; Lunden, UAA (high-sticking), 15:59; Elliott, Mercyhurst (tripping), 18:20.

Second Period - 4, UAA, Grant 2 (Baldwin, Lunden), 8:01 (pp); 5, Mercyhurst, Eddy 1 (Pitt), 16:01; 6, UAA, Parkinson 1 (Clark), 16:53. Penalties - Blakey, Mercyhurst (interference), 7:23; Eddy, Mercyhurst (interference), 11:05; Goebel, Mercyhurst (roughing), 14:13; Parkinson, UAA (interference), 14:41.

Third Period - 7, UAA, Parkinson 2 (Wiles), 11:20 (sh); 8, Mercyhurst, Raven 1 (Noble, Echternach), 16:25. Penalties - Haddad, UAA (slashing), 7:21; Grant, UAA (goaltender interference), 9:01; Lunden, UAA (interference), 11:07; Carkin, Mercyhurst (slashing), 12:47.

Shots on goal - Mercyhurst 8-8-6--22. UAA 8-11-10--29.

Power-play Opportunities - Mercyhurst 0 of 7; UAA 2 of 5.

Goalies - Mercyhurst, Zapolski 0-1-0 (29 shots-24 saves). UAA, Olthuis 1-0-0 (22-19).

A - 3,712 (6,251). T - 2:22.

Referee - Don Adam, Jon Campion. Linesmen - Kent Asplund, Travis Jackson.