Three Third Period Goals Leads Wilkes Men's Ice Hockey to Comeback Win
PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Wilkes University men's ice hockey team fought for a full 60 minutes and were rewarded with a come from behind 5-3 victory at Manhattanville on Friday night. The Colonels trailed 3-2 heading into the final period but scored twice in less than three minutes to take the lead and leave with a road win.
The victory improves Wilkes to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) while Manhattanville falls to 4-2-2 (3-2-2 UCHC).
The Valiants opened the scoring with the only goal of the first period at the 8:03 mark to take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Colonels would strike early in the second period as Wade Novak (Oak Ridge, NJ/) found the back of the net with help from Chris Dalfarra (Warrington, PA/) and Tyler Barrow (Massapequa, NY/) at the 2:55 mark to knot the game up at 1-1.
Less than 90 seconds later, at the 4:13 mark, Wilkes scored on the power play when this time Barrow was the receipt of a Donald Flynn (Randolph, NJ) pass to give the Colonels a 2-1 advantage early in the frame.
Manhattanville would respond later in the period as Marco Ferraro scored twice, at the 12:31 and 18:57 marks, to give the home team a 3-2 lead heading into the final period of play.
In the third period Wilkes would capitalize on the man advantage once again as Barrow scored his second power play goal of the evening at the 8:21 mark to tie the game up at 3-3.
As with the first period, the Colonels would waste little time lighting the lamp again as Phil Erickson (Eau Claire, WI/) scored short-handed at the 11:07 mark to take back the lead for Wilkes.
With 41 seconds remaining, Erickson would add an empty netter to secure the 5-3 victory.
Barrow's two goals on the night push his team lead to eight as Erickson's two tallies triple his season total to three. Goaltender Brandon Gordon (Sault Ste. Marie, MI/) made 18 saves to improve to 4-3 between the pipes.
Wilkes has a quick turnaround as it heads to Aston, Pa. on Saturday afternoon for a 4:00 p.m. puck drop versus Neumann.
