WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's ice hockey team returned to their home rink to open United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) and Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) play against Lebanon Valley.
 
The Colonels (1-1-0, 1-0-0) fell behind the Dutchmen (1-2-0, 0-1-0 UCHC) early off of power plays, before the Colonels found the back of the goal three times in the third period to lift themselves to a victory in their conference opener 4-3.
 
The Colonels opened the scoring early, with junior forward Tyson Araujo (Oak Bluffs, MA/) putting home his fourth goal of the season in the last minute of the first period, with assists from sophomore forwards Devon Schell (Scarsdale, NY/) and Ryan Galvin (Atlanta, GA/).  The Dutchmen would take over the second and early third periods, as the Colonels would go 0-for-4 of their first four power play opportunities.
 
Tino Alunni put home the first two goals for the Dutchmen, one in the early moments of the second period unassisted, and another in the very first minute of the third period with a pair of assists.  Danny Galvez put home another goal for the Dutchmen in the sixth minute of the final frame to give the Dutchmen a 3-1 lead.
 
The Colonels responded by finally breaking through on their last power play of the evening.  On the second shot of the power play, Araujo put one between the pipes with an assist from freshman forward Billy Berry (Redding, CT) and sophomore defender Michael Gurska (Revere, MA/) to give the Colonels a fighting chance with a hair under 13 minutes left in the period. 
 
The teams would trade the puck back and forth, but the Dutchmen failed to capitalize on a power play of their own to keep the door open for the Colonels.  The Colonels replied by putting home two goals in 19 seconds to give themselves an insurmountable edge in the match.  Sophomore forward Joey Pasquini (Schenectady, NY/) put home the first of the back-to-back goals, with an assist from sophomore defender Dylan Kuipers (Andover, NJ/).  Sophomore forward Phil Erickson (Eau Claire, WI/) put home the game winner with less than two minutes left, with assists from Kuipers and senior Jivan Sidhu (Burnaby, BC/).
 
The victory was the first of head coach Tyler Hynes and freshman goalkeeper Michael Paterson-Jones' (Baldwinsville, NY) respective careers, with Paterson-Jones coming away with a victory in his very first start between the pipes for the Colonels.  He recorded 24 saves on the evening, while rival goalkeeper Henry Burns recorded 26 in a losing effort.
 
Sophomore forward Tyler Barrow (Massapequa, NY/) led the Colonels with four shots, with four other Colonels recording three shots apiece.  Barrow also was 6-of-7 for the night on faceoffs, while Schell was 9-of-20.   The Colonels outshot the Dutchmen 30-27, while the Dutchmen won more faceoffs with a 32-25 advantage.  The Dutchmen finished 3-of-6 in power play opportunities, while the Colonels were successful in 1-of-5 of their opportunities.
 
The Colonels return to the ice for another UCHC battle tomorrow against Elmira at 3:30 p.m. at the Toyota SportsPlex.  The Colonels went 0-1-1 against the Eagles in their initial season last year.