Late Goals Send Wilkes Men's Ice Hockey to Win over Elmira
WILKES-BARRE – Billy Berry's (Redding, CT) goal at 17:50 in the third, coupled with Donald Flynn's (Randolph, NJ/) empty-netter at 19:16 helped send the Wilkes University men's ice hockey team to a comeback 5-3 win over Elmira College in United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) action at the Toyota SportsPlex on Saturday afternoon.
The Colonels improved 2-0-0 in conference and 2-1-0 overall with the victory.
The Soaring Eagles opened the scoring at 8:27 in the first with a power-play goal from Connor Powell assisted by Nick Ford and Matthew Cuce. Elmira went on the power-play after Wilkes was called for interference at 6:50.
The Soaring Eagles added to their lead at 10:37 with an even-strength goal from Spencer MacLean, with assists from Cuce.
The Colonels found some life towards the end of the first when Elmira was called for back-to-back minor penalties. At 19:07, the Soaring Eagles were called for elbowing and at 19:48 the referee spotted a tripping minor to give Wilkes a five-on-three going into the middle period.
The Colonels broke through 30 seconds into the second period on a Tyler Barrow (Massapequa, NY/) power-play tally assisted by Flynn and Tyson Araujo (Oak Bluffs, MA/).
Nick Fea (Oak Ridge, NJ/) tied the score at 5:36 in the second with another power-play goal after Elmira was called for tripping at 4:59. Barrow and Ryan Solomon (Murray, UT) were credited with the helpers on Fea's tally.
Wilkes found itself short-handed following a tripping penalty at 6:14, but Phil Erickson's (Eau Claire, WI/) aggressive neutral zone forecheck resulted in a turnover and breakaway leading to a short-handed unassisted goal to give the Colonels their first lead at 6:50.
The score held for most of the third, but at 14:33 Elmira tied the score from Marty Kapoian assisted by Tommy Donnelly and Andrew Pucci.
That set the stage for Berry's game winner, which was unassisted, and Flynn's empty-netter assisted by Berry and Araujo.
Michael Paterson-Jones (Baldwinsville, NY) was impressive between the pipes for the Colonels, earning his second win after stopping 37-of-40 shots. Logan Bateman made 28 saves on 32 shots faced for the Soaring Eagles.
Flynn led the way in the faceoff circle, finding success on 20-of-31 attempts.
Wilkes returns to action on Friday when it will travel to Stevenson for a 7:00 p.m. UCHC and Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) contest.
