Three Players Earn First Career Points with Late Goal to Lift Wilkes Men's Ice Hockey Over Albertus Magnus
WILKES-BARRE – Mason Vonk (West Olive, MI) scored a goal with 2:29 left in the game as he earned his first career points along with Steven Spetz (Oak Ridge, NJ) and Patrick Roginski (ShelbyTwp, MI) to give Wilkes University men's ice hockey a 3-2 victory over Albertus Magnus College in non-conference action at the Toyota SportsPlex on Saturday night.
Wilkes, who is receiving votes in the USCHO.com Division III Men's Ice Hockey Poll, gets their first win of the season and is now 1-1-1 on the year, while Albertus Magnus drops to 1-2-0.
The game started with Albertus Magnus, as they scored on a power play 2:56 into the game. Wilkes would respond not long after, as Nick Swain (Jackson, NJ) was able to get to the net and score to get Wilkes on the board with 8:26 in the first period. Both teams would keep putting the pressure on each other, with the Colonels breaking through and taking the lead at 14:56 as Phil Erickson (Eau Claire, WI) got it near the front of the net and scored with Ben Stefanini (Framingham, MA) and Jimmy O'Kane (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame Prep) assisting him to give Wilkes a 2-1 lead that they would take into the end of the period.
The second period would see both teams shooting at the net, with Wilkes having 15 in the period to the Falcons 12, with both teams holding their ground throughout. Albertus Magnus would tie the game up at 13:45 in the second period. The game would stay at that score to the end of the second period.
The third period had Wilkes start with a power play that they couldn't capitalize on, with shots from Roginski and O'Kane that would not meet their marks. Both teams would keep at the pace, with neither one getting the advantage over the other. Eventually Roginski and Spetz would find Vonk, where he would give the Colonels the 3-2 lead at the 17:31 mark in the third period. The Falcons would pull their goalie and try to get the 6-5 advantage, but Billy Berry (Redding, CT) and Joe Johnson (Midland, MI) would block shots during that time to run out the clock and secure the victory for the Colonels.
Garrett Nieto (Yorba Linda, CA) would get his first win of the season, as he would tie with Albertus Magnus goaltender Logan Bateman and have 30 saves each on the night.
Wilkes will face Albertus Magnus again tomorrow as they travel to New Haven, Connecticut to take on the Falcons in non-conference action on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.
