WILKES-BARRE – The No. 8 Wilkes University men's ice hockey team continued its high-powered offensive play as the Colonels dispatched Lebanon Valley College 8-1 in a United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) and Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) game on Saturday evening at the Toyota SportsPlex.

Wilkes had seven different players score a goal and 12 players total reach the scoresheet in the game. The Colonels have now scored six or more goals in five of their past six games. With the victory Wilkes improved to 15-4-0 overall and to 12-2-0 in the UCHC. The Colonels are now 6-1-0 in the MAC. LVC dropped to 5-13-1 overall, 4-9-1 in the UCHC, and 3-3-0 in the MAC.

Ben Stefanini (Framingham, MA/) started the goal scoring 10:27 into the first period with assists from Tyson Araujo (Vineyard Haven, MA) and Ryan Galvin (Atlanta, GA/). Exactly one minute later Phil Erickson (Eau Claire, WI/) forced a turnover with a steal at the Dutchmen blueline and then found Devon Schell (Scarsdale, NY/) in front to put home the second goal.

The Colonels then were able to kill off a 5-on-3 powerplay for Lebanon Valley to keep momentum in their favor. Michael Gurska (Revere, MA/) then pushed forward on a rush to put away the Colonels third goal of the first period at the 17:55 mark with helpers from Erickson and Tyler Barrow (Massapequa, NY/Saint Anthony's).

Dylan Kuipers (Andover, NJ/) then opened the scoring 4:29 into the second period as Stefanini and Taylor Brierley (East Grand Forks, MN) assisted on the defenseman's goal. Jay Gallagher (Reading, MA/) then scored his eighth goal of the season at the 8:23 mark with assists from Tyler Dill (South Lake Tahoe, CA/) and Galvin.

Brierley then made it 6-0 as he skated in from the blueline to the top of the circle to take a terrific wrist shot and beat the goaltender 14:57 into the second. Kuipers and Donald Flynn (Randolph, NJ/) picked up the assists on the play.

Stefanini concluded the second period scoring as he beat the buzzer, scoring with three seconds left for his second goal of the night and his third point. Galvin picked up his third assist and Araujo had the second assist on the play that made it 7-0 after 40 minutes.

Dill scored his team-leading 13th goal of the season 2:35 into the third to make it 8-0. Cade Freer was able to put the Dutchmen on the scoreboard with two minutes left and break a Colonels shutout streak of 118 consecutive minutes.

It was the first two-goal and three-point game of Stafanini's career, and it was the first three-assist and second three-point game of Galvin's career. Araujo finished the game with a plus-4 rating.

Nico Pidro (Cannonsburg, PA/) earned his seventh win of the season as he stopped all 15 shots he faced over the first two periods of play. Jack Perna (Sykesville, MD) made his collegiate debut in the third period as he stopped nine of the 10 shots he faced.

Ty Franchi had 25 saves in the first two periods for LVC and Aidan Richardson made 11 in the third. Wilkes outshot Lebanon Valley 44-25 for the game while the Dutchmen held a 30-26 edge in face-off wins.

Wilkes returns to the ice next Friday at Nazareth College in Rochester, N.Y. for a 4:00 p.m. UCHC contest.