Seven Goals in the Second Period Help Wilkes Men's Ice Hockey Roll Past Neumann
ASTON, PA – Seven different Colonels scored in the second period as the Wilkes University men's ice hockey team tied a team record nine goals in a game as they rolled past Neumann University 9-3 on Saturday night in United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) action. This is the fifth time the team has scored nine goals in a game in their history, with the last time being November 6, 2021 when they won 9-5 against Neumann.
Wilkes improved to 13-9-2 on the year and 11-7-1 in the conference while the Knights fall to 6-18-0 this season and 4-15-0 in UCHC competition.
The first period was scoreless throughout most of the time as Garrett Nieto (Yorba Linda, CA) and Logan Gorbitz saved most shots attempted at them. The Colonels were able to break the scoreless period at the 19:08 mark as Matt Carlson (Delmar, NY) scored the first of his two goals in the game on a power-play, giving Wilkes a 1-0 lead. Neumann would make sure they would go into the intermisson tied as they scored 22 seconds later at the 19:30 mark to go into the second period with one goal apiece.
The second period would go all in favor of Wilkes, as they would see seven different players score for them during the 20 minutes. Patrick Roginski (ShelbyTwp, MI) would start off the spree at the 3:29 mark on a power-play to give Wilkes a 2-1 lead. Phil Erickson (Eau Claire, WI) and Max Cocchi (Ludlow, MA) would both score within 35 seconds of each other, as Erickson hit the back of the net at the 4:23 mark while Cocchi was able to pass the goalie and get the puck into the goal at the 4:58 mark to make the game 4-1.
The Knights would hold off Wilkes for around five minutes, but Billy Berry (Redding, CT) and Ben Stefanini (Framingham, MA) each would get their own goals within a minute of one another. Berry would get his at the 10:01 mark on a power play. After his score, Neumann would get another penalty, giving Stefanini a chance to get his own power-play score at the 10:59 mark to extend the Colonels lead 6-1. Carlson would get his second score at the 14:00 mark while Ryan Galvin (Atlanta, GA) got his shot to the back of the net at the 15:06 mark to make it an 8-1 advantage for Wilkes. Ben Gibbons would score for Neumann before the end of the period to head into the final period with the Colonels holding an 8-2 lead.
The third period saw the Knights get a quick score at the 2:33 mark as Chase Cochran found the back of the net to get Neumann on the board and cut Wilkes' lead to 8-3. The Knights tried to keep pushing the pace, but Michael Paterson-Jones (Baldwinsville, NY) would hold strong while the Colonels eventually got another goal from Berry at the 11:28 mark to give Wilkes their fifth nine-goal game in program history and put their lead to 9-3 that they would hold until the end of the game.
Wilkes outshot Neumann in shots on goal as the Colonels had 45 on the night compared to the Knights 17 through three periods. Gorbitz and Cole DeFazio had 36 total saves on the night. Nieto and Paterson-Jones each had seven saves apiece.
Berry and Carlson tied with two goals in the matchup, with Roginski, Cocchi, Stefanini, Galvin, and Erickson all had one goal apiece. Cole Jungwirth (Bloomington, MN) led the Colonels with three assists on the night. Cam Lowe (Lancaster, MA) followed behind with two of his own while Carlson, Roginski, Cocchi, Stefanini, Galvin, Erickson, Christian Blomquist (Wauwatosa, WI), Nick Swain (Jackson, NJ), and Scott Mueller (Nashville, TN) had one assist along with goalie Paterson-Jones.
Cocchi won 18 faceoffs in the game. Berry won nine of his faceoffs while Carlson and Jimmy O'Kane (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame Prep) had eight faceoff wins each.
Wilkes will conclude their regular season hockey matchups as they return to Aston to finish their series against the Knights at 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
