Wilkes Men's Ice Hockey Concludes Regular Season with Tie Against Neumann
ASTON, PA – The Wilkes University men's ice hockey team ended their regular season with a 3-3 tie against Neumann University in United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) competition. The Knights would get the shootout victory over the Colonels, giving them two points in the UCHC while Wilkes earned one point.
Wilkes would finish their regular season with a 13-9-3 overall record and 11-7-2 in the UCHC with 34 points. Neumann would conclude their season at 6-18-1 and 4-15-1 in conference play.
The Colonels would begin the day with a score at the 8:29 mark as Matt Carlson (Delmar, NY) would score on a power-play for Wilkes to give them a 1-0 lead. Phil Erickson (Eau Claire, WI) would get his own goal just under two minutes after Carlson as he would find the back of the net at the 10:23 mark to make Wilkes lead 2-0 halfway through the first period. Neumann would respond not long after as they scored at the 11:39 mark to cut the lead to 2-1 as it would stay that way through the rest of the first period.
The Knights would outshoot Wilkes 11-10 in shots on goal. Michael Paterson-Jones (Baldwinsville, NY) would have 10 saves while Cole DeFazio recorded eight in that period.
The second period would be uneventful as neither team would find the net. Both defenses would pick their game up, as Neumann only allowed four shots-on-goal in that period while Wilkes allowed 10. Paterson-Jones had 10 saves during that period while DeFazio stopped all four attempts for the Colonels.
The third period would start off early as Neumann would find the back of the net at the 4:42 mark with Tyson Rohrer tying the game up for the Knights in the third period. The match would be very quiet, as neither team could capitalize their opportunities over the other. Wilkes would finally retake the lead at the 15:00 mark as Carlson would get his second goal of the night and make it a 3-2 game in favor of the Colonels.
With time depleting for the Knights, they would pull their goalie with under two minutes in the game to get an extra player in there. That would pay off for Neumann as Tyler Inlow would get his shot into the net at the 18:37 mark to tie this game and eventually head into overtime. Paterson-Jones had six saves in the third period while DeFazio had four.
Overtime would be steady through the five minutes as neither team could score, with Paterson-Jones recording six more saves on the night while DeFazio had three in the extra period as the game would be recorded as a tie.
Trying to earn as many points as they could, each team would try and win the shootout to earn two points in the UCHC. Neither team would get their shots in at the first three attempts, but a save on Wilkes fourth attempt gave Luke Croucher an opportunity to give Neumann two points in the conference. He would go down the ice and get the puck in the net to give the Knights the advantage over Wilkes in the 3-3 tie.
Carlson had two goals on the night while Erickson followed behind with one goal. Cole Jungwirth (Bloomington, MN) had two assists while Lorenzo Marcolin (Saratoga Springs, NY), Billy Berry (Redding, CT), and Carter Jordan (Fort Collins, CO) had one apiece. Jimmy O'Kane (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame Prep) led the Colonels with 11 faceoff wins. Berry had nine faceoff wins on the night followed by Max Cocchi (Ludlow, MA) with eight. Paterson-Jones saved 32 shots on the night.
Wilkes earned the No. 5 seed in the upcoming UCHC Championship Tournament as the Colonels were tied with Chatham University with 34 points but earned the head-to-head tie break as Wilkes earned four points to the Cougars two in the season series. Wilkes is set to face fourth-seeded Manhattanville College on the road in a Quarterfinal matchup Wednesday at a time to be determined.
