CANTON, N.Y. – Despite a fiery 50-shot outing by the Wilkes men's ice hockey team, a late third period goal sank the Colonel's ship as SUNY Canton defeated Wilkes 4-2 on Friday night at the Roos House. The victory gave the Roos the non-conference series sweep.
 
Wilkes fell to 11-6-0 on the season and currently sit at 9-3-0 in UCHC play. SUNY Canton advanced to 7-13-1 with the win.
 
The Wilkes offense was ready to go right off the opening faceoff, as skaters for the Blue and Gold peppered the Roo goaltender Trey Miller with nine shots in the first eight minutes of play.
 
The Colonel attack applied relentless pressure inside the Roo zone, cycling through the zone and sending shots towards the net whenever a lane opened up. After exactly 12 minutes of action, Wilkes had outshot SUNY Canton 13-5.
 
Wilkes faced their first large test of the evening at 15:01 of the first period, when the visitors were assessed a five-minute major penalty for boarding. Despite being undermanned for the remainder of the period, the penalty kill unit held firm and kept the Roos out of the net.
 
The penalty killers were tremendously helped out by netminder Jack Perna (Sykesville, MD), who turned aside six shots during the man advantage. Max Cocchi (Ludlow, MA/) and Joe Johnson (Midland, MI/) made significant contributions on the kill as well, as both players sacrificed their bodies to block shots.
 
The Colonel defense was successful in killing the penalty and returned to their locker room after 20 minutes still locked in a scoreless tie with the Roos.
 
SUNY Canton quickly found the back of the net in the second period. After Perna made an initial save, a juicy rebound found the tape of Jack Seamans who dumped the puck into the open goal. Jordyn Mughal was credited with the lone assist on the 1-0 goal at 1:17 of the middle frame.
 
Wilkes continued to apply pressure on the Roo defense and were rewarded when a defender accidentally centered a pass to Steven Spetz (Oak Ridge, NJ/) in an attempt to clear a loose puck out of their zone. While gliding into the slot, Spetz wristed a shot to the top right corner of the net that beat Miller to tie the game up at 1-1. Cocchi and Nick Swain (Jackson, NJ) picked up helpers on Spetz's first collegiate goal at 1:59 of the second period.
 
Fresh off of a two-goal performance against the Colonels on Wednesday, Roo forward Brendan Morrow continued his hot streak when he redirected a shot from the blue line past Perna. Scott Cremen and Evan Pringle received assists on Morrow's 2-1 marker at 7:36 of the second.
 
Midway through the period, Wilkes found themselves in prime position to even the score. The Colonels drew a pair of penalties in short succession, sending them to a five-on-three man advantage. The SUNY Canton defense continued to frustrate the power play unit with blocked shots and key saves from their goaltender.
 
Following the unsuccessful man advantage, Perna bailed his team out with a spectacular left-to-right save on a shot near the crease to prevent SUNY Canton from going up by two goals.
 
After a nice individual effort by Cam Lowe (Lancaster, MA/) to shield the puck while skating through the Roo zone, the sophomore sent a nice drop pass to Johnson, who fired a shot that deflected off a defender's equipment and into the goal. Johnson's first of the season from Lowe tied the game up at 2 goals apiece at 16:35.
 
With 40 minutes in the books, Wilkes and SUNY Canton remained locked in a 2-2 battle.
 
The Colonels and Roos put together several dangerous scoring chances through the first half of the third period, however both goaltenders did their part in keeping the game knotted up at 2-2.
 
With just under twelve minutes remaining in the final frame, a SUNY Canton skater fired a rocket of a shot towards Perna, however the Wilkes netminder flashed the leather with a tremendous glove save to stop the go-ahead goal.
 
With 55 seconds remaining in regulation, SUNY Canton used their timeout ahead of an offensive zone faceoff. After winning the draw, the Roos quickly circled the Colonel goal and moved the puck to Cremen, who was waiting in front of the crease. Cremen broke the tie with 47 seconds left in the third period to give the Roos a late 3-2 lead. Morrow and Nick Herringer assisted on the play.
 
After Wilkes elected to pull their goalie, SUNY Canton scored an empty net goal at 19:53 to put the game out of the Colonels' reach. The final seconds ticked down and SUNY Canton took the contest by a score of 4-2.
 
Spetz and Johnson both notched their first goals of the season while Matt Carlson (Delmar, NY/) and Lowe shared the lead in shots-on-goal with six each. Cocchi and Carter Jordan (Fort Collins, CO/) both went 50 percent at the faceoff dot. As a team, Wilkes outshot SUNY Canton 50-29. Perna made 25 saves in goal for Wilkes.
 
Morrow recorded three points (1 G, 2 A) and won 22 faceoffs for the Roos. Herringer led the team with six shots on goal while Pringle made three blocks. Miller made an impressive 48 saves in net for SUNY Canton.
 
The Colonels hit the ice once again on Friday, January 26 when they visit Lebanon Valley College for a UCHC showdown. Puck drop against the Flying Dutchmen is slated for 7:00 p.m.