Wilkes Men's Ice Hockey Falls to No. 13 Stevenson on the Road 3-2
 
REISTERSTOWN, Md. – A two-goal comeback fell just short for the Wilkes men's ice hockey team on Saturday afternoon in the Colonel's UCHC clash with No. 13 Stevenson at the Reisterstown Sportsplex. A third period tally by UCHC goals leader Liam McCanney gave the Mustangs a 3-2 victory.
 
With the loss, Wilkes is officially locked into the third seed in the UCHC Quarterfinals which will take place on Wednesday, February 21. They stand at 16-7-0 overall and 14-4-0 in the conference. Stevenson advanced to 19-5-1 on the season and clinched the two seed with a 15-4-1 record in the UCHC.
 
Stevenson opened the game with a barrage of six shots that were all saved by Colonel goaltender Jack Perna (Sykesville, MD). Wilkes outdrew the Mustangs 12-8 in the first period, however Stevenson outshot the Colonels 14-7.
 
Both goalies remained perfect after 20 minutes, so the teams headed into intermission in a scoreless tie.
 
The Mustangs picked up a power play early in the second period and capitalized on the man advantage. Aidan Graham notched his first of the season at 2:24 to open the scoring. Blake Benson and Zach Bannister were credited with assists on the power play goal.
 
Bannister would add another power play marker just over five minutes later with Benson and Graham assisting on the 2-0 goal at 7:34.
 
A tripping call sent Wilkes to the power play at 12:43. After Patrick Roginski (Shelby Twp., MI) rang the pipe, three more Colonels fired shots on net. Roginski got the puck back on his stick and buried it to the back of the net. The 2-1 power play goal came at 14:20 with Cole Jungwirth (Bloomington, MN/) and Cam Lowe (Lancaster, MA/) picking up helpers on Roginski's ninth of the season.
 
The Mustangs picked up momentum following the goal, however two blocks by Lowe, one by Steven Spetz (Oak Ridge, NJ/) and a timely save by Perna kept the score 2-1.

Shots more even in the second period as Wilkes led 14-12. All three goals came on the power play.
Stevenson entered the third period with a man advantage and looked to regain their two-goal lead. Perna turned aside three shots to keep the score at 2-1 as the game returned to even strength.
 
Cam Lowe (Lancaster, MA/) shifted the momentum in favor of the Colonels when he tied the game off a feed from Max Cocchi (Ludlow, MA/). Cochi and Teague Porter (Anchorage, AK) both assisted on the 2-2 goal at 3:23 into the third.
 
Just over five minutes later, the Mustangs would answer back thanks to an even-strength goal by Liam McCanney. John Musella and Matt Yeager assisted on the 3-2 goal, which also gave McCanney the UCHC lead in goals over Wilkes forward Nick Swain (Jackson, NJ), who has 19 on the season.
 
The Colonels would pull their goaltender in an attempt to tie the game up with roughly a minute remaining in regulation. Despite shots by Lowe, Roginski and Billy Berry (Redding, CT), Wilkes was unable to find the equalizer and fell 3-2.
 
Lowe and Roginski both collected goals while Jungwirth led the team with five shots on goal. At the dot, Berry and Matt Carlson (Delmar, NY/) won a whopping 12 and 14 faceoffs respectively. Perna made an impressive 36 saves in net for the Colonels.
 
Benson, Bannister and Graham all put together two-point performances for Stevenson. Benson also led the team with eight shots on goal and eight faceoff wins. Mustang goaltender Ty Outen stopped 29 shots between the pipes.
 
The Colonels return home to the Toyota SportsPlex on Friday, February 16 as they begin their final UCHC series of the regular season against Neumann. Puck drop against the Knights is slated for 5:00 p.m.