WILKES BARRE – Luc Fox (Valencia, CA/) recorded a 20-save shutout to help the Wilkes men's ice hockey team capture a 2-0 victory on Senior Night over UCHC opponent Neumann on Saturday at the Toyota SportsPlex.

With the win, the Colonels finished the regular season with a 17-8-0 record and went 15-5-0 in UCHC play. Neumann dropped to 7-16-1 overall and 7-12-1 in conference action.
 
Steven Spetz (Oak Ridge, NJ/) set the tone for Wilkes early in the first period, laying out for a block just 55 seconds into the contest. Both teams were assessed roughing minors at 1:41, however the game remained scoreless following the stretch of four-on-four action.


The Colonels headed to the man advantage late in the opening period and looked to open the scoring before intermission. Despite back-to-back shots by Nick Swain (Jackson, NJ) and Billy Berry (Redding, CT), the power play unit was unable to convert.
 
After 20 minutes of play, both teams exited the ice locked in a scoreless tie. Wilkes outshot the Knights 11-4 in the first, while both teams won eight faceoffs.
 
Neumann came out of the gate strong in the second, firing four shots on Fox in the first four minutes of the period. The senior goaltender stood tall and turned aside all four to keep the Knights off the board.
 
Shortly thereafter, Swain entered the offensive zone on a two-on-one with Max Cocchi (Ludlow, MA/). The two skaters exchanged the puck, drawing the Knights' netminder out of position. Swain buried a shot into the open net to notch his twentieth goal of the season, putting him in a tie with Stevenson's Liam McCanney for the most goals in the UCHC. Cocchi assisted on the 1-0 goal at 5:20.
 
Late in the second period, Neumann made a late push to knot the score up at 1-1. Three key saves by Fox paired with a timely block by Lorenzo Marcolin (Saratoga Springs, NY/) kept the Knights searching for their first goal of the evening heading into the final 20 minutes.
 
Neumann outshot the Colonels 12-7 in the middle frame while Wilkes edged the Knights 16-15 in faceoffs.
 
The ferocious pace of play continued in the third as both teams flew up and down the ice looking to secure a victory in their regular season finale.
 
After an early trio of shots by Cocchi, Marcolin and Daniel Nau (Wake Forest, NC), the Knights responded with an offensive flurry of their own. The visitors' surge was extinguished by a pair of blocks by Spetz and senior John Barrett (Charlotte, NC).
 
As the clock continued to tick down in regulation, Neumann pulled their goaltender to put an extra attacker on the ice. The situation became even more perilous for the Colonels' defenders when they were assessed an interference penalty with just over a minute to go in the period.
 
Despite the six-on-four advantage for Neumann, Joe Johnson (Midland, MI/) was able to knock down a shot from the point and fling it down the ice. The puck banked off the endboards right to Matt Carlson (Delmar, NY/), who was crashing the empty net. Carlson notched the all-important insurance goal at 19:33 to put the game out of the Knights' reach.
 
Wilkes would kill off the remaining 27 seconds of game clock to finish their regular season with a thrilling 2-0 victory.
 
Swain and Cocchi shared the team lead in shots with five apiece. Johnson was stellar on defense, recording a five-block performance. Billy Berry (Redding, CT) once again impressed at the faceoff dot, winning a game-high 14 draws. Fox was perfect between the pipes, stopping all 20 shots he faced to collect his first career shutout for the Blue and Gold.
 
Joe DiGiulio tallied a team-high four shots on goal while Chase Cochran blocked two shots. Luke Croucher won 52 percent of his faceoffs and Cole DeFazio made 28 saves in goal for the Knights.
 
Wilkes enters the 2024 UCHC Tournament as the number three seed. The team will return to the Toyota SportsPlex on Wednesday, February 21 to host the number six-seeded Chatham University in the Quarterfinals. Puck drop against the Cougars is set for 5:00 p.m.