REISTERSTOWN, Md. – In a Friday night battle between the second and third-placed teams in the conference, the Wilkes men's ice hockey team defeated No. 13 Stevenson University 4-3 in overtime at the Reisterstown Sportsplex. With the victory, the Colonels clinched home ice in the UCHC quarterfinals and can finish no lower than third place in the conference standings.
 
Wilkes picked up their fifth-straight win and improved their overall record to 16-6-0. They stand at 14-3-0 in the UCHC and are currently six points behind the Mustangs for second place with two games in hand. Stevenson suffered only their fifth loss and fell to 18-5-1 on the campaign. They are now 14-4-1 in conference play.
 
Wilkes junior netminder Jack Perna (Sykesville, MD) was tested early on in the first period, turning aside two quick shots roughly a minute into the game.
 
Stevenson applied strong pressure throughout the first half of the opening frame, however Perna and the Colonel defense were up to the task and were successful in keeping the Mustangs at bay.
 
The tides began to shift in favor of Wilkes midway through the first frame when Joe Johnson (Midland, MI/) and Lorenzo Marcolin (Saratoga Springs, NY/) sent a pair of shots toward Stevenson's goaltender.
 
After a great individual effort by Nick Swain (Jackson, NJ) to maintain possession in the Mustang's end of the ice, he found the puck back on his stick in the slot thanks to a selfless pass from Billy Berry (Redding, CT), who took a hit in order to center the puck. Swain reeled around and rifled a shot to the back of the net, opening the scoring at 15:16. Berry picked up the lone assist on Swain's team-leading seventeenth goal of the season.
 
The Colonels fended off Stevenson's attack for the remainder of the period and took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission. The Mustangs held a slight advantage in the shots department, outshooting Wilkes 9-8 through 20 minutes.
 
Stevenson got on the board 1:02 into the second period after Frank Vitucci lit the lamp to tie things up at one goal apiece. Brendan Rylott and Graeme McCrory were credited with assists on the play.
 
Sensing a shift in momentum, Stevenson continued to throw pucks on net in search of the tiebreaker. Perna kept the game knotted at 1-1 with a tremendous post-to-post save to deny the hosts from taking their first lead of the night.
 
With just under 12 minutes to go in the middle frame, Swain entered the offensive zone and slid a pass over to Berry. Berry backhanded a puck in the direction of Jimmy O'Kane (Chicago, IL/Notre Dame Prep), who was crashing the net and chipped the puck over the goalie's left pad to grab the lead right back. Berry and Swain grabbed helpers on O'Kane's 2-1 goal at 7:59.
 
After a thrilling stretch of coast-to-coast action including several high-danger scoring chances for both teams, Eric Olson found himself alone on a breakaway against Perna. Olson beat the Colonels' goalie to even the score up at 2-2. Kyle Lightfoot and Evan Beers assisted on the goal at 16:47.
 
Wilkes and Stevenson kept the fiery pace of play going throughout the final three minutes of the period, however the score remained 2-2 heading into the second intermission. The Colonel offense had several good scoring opportunities in the second, outshooting the hosts 12-7.
 
Less than three minutes into the third, Wilkes drew a tripping call in their own zone and headed to their third man advantage of the night after failing to capitalize on their first two. Evidently, the third try was the charm as Berry won the ensuing faceoff right to Swain, who sniped a shot that beat the Mustang goalie's glove side. Berry snagged the helper on Swain's goal for the second time of the game. Swain's eighteenth of the season came at 2:48, just two seconds into the power play.
 
Stevenson was awarded their first man advantage of the night at 6:34 and quickly set up shop in the Colonel's zone. Jack Karlsson fired a shot towards goal that was disrupted by Berry, who blocked the shot out of play to the delight of the Wilkes bench. The penalty killers were able to keep the puck out of Perna, who only had to make one save during the two-minute disadvantage.
 
The Mustangs cranked up the pressure as time continued to tick down, rattling off eight unanswered shots towards the net. They headed to their second power play of the night with 2:30 remaining in regulation.
 
Stevenson desperately worked to knot the game up for the third time of the evening and pulled their goalie with 1:18 left on the clock. Working with a six-on-four man advantage, the Mustangs leveled things up with 49 seconds left in the third after a wrist shot by Rhett Evjen beat Perna. Blake Benson and Zach Banister assisted on the 3-3 marker at 19:11.
 
The rest of regulation time ticked off the clock without another goal, sending teams to a five minute sudden-death overtime period.
 
The Colonels were methodical with the puck, careful not to give up possession in overtime. Berry moved the puck out of the Colonels' zone midway through overtime and sent a cross-ice pass to Swain, who was waiting at the blue line to enter Stevenson's end of the ice. Swain, who was closely defended by a Mustang, attempted to cut back across the ice and had the puck poked off his stick. The loose biscuit found its way back to Berry, who worked his way around the boards and dished a pass back to an open Swain. Swain buried his third of the night to complete the hat trick and finish off Stevenson 4-3 in overtime.
 
Swain's monster night included three goals on a team-high five shots along with an assist. O'Kane followed with four shots on goal while Berry racked up four assists and laid out for two blocks during the contest. At the dot, Matt Carlson (Delmar, NY/) led the team with 10 faceoff wins. Cole Jungwirth (Bloomington, MN/) made significant contributions defensively, blocking three shots. Perna stood tall in net, making 28 saves on 31 shots.
 
Points were evenly distributed amongst nine different Mustangs, who all recorded one on the night. Liam McCanney led Stevenson with four shots on goal, John Musella won an impressive 12 faceoffs and Nick Dineen blocked three shots. Ty Outen made 25 saves between the pipes.

Wilkes and Stevenson face off in the two-game series finale tomorrow afternoon in Reisterstown. Puck drop against the Mustangs is slated for 3:00 p.m.