WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's ice hockey team avenged an earlier setback to Neumann University to take the season series exploding for four goals in the third period on way to a 7-1 Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) victory Thursday night at the Toyota SportsPlex.
 
Wilkes improved to 12-6-2 overall and 12-2-2 in conference play. Neumann dropped to 10-6-2 overall and 7-5-2 in league games.
 
Wilkes stormed out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period as Joe Johnson (Midland, MI) got things started for the Colonels with an unassisted goal at 5:33. Cam Perez (West Hartford, CT) added to the lead when he ripped a shot from the blue line that found the back of the net thanks to assists from Miles Harrington (McDonough, GA) and Patrick Roginski (Shelby Twp., MI) at 12:16. Neumann cut the lead in half with just :12 remaining in the opening frame as Wilkes led 2-1 after one.
 
Johnson netted his second goal of the game in the second period, the only goal of the frame, off a helper from Matthew Carlson at 9:22. Wilkes held on to the two-goal advantage after 40 minutes of play.
 
From there the Colonels broken open the game scoring four unanswered goals in the final frame including two from Daniel Nau (Wake Forest, NC). Nau began the scoring tear with his first of the night off an assist from Leyton Pettypiece (Rochester, MI). Four minutes later Carlson scored with helpers from Perez and Tyler Boudreau (Edmonton, AB). Nau then scored his second of the contest 5:23 into the period thanks to a nifty pass from Pettypiece, his second assist in the period. Roginski then finished off the scoring with an unassisted goal under two minutes later to push the lead to six goals.
 
Neumann outshot Wilkes 46-33 in the game, while the Colonels went 39-of-74 in the faceoff circle.
 
Jack Perna (Sykesville, MD) was solid in net finishing with 45 saves to record the win.
 
Wilkes is back on the ice Saturday with an important MAC matchup at Stevenson University with puck drop set for 3:00 p.m.