WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes University men's ice hockey team matched up against the SUNY Geneseo Knights on Saturday night at the Toyota SportPlex, tying the third-ranked team in the country 2-2.

Against one of the best teams in Division III, the Colonels held their own through the first 20 minutes of play. Wilkes took 11 shots in the period compared to Geneseo's 13, and goalie Duncan Rolleman (New Hamburg, ON/) made 13 saves to keep the Knights off the scoreboard. However, his counterpart Jacob Torgner made 11 saves of his own as both teams went into the intermission tied 0-0.

Early in the second, the Knights broke through to end the scoreless tie. Just under four minutes into the period, Alex Dameski fired a shot past Rolleman to make it 1-0, and then just 18 seconds later he scored again on a breakaway after a Wilkes turnover to give Geneseo a 2-0 at the 16 minute mark. Overall, the Knights outshot the Colonels 17-10 in the period as they carried their momentum into the third.

The Colonels kept fighting despite the deficit. They pressured Torgner with several shots early before finally getting one to go in the net when Cam Lowe (Lancaster, MA/) delivered with a breakaway goal to make it 2-1 with 13:22 to play. Wilkes got a golden opportunity to tie the game on a power play just two minutes later, but they failed to score and still trailed going into the final two minutes. With 1:59 remaining, Carter Jordan (Fort Collins, CO/) deflected the game-tying goal into the net, giving Daniel Nau (Wake Forest, NC/) and Patrick Roginski (Shelby Twp., MI/) assists on the play as the Colonels forced overtime.

In overtime Wilkes controlled the pace by outshooting Geneseo 6-1, but Torgner saved all six shots. After five minutes neither team scored and both teams were off to a shootout. Both teams scored one goal in the first three rounds of the shootout with Dameski scoring for Geneseo and Matt Carlson (Delmar, NY/) scoring for Wilkes. In the fourth round, Luke Panchisin scored for the Knights, while Roginski missed on his attempt for the Colonels, giving the visitors the shootout win.

The Colonels finished the game with 36 shots compared to 37 for the Knights, and both teams went scoreless on the power play. Lowe and Jordan each finished with a goal, while Roginski and Nau each had an assist for Wilkes. Dameski scored both goals for Geneseo, and Filip Wiberg had the team's lone assist. Both goalies had strong outings with Rolleman earning 35 saves and Torgner earning 34. 

Wilkes now sits at 1-0-1 on the season going into Middle Atlantic Conference play against King's College on Friday, Nov. 7 at the Toyota SportsPlex. The game begins at 4:50 p.m.