Wilkes Men's Ice Hockey Fall to Stevenson in MAC Championship Finals

WILKES-BARRE - The Wilkes men's ice hockey team met Stevenson in the Conference Tournament for the second consecutive year on Saturday night, falling to the Mustangs 4-1. 

The Mustangs opened the scoring early in the first period, with Aiden Lindley netting an unassisted goal just two minutes into the game. Caden Smith added a second goal on a power play for Stevenson five minutes later, with assists by Blake Benson and Evan Beers. 

The Colonels responded right away in the second period, with Carter Jordan (Fort Collins, CO) lighting the lamp for the Colonels just over a minute into the period, following a faceoff win also by Jordan. Cam Lowe (Lancaster, MA) and Mason Vonk (West Olive, MI) were the assists on the lone Colonel goal of the game. Five minutes later, the Mustangs recorded their third goal of the game and their second power play goal of the night, this time scored by John Musella and assisted by Smith and Aiden Graham.

Stevenson sealed the championship title with an empty netter at the end of the third period scored by Lindley, his second unassisted goal of the night. 

Four Colonels led the team in shots, with Joe Johnson (Midland, MI), Cole Jungwirth (Bloomington, MN), Matt Carlson (Delmar, NY) and Max Cocchi (Ludlow, MA) each recording three shots during the game. Vonk led in blocks with three and Johnson followed with two. Lowe and Jordan each recorded a plus one player rating and Jordan went 9-23 from the faceoff circle while Cocchi was 9-17. In net, Jack Perna (Sykesville, MD) recorded 27 saves throughout the game for a .900 save percentage. 

The Wilkes men's ice hockey team concluded their season with a 17-8-2 overall record and went 16-3-2 in conference play.