WILKES-BARRE, Pa. - The Wilkes University men's ice hockey surrendered a late third period goal and lost to the Neumann University Knights 2-1 Friday evening at the Toyota SportsPlex.

The loss drops Wilkes to 8-4-3 (5-4-2) this season, while Neumann improves to 9-5-1 (8-2-1).

In a contest between two of the best teams in the MAC, the Knights struck first early on. At 5:31, Max Donohoe found the back of the net to make it 1-0.

That lead didn't last long as the Colonels tied the game with 8:28 remaining in the first period. An initial shot from Ryan Dann (Windham, NH) hit the pipe and redirected straight to Jake Kloss (Hershey, PA/), who blasted his first goal of the season to make it 1-1.

That score held for the rest of the first period and all of the second period. Neumann took 11 shots in the second, while Wilkes took 10 and both sides had chances on the power play. However, the Knights went 0-3 on their chances in the period and the Colonels failed to score on their lone power play thanks to strong goaltending from Jeffrey Fillion (Chicoutimi, QC) and Christian Green.

The game looked like it was headed for overtime late in the third period with the score still tied 1-1. However, a Wilkes roughing penalty put Neumann on the power play, and Shawn Eliav made them pay to give the Knights the lead with 3:53 left. From there, the Colonels were unable to respond and Neumann walked away with a huge conference win.

The Colonels outshot the Knights 33-26 for the game, but went 0-2 on the power play compared to Neumann's 1-5 on the power play. Kloss finished with Wilkes' lone goal, and Dann and Bryan Weissler (Floral Park, NY) each earned an assist. On the Neumann side, Donohoe and Eliav each finished a goal, while Tyler Kennedy, Jake Barkley, Nikolai Tishkevich, and Jared Coccimiglio each had an assist in the game.

Between the pipes, Green got the win for the Knights and made 32 saves and allowed just one goal. Meanwhile, Fillion played well in the loss for Wilkes with 24 saves and two goals allowed.

The Colonels look to even the weekend series tomorrow against Neumann at 5:30 p.m.