PITTSTON, PA (November 16, 2018) – The Wilkes University men's ice hockey team scored a goal in each period to defeat King's College 3-0 in a closely contested battle at Revolution Ice Centre in Pittston on Friday night before a sellout crowd.

The Colonels (4-2-0, 3-1-0 UCHC) extended their winning streak to three games as they took the first-ever meeting between Division III hockey's closest rivals. The Monarchs (0-7-0, 0-5-0) allowed their lowest shot total of the year with Wilkes recording just 24. That number is also the least number of shots King's has allowed in the 31 games the program has played.

Phil Erickson gave WU the lead at 5:56 of the first period when he one-timed a crossing pass from Donald Flynn into the back of the net. King's, who struggled to maintain possession in the early going, played much better later in the period as they looked for the game-tying goal. Brandon Gordon was able to keep the Monarchs off the scoreboard making a few nice saves in net for Wilkes.

The Colonels came out of a lengthy intermission due to problems with the Zamboni on the power play. King's was able to kill off the penalty with the Colonels taking two shots that went wide. Brandon Daigle made two great saves on shots by different Wilkes forwards before an weird bounce off a shot by Scott Aaron found the back of the net at 5:05 of the period for a 2-0 WU lead.

King's responded to the deficit by outshooting the Colonels 8-2 the rest of the period. The Monarchs had a few great opportunities but each time Gordan was able to come up with a great save to keep King's off the board. Tommy Green looked to cut the lead in half with a great wrist shot with nearly five minutes remaining, but Gordon was able to make a fantastic sliding save to keep the puck from crossing the line.

The Colonels put pressure on Daigle in the third period putting 10 shots on goal with four coming in a two-minute span. Nick Fea was able to get one pass Daigle at 9:40 for his fifth goal of the year to set the final score.
King's won the battle on faceoffs with 28 wins and 15 losses. Tyler O'Mara was a team-best 10-3 while Luciano Bucci went 8-4 and Nicholas Gullo was a perfect 3-0. Christian La Croix, O'Mara, Green, and Nicholas Palumbo had two shots each for King's. Daigle finished the game with 21 saves making eight in the first period, four in the second, and nine in the third.

Both teams were 0-4 on power plays and had seven penalties for 22 minutes. Gordan made 15 saves to record the first shutout of his career.

King's will be back on the ice tomorrow night when they host Bryn Athyn College in a non-conference game at 7 p.m. in Pittston.