RUTLAND, VT (November 24, 2018) – Luciano Bucci and Jamie Lukas scored goals for the Monarch in a tight 3-2 loss to Anna Maria College in the consolation game of the WSYB/Catamount Radio Invitational on Saturday afternoon at Spartan Arena in Rutland. Lukas, who also scored on Friday night, was named to the All-Tournament Team for his weekend performance.

The Amcats (2-4-2) took the early lead as Aleksandr Makarov found the back of the net for the first time this season just 1:08 into the contest. A minute later King's (0-10-0) had a great opportunity to even the score as the team went on their first power play of the game. Nicholas Palumbo, Michael DiSchiavi, and Lukas all took shots during the two-minute advantage, but none went on goal as the AMC defense blocked three of the four shots with the fourth going wide. King's kept the pressure on the Amcats as goalie Patrick McGuane was forced to make saves on shots by Tommy Green, Jack O'Neil, and Nicholas Gullo in a 40-second span.

Bucci evened the score early in the second period with his third goal of the year. As the Monarchs were in the middle of a penalty kill, Bucci found space to score King's second short-handed goal of the year. Tyler Wilding and Cameron Anklewich recorded their first assists of the season on the play. Anklewich nearly gave the Monarchs the lead as his shot at 4:40 hit the pipe while King's was on the power play. Brandon Daigle was outstanding in goal for the Monarchs during the second period making 14 saves to keep the game even.

Anna Maria broke through the King's defense with two quick goal in the third period to take a 3-1 lead. Alex Friend scored his first of the year at 7:47 before Jake Sitzman recorded his third goal of the season at 9:04 for the Amcats. The Monarchs took advantage of a penalty right after the second goal as Lukas found the back of the net for the fifth time this year and second time this weekend with 10:06 left on the clock. The goal was his team-leading third power play goal of the season while Palumbo recorded his third assist of the year on the play. King's pushed for the game-tying goal as time winded down and earned a power play opportunity for the final 1:53. The Monarchs rocketed off seven shots with the extra-man advantage putting three on goal. The Amcat defense blocked three of the shots to preserve the victory.

Lukas led the Monarchs with seven shots taken while scoring in his third consecutive game. The Monarchs lost the battle on faceoffs for just the second time this season as Anna Maria won 34 of 57 attempts. Anklewich and O'Mara each won eight faceoffs to lead King's. Daigle finished the game with 35 saves to give him 78 for the weekend. The freshman stopped 10 shots in the first and 11 in the third to bookend his 14-save second period.

Sam Cyr-Ledoux had two assists as the only multi-point recorded for the Amcats. Cyr-Ledoux was a team-best 19-5 on faceoffs. McGuane recorded the win in goal making 18 saves.

King's committed four penalties for eight minutes and successfully killed all three AMC power play opportunities. The Monarchs were 1-for-5 on the power play as the Amcats recorded six penalties for 12 minutes.

The Monarchs will return to conference play next weekend with two road games at Neumann University and Manhattanville College. King's will take on the Knights of NU in Aston on Friday night at 7 p.m. before traveling to Rye, NY to take on the Valiants at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday at Playland Ice Casino.
 

ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:

MVP: Mitchell Parsons (Brockport)

F- Jamie Lukas (King's)

F- Glenn Wiswell (Castleton)

F- Nick Gravina (Castleton)

D- Peter Dziergas (Anna Maria)

D- Ryan Romeo (Brockport)

G- Jake Moore (Brockport)