WILKES-BARRE, PA (January 17, 2019) – The King's College men's ice hockey team will open the second rotation of United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) play this weekend with a pair of games against Elmira College and Lebanon Valley College. The Monarchs will host the Soaring Eagles on Friday night at Revolution Ice Centre before traveling down I-81 to take on the Flying Dutchmen at Hersheypark Arena on Wednesday night in a game that will also count as a Middle Atlantic Conference contest. The game against Lebanon Valley was orginally scheduled for Saturday night but was postponed to Wednesday due to extreme snow predictions this weekend in the Mid-Atlantic region.
 
Event Details
Opponent: vs Elmira College (8-8-0, 6-3-0 UCHC)
Date: Friday January 18, 2019
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Pittston, PA – Revolution Ice Centre (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats) (Live Video)
 
Opponent: at Lebanon Valley College (6-7-2, 4-3-2 UCHC, 2-1-1 MAC)
Date: Wednesday January 23, 2019
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Arena (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats) (Live Video)
 
Last Time Out: The Monarchs dropped a pair of games at Trine two weekends ago by scores of 5-1 and 5-0. Luciano Bucci recorded the 25th point of his career with an unassisted goal in the first period of the opener. Brandon Daigle made 27 saves in goal. Jake Tugnutt made a career-high 52 saves in the second game of the weekend.
 
Elmira fell 2-1 at SUNY Cortland and to fifth-ranked SUNY Oswego 4-1 last weekend. The Soaring Eagles conceded two power play goals against the Red Dragons after Harry Kramer gave EC an early lead not even 90 seconds into the game. Gennaro Anzevino made 28 saves in net. Chris Moses scored the first goal of the game against the Lakers before the visitors rattled off four third period goals in Pine Valley. Jake Sabourin made 23 saves for the hosts.
 
Lebanon Valley jumped out to a four-goal lead against Wilkes last night after two periods before the Colonels rallied for six goals in the third to defeats the Dutchmen 6-5. Travis Acker had two power play goals and Cole Helper added two goals. Tyler Perhac made 28 saves including 21 in the first two periods.
 
The Book On The Monarchs (1-15-0, 1-8-0 UCHC, 0-4-0 MAC):

• King's enters the second rotation of conference play looking to build off a strong end to the first half. The Monarchs will be on the road for six of their final nine games of the season.
• Sophomore Luciano Bucci became the first skater in program history to reach 25 career points with an unassisted goal against the Thunder two weeks ago. The forward leads the team in scoring with 11 points on four goals and seven assists. Bucci has also won the most faceoffs on the team going 148-123 for a .546 percentage.
• Bucci is one of three skaters who have played in all 41 games in program history. Sophomore Cameron Anklewich and senior Jamie Lukas are the other two.
• Lukas leads the team with six goals this year including a program record streak of four straight games with a goal. Three of his goals have been power play goals.
• Assistant captain Tommy Green put his name into the record books with the game-winning goal against Neumann. The sophomore scored with 2:29 left off assists by Matt Amelio and Anklewich.
• Christian La Croix has been very dangerous on the power play this year as the sophomore has three goals and one assist while taking a team-leading 22 shots when King's is on a power play opportunity. Overall, La Croix has scored five goals and taken 40 shots.
• Freshman Michael DiSchiavi has made an impressive start to his career with four assists in 13 games. He has also been great on faceoffs winning 17 of his 23 attempts for a team-leading .739 percentage.
• Brandon Daigle was very strong in net to lead the Monarchs over the final eight games of the fall semester. During that stretch the freshman made 314 saves on 344 shots for a 3.73 GAA and a .913 save percentage. Daigle has a season goals against average of 4.11 and a save percentage of .904 while making 423 saves in 11 games.
• The Monarchs have been better on committing penalties in recent weeks as they are down to 14.2 penalty minutes per game on 100 penalties. King's was called for eight penalties against Trine including a season-best one in the opening game of the weekend. KC has been successful on 64 of 81 penalty kills this year and have scored two short-handed goals.

The Book On The Soaring Eagles (8-8-0, 6-3-0 UCHC):

• Elmira had a strong first half of conference play picking up six wins to find themselves near the top of the standings. However, since the calendar turned to 2019 the Soaring Eagles are just 1-2 and are on a two-game losing streak.
• The Eagles used three final period goals to pull away from the Monarchs in a 7-3 victory back on November 2 to start off conference play in Pine Valley. Connor Powell had two goals and one assist while Matthew Cuce and Ryan Blais had one goal and two assists each to lead EC.
• EC has won all three meetings against the Monarchs and have averaged 6.67 goals per game in the process. The Eagles have scored three times in the third period in the last two meetings between the programs.
• Powell has been the team's top goal scorer this year with 11. The junior has scored in eight games and has scored twice in a game three times. He is ranked 21st in goals per game and have scored four power play goals. He has also tallied seven assists for 18 points.
• Nick Ford leads the squad with 21 points on seven goals and 14 assists. The junior forward has tallied at least one point in 11 games. Cuce adds seven goals and 13 assists for 20 points. He has also recorded at least one point in 11 games.
• Jake Sabourin and Gennaro Anzevino have split time in goal. Sabourin is 5-4-0 with a 3.62 GAA and a .887 save percentage. Anzevino, who the Monarchs have now faced twice in his career, is 3-4-0 with a 3.96 GAA and a .881 save percentage.
• Elmira is recording 14.4 penalty minutes per game and have allowed 17 power play goals on 71 opportunities. The Soaring Eagles have also scored two short-handed goals.
• EC has been very good on the power play this season as they are ranked 12th scoring on 24.7 percent of 77 opportunities.

The Book On The Flying Dutchmen (6-7-2, 4-3-2 UCHC, 2-1-1 MAC):

• Lebanon Valley enters the weekend on a four-game losing skid after Wilkes erased a 4-0 Dutchmen lead with six third period goals to defeat LVC 6-5 on Wednesday evening. The Flying Dutchmen are just 1-4 in 2019.
• LVC is 3-0 all-time against the Monarchs including a 7-2 victory earlier this season in Pittston. The Dutchmen scored three times in the first seven minutes while building a 5-0 lead. Tino Alunni scored twice and Travis Acker and Brett Johnson added one goal and two assists each.
• The Dutchmen are 2-3-1 on home ice this season but are playing just their second game at Hersheypark Arena after playing their first five home games in the Giant Center.
• Johnson has been one of the top skaters in Division III this year as the senior is tied for fifth in points per game with 1.73. He has tallied 26 points on 15 goals and 11 assists this season. He has tallied at least one point in 11 games and has seven multipoint games including a season-high six points on five goals and an assist in an 8-4 victory at Chatham. His 15 goals in 15 games is tied for the second-best in the nation.
• Acker has been very dangerous when the Dutchmen are on the power play scoring seven of his nine goals which puts him tied for second in Division III. Both of his goals against the Colonels last night were power play goals. He has also recorded four assists this year for 13 total points.
• LVC has three other players with double-digit points as TJ Sneath (5G, 12A) has tallied 17 points, Bryan Hovanec (9G, 6A) has 15 points, and Cole Helper (3G, 11A) recorded 14 points. Hovanec is tied for third in the nation with two short-handed goals and tied for eighth with three game-winning goals.
• Nick Sorgio has seen the most time among three goaltenders. The freshman is 12th in the nation with a 1.89 GAA and sixth with a .940 save percentage in six games with two shutouts. Tyler Perhac and Matt Forslund have also seen significant minutes in net. Forslund is 2-2-0 with a 5.43 GAA and a .859 save percentage in five games while Perchac is 1-4-0 in six games with a 5.10 GAA and a .876 save percentage.
• Lebanon Valley is scoring 3.47 goals per game while taking 28.3 shots. The Flying Dutchmen are being outscored 60-52.
• LVC is averaging 16.3 penalty minutes per game and have allowed 18 power play goals on 84 opportunities.

Up Next: King's will spend a lot of time on the road next weekend as they travel down to Maryland for a UCHC/MAC game at Stevenson University on Friday night before traveling to Pittsburgh to face Chatham University on Saturday night.