WILKES-BARRE, PA (January 2, 2019) – The King's College men's ice hockey team will begin the second half on the season this weekend when the team travels to Indiana to take on the Thunder of Trine University in a two-game series at Thunder Ice Arena. The contests will be the last two non-conference games of the season for the Monarchs.
 
Event Details
Opponent: at Trine University (4-8-1, 2-6-0 NCHA)
Date: Friday January 4, 2019
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Angola, IN – Thunder Ice Arena (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats) (Live Video)
 
Opponent: at Trine University (4-8-1, 2-6-0 NCHA)
Date: Saturday January 5, 2019
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Angola, IN – Thunder Ice Arena (Directions)
Live Coverage: (Live Stats)
 
Last Time Out: King's played Utica College tough for 60 minutes but the United Collegiate Hockey Conference's (UCHC) leader scored once in the second period and twice in the third to defeat the Monarchs 3-0 back on December 8th in Pittston. Freshman Brandon Daigle equaled his season-high with 54 saves in goal while holding the high-scoring Pioneers below their season average. The Monarchs dropped a tough 2-1 overtime decision the night before as the visiting Golden Flyers of Nazareth College scored with 16.7 seconds left in regulation to force overtime and then tallied the game-winning goal 3:42 into the extra session. Christian La Croix scored in the first period for KC.
 
Trine shut out visiting SUNY Canton 3-0 on Saturday night behind two power-play goals. Alex Johnson gave the Thunder the lead at 15:30 of the second period before Gianni Vitali scored 23 seconds later. Michael Meisenbacher gave TU an insurance goal 29 seconds into the third period. Brett Young made 23 saves in goal.
 
 
The Book On The Monarchs (1-13-0, 1-8-0 UCHC, 0-4-0 MAC):

• King's ended 2018 strong as the team was playing their best hockey in the final three weekends of the first half. The Monarchs picked up their first victory of the season at Neumann after suffering tough losses to Castleton and Anna Maria over Thanksgiving weekend. The Monarchs were then 16.7 seconds away from upsetting Nazareth and gave UCHC-leading Utica all they could handle in a 3-0 loss.
• Brandon Daigle has been very strong in net to lead the Monarchs. The freshman has started the past eight games and played in 10. He lowered his goals against average to 4.02 and has a save percentage of .908 while making 396 saves.
• Jamie Lukas leads the team with six goals this year including a streak of four straight games with a goal. Three of his goals have been power play goals.
• Luciano Bucci leads the team in scoring with 10 points on three goals and seven assists. The sophomore has recorded at least one point in eight games this season. Bucci has also won the most faceoffs on the team going 125-108 for a .536 percentage.
• Tommy Green etched 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 Cameron Anklewich.
• Anklewich has skated in all 39 games the Monarchs have played including the 14 this year. The sophomore recorded his 10th career point against Neumann and has a plus/minus of -4.
• Christian La Croix has been very good on the power play this year as the sophomore transfer has three goals and one assist while taking a team-leading 22 shots when King's is on a power play opportunity. La Croix is tied for 25th in Division III power play goals this season. Overall, La Croix has scored five goals and taken 37 shots.
• Freshman Michael DiSchiavi has made an impressive start to his career with four assists in 11 games. He has also been great on faceoffs winning 17 of his 23 attempts for a team-leading .739 percentage.
• The Monarchs have been better on committing penalties in recent weeks as they are down to 15.1 penalty minutes per game on 92 penalties. The Monarchs have been successful on 57 of 74 penalty kills this year and have scored two short-handed goals.

The Book On The Thunder (4-8-1, 2-6-0 NCHA):

• Trine enters the weekend on a two-game winning streak after shutting out Chatham and SUNY Canton. The Thunder split a weekend series with the Cougars in Pittsburgh to wrap up the first semester.
• TU is 3-3 at Thunder Ice Arena this season alternating wins and losses. This weekend will also finish up the non-conference slate for Trine.
• The Thunder swept the weekend series against the Monarchs last year in Pittston. Trine won the opener 1-0 on a goal with 4:28 left before opening up a 3-0 first period lead to take game two 5-2.
• Freshman Garrett Hallford has done most of the scoring for the Thunder with 13 points on seven goals and six assists. The forward has three power play goals and one game-winning goal. He is tied for 11th in the nation in points per game by a freshman this season.
• Sophomore defenseman Blake Robinson is second on the team with four goals and two assists for six points. Henry Hearon also has recorded six points on six assists.
• Jon Doyle adds one goal and five assists to the Thunder offense while Alex Johanson and Michael Meisenbacher has two goals and three assists each.
• Brett Young has recorded a 2.92 goals against average in between the pipes and has a .911 save percentage making 350 saves. The junior has recorded two shutouts in 13 games.
• TU is being outscored 41-30 this year and are averaging 27.2 shots per game.
• The Thunder have been very disciplined recording just 10.8 penalties minutes per game. However, they have struggled on the penalty kill recording a 70.9 percentage which is the fourth-worst in Division III this season.

 
Up Next: King's will be off next weekend before jumping back into conference play against Elmira College and Lebanon Valley. The Monarch will host Elmira on January 18 at 7 p.m. before traveling down 81 to take on the Flying Dutchmen on Saturday the 19th in HersheyPark Arena at 7 p.m.