MORRISVILLE, NY (November 27, 2021) -- The King's College men's ice hockey team fell to host SUNY Morrisville 5-3 on Saturday in the team's final non-conference game of the first semester.

The Monarchs and Mustangs played a very defensive first period with not many shots on goals. The game seemed destined to head into the first intermission scoreless before King's scored the first goal of the game with 44 seconds on the clock. Tyler Blanchard sent a pass up the left side to Jake Cooper who had his shot hit off the pads of the Mustang goalie. Brett Dillon was there to collect the rebound and knock the puck back into the net for his third goal of the year and fifth of his career. Cooper recorded his sixth assist of the season while Blanchard had his team-leading eighth assist.

Morrisville tied the game up 2:30 into the second period as Curtis Abbott scored his first goal of the year. Six minutes later the Mustangs took the lead as Jake Kaplan scored his third goal of the weekend 18 seconds into a power-play opportunity. The Monarchs fought back and 20 seconds before the second intermission Kent Lee tied the game up with his third goal of the year. Lee intercepted a pass inside the Monarch blue line and snuck the puck pass the goalie to even the score.

In the third period Morrisville scored first as Abbott tallied his second goal of the game at 4:56 of the period. Stevie Gerbis gave the Mustangs a two-goal advantage with just over three minutes left as he scored his first goal of the year. King's kept it interesting as they cut the lead down to one at 18:09 on a power-play goal by Michael DiSchiavi. DiSchiavi recorded his third goal of the year as he knocked in a loose puck in front of goal. Casey Gerstein and Zach Satalino were credited with assists on the play. The goal for DiSchiavi gives him 27 points for his career moving him closer to becoming the all-time leader in points.

The Monarchs pressed the Mustangs for the game-tying goal but an empty net goal with 57 seconds left by Eric Melso sealed the victory for the hosts.

King's outshot Morrisville 26-22 in the game. Cooper and Nick Richards topped the squad with four shots each while Satalino, DiSchiavi, and Blanchard took three each. Dillon won a team-best 12 faceoffs and lost 10 while Matt Bidini made 17 saves in goal.

King's will close out the first semester next weekend with a trip back to upstate New York to take on Utica College and Nazareth College. The Monarchs will faced the Pioneers, currently ranked second in the nation, on Saturday night December 4 before traveling to Rochester for a Sunday matchup with the Golden Flyers of Nazareth.