WILKES-BARRE, PA (November 4, 2022) --- The King's College men's ice hockey team dropped their home opener against Chatham University on Friday night at Revolution Ice Centre, falling to the Cougars 5-1. With the loss, King's falls to 1-2-0, and 1-1-0 in UCHC play, while the Cougars improve to 2-1-1, and 1-0-0 in conference play.

Chatham (2-1-0, 1-0-0) struck first just under five minutes into the contest as Bekk McClaine beat senior goaltender Ismael Rlasten to open the scoring at 4:55. After the opening goal from the Cougars, King's (1-2-0, 1-1-0) started to find their way into the game. After a late penalty call against Chatham, sophomore Kent Lee evened up the score, going to the top corner, to tie the score at one at 19:57 on the power play, as sophomores Erik Borschevsky and Casey Gerstein picked up the assists. 

The second period was back-and-forth in nature as both teams generated chances, but both Ralsten and Chatham goaltender Ricardo Gonzales were up to the task, as the squads finished 40 minutes still tied at one. 
 
To start the third period, the Cougars got the first shot of the frame away, before Borchevsky's effort 30 seconds later went wide. Once again the teams traded opportunities, but it was Chatham who broke the deadlock as Zack Conner scored on the power play at 9:47. The Cougars doubled their lead at 14:11 on Andrew Warhoftig's tally, before adding two more goals late, handing King's the 5-1 loss. 
 
Ralsten picked up the loss in net, turning aside 32 of 37 shots faced. Lee paced the Monarch offense, tallying his first goal of the season on two shots on goal, while Gerstein and Borschevsky both added a point, picking up an assist a piece. Lee was joined by senior Josh Edwards and Borschevsky, who both notched two shots. The Monarchs won 26 of 63 face-offs, led by sophomore Tyler Blanchard who went 8-for-19, and sophomore Alexander Ray who went 7-for-18. King's continued their strong play on special teams, going 1-for-1 on the power play, and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill. 
 
Five players tallied a goal for the Cougars and were led by McClaine and Conner who tallied his who both tallied their goals on six shots and five shots respectively. Gonzalez picked up the win, making 10 saves on 11 shots. Chatham won 37 of 63 face-offs, led by Dimitri Wey who won 13 of 23. The Cougars went 1-for-4 on the power play and 0-for-1 on the penalty kill 

King's will return to action on Saturday in the second game against Chatham with a puck drop set for 4 p.m. at Revolution Ice Centre.