PITTSTON, PA (February 11, 2022) -- The King's College battled for all 60 minutes on Friday evening in a tough 7-1 loss to second-ranked Utica College at the Revolution Ice Centre in Pittston. Mahingan Decontie scored for the Monarchs in the second period.

The Pioneers (20-2-0, 15-0-0 UCHC) got off to a fast start against the Monarchs (4-17-0, 3-12-0 UCHC) as Regen and Brandon Osmundson each scored in the first 98 seconds to give Utica a 2-0 lead. The visitors scored twice more in the period as Dante Zapata and Cavanagh made it 4-0.

King's responded valiantly in the second period as Decontie redirected a shot by Aaron Frenkel into the back of the net for his fifth goal of the year at 1:57 of the period. The assist was Frenkel's ninth of the year while Kent Lee also picked up his 11th assist on the pass to Frenkel. The Monarchs kept the Pioneers off the scoreboard in the period until 14:55 when Zapata scored his second of the game. Cavanagh and Brett Everson scored in the third period to set the final score.

After the quick start by the Pioneers, King's settled down and played the highly-ranked squad from Utica extremely tough and frustrated Utica at time. Brandon Daigle had a strong performance in goal making a season-high 56 saves, three shy of his career-high. Jack Cooper led the team in shots with four while Decontie took three and won a team-best 10 faceoffs. Jack O'Neil blocked a team-high four shots. The Monarchs faced the highest-ranked team they have ever played with the Pioneers being ranked second in this week's USCHO Division III poll.

King's stayed just two points behind Lebanon Valley for the final playoff spot with the Flying Dutchmen losing to Stevenson 4-1 on Friday evening in Hershey.

The Monarchs will look to make up some ground in the playoff race on Saturday when they host Nazareth College at 4 pm. Nazareth fell to #9 Wilkes on Friday 2-1 in Rochester and are sixth in the standings with 20 points.