PITTSTON, PA (February 12, 2022) -- The King's College men's ice hockey team moved into a tie for eighth in the conference standings with an important 6-3 win over visiting Nazareth College on Saturday afternoon at the Revolution Ice Centre.

Casey Gerstein, Jack Cooper, and Matt Bidini all came up huge for the Monarchs in the victory over the Golden Flyers. Gerstein tied program records in assists and points with one goal and three assists for four points. Cooper scored twice and assisted on a goal to extend his season records to 12 goals and 22 points. Matt Bidini earned his third win of the year with 29 saves.

The Monarchs won their program record fifth game of the year and fourth conference game while picking up their third win on home ice. It is the program's second-ever win over Nazareth while King's scored a program record six goals in a game for the third time this year. The 10 assists are a season-high while the 16 points are a program record.

Tyler Blanchard got things started for the Monarchs 6:54 into the game as he tapped in a perfect cross-ice pass from Jack Cooper for his seventh goal of the season. Gerstein also assisted on the play earning his fifth assist of the year while Cooper recorded his 10th. The Golden Flyers evened the score 6:47 into the second period on a goal by Ethan Louisos. KC responded with a trifecta of goals by Gerstein, Cooper, and Aaron Frenkel to take a 4-1 lead into the second intermission. Gerstein struck first with a power play goal at 9:34 off assists by Ian Zaleski and Mauro D'Alessandro. D'Alessandro started the play by shooting the puck towards goal from near the blue line. Zaleski tapped the puck towards Gerstein who buried it into the back of the net for the fourth time this year. A few minutes later Cooper took advantage of the Monarchs having an extra skater on the ice for a delayed penalty call and lit the lamp for the 11th time off assists by Josh Edwards and Gerstein. Frenkel wrapped up the period with his sixth goal of the year off beautiful passes from Jack O'Neil and Rhett Padgett.

The Golden Flyers came out strong to begin the third and made it a one-goal game within the first three minutes as Ryan Turse and Cole Moore were able to score goals. The Monarch defense locked down the rest of the way and King's was aided by a couple goals to put the game out of reach. D'Alessandro shot a rocket through a group of skaters at 14:30 that found its way into the back of the net for the first goal of his career. Gerstein and Frenkel assisted on the play. Cooper then put the game completely out of reach at 17:28 while the Monarchs were on a penalty kill as he forced a turnover inside the blue line and shot the puck into an empty net for his second goal of the game.

The Monarchs head into the final week of the season tied for eighth in the conference standings with Lebanon Valley at 14 points. LVC has the head-to-head tiebreaker over King's. The Monarchs will close out the regular season with a Friday afternoon game at Stevenson University. Puck drop is scheduled for 3 pm in Maryland. They will then host Chatham for Senior Day next Saturday at 4 pm. LVC will close out the season with a home-and-home series against Arcadia.