BUFFALO, NY (October 28, 2023) -- The King's College men's ice hockey team jumped out to a strong start on Saturday afternoon, scoring two first-period goals, but their efforts came up just short in a 6-3 loss to Arcadia University in the consolation game of the Buffalo State Bengals Classic. The Monarchs drop to 0-2-0 overall, while the Knights improved to 1-1-0 at Buffalo State's Ice Arena on Saturday.
 
The Monarchs capitalized on their early opportunities, first finding the back of the net 9:22 into the contest as Stefan Lakoseljac assisted Ethan Hersant for his first goal as a Monarchs. Just 3:54 of play later, Alexander Ray found Luke Babilon for a short-handed score to push the King's (0-2-0) advantage to 2-0 after the opening 20 minutes of action.
 
Arcadia (1-1-0) controlled the pace of the second and picked up their first score of the game in the 10^th minute, but the Monarch defense remained steady as King's held their 2-1 edge heading into the final period.
 
The Knights came out firing in the third, scoring the first two goals of the period to take their first lead of the game, 3-2, 3:54 into the period. Casey Gerstein scored his second goal in as many games to knot the score again on assists from Ray and Mauro D'Alessandro 4:23 into the third, but Arcadia put up three unanswered tallies with the final dagger coming with 2:55 to go as the Monarchs fell, 6-3, to the Knights in the consolation game of the Buffalo State Bengals Classic.
 
Ray led the Monarchs with two assists, while Gerstein posted his goal on a team-high tying three shots. Lakoseljac matched Gerstein's three-shot effort while adding an assist, while Hersant scored on his lone shot with a team-leading 11 face off victories. Tyler Sayger totaled 30 saves in the loss in goal.
 
Josh German paced Arcadia with four points on a goal and three assists, while Donnie Feldman and Bryce Battaglia both scored on four shots. Brendan Dicker had a team-high 17 face off wins, while Ryan Burgess made 21 saves for the Knights.
 
The Monarchs recorded 24 shots in the loss with 35 face off victories and two blocks.
 
King's will continue its road stretch to start the season as they take on Chatham University in a weekend United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) series on November 3 and 4 in Pittsburgh, Pa.