(PEORIA, Ill., Oct. 5)—Junior center Charlie Donze (Fairview Heights, Ill./Althoff Catholic) (Fairview Heights, Ill./Althoff Catholic) netted three goals and added an assists to help lead the McKendree University hockey squad past host Western Illinois Friday night in Peoria, 7-1.

 

The Bearcats improved to 3-2 overall with the win. McKendree and Western Illinois will square off again Saturday in Peoria.

 

In Friday’s contest, McKendree took a 2-0 lead in the first period. Freshman wing Nick Smothers (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) scored midway through the period before Donze netted the first goal of his hat trick with just 1:27 left in the stanza. Senior wing Kyle Ilges (Highland, Ill./Highland) (Highland, Ill./Highland) extended the Bearcats’ lead to 3-0 early in the second before Western Illinois notched their only goal of the contest to pull within 3-1.

 

McKendree scored twice in the final 1:33 of the second period to build a 5-1 advantage. First, senior wing Ryan Haeffele (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) (Columbia, Ill./Columbia) netted an even-strength goal before Donze collected his second goal of the night with just 15.3 seconds remaining in the period.

 

Senior center Scott Roberts (Philadelphia, Pa./Bensalem) (Philadelphia, Pa./Bensalem) added a power-play goal in the early stages of the third period before Donze finished off his hat trick with just over 13 minutes to play.

 

Sophomore Mike Stier (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) made 35 saves for his third victory of the season.