(LEBANON, Ill., Oct. 15)—There were no shortages of big performances on Friday in Fairview Heights as the McKendree University hockey team rolled to a 9-2 victory at home against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (Silver).
For the second straight contest, sophomore wing Nic Rolla (O'Fallon, IL/O'Fallon) (O'Fallon, Ill./SIUE) registered a hat trick, while graduate defenseman Brooks Boeschen (Belleville, Ill./Belleville East) (Belleville, Ill./Belleville East) added a goal and four assists to help lead the Bearcats to the victory. Junior wing David Coleman (Budapest, Hungary/Fort Zumwalt West) and freshman center Dylan Mueth (New Baden, IL/Belleville East) (New Baden, Ill./Belleville East) each chipped in with a goal and three assists as McKendree built a 6-0 lead in the second period.
The Bearcats are now 3-1-1 overall and will host SIU-Edwardsville again Saturday at the U.S. Ice Sports Complex. Face-off is set for 3 p.m.
McKendree scored four goals in a five-minute span of the first period to build a commanding lead. Freshman wing Josh Hasamear (Collinsville, IL/Althoff Catholic) (Collinsville, Ill./Althoff Catholic) started the scoring four minutes into the contest. Nearly two minutes later, Rolla netted the first of his three goals to extend the margin to 2-0. Senior wing Nick Smothers (Waterloo, Ill./Waterloo) made it 3-0 just over a minute later before Rolla finished off the scoring frenzy with just over 11 minutes remaining in the period.
Sophomore defenseman Derek Sallee (Highland, IL/Highland) (Highland, Ill./Highland) pushed the Bearcats' lead to 5-0 midway through the second period before Boeschen netted his goal at the 5:42 mark to give McKendree its six-goal advantage. After an SIUE goal, Coleman provided a power-play goal with just 1:25 left in the stanza to give McKendree a 7-1 lead heading into the third period.
Mueth scored in the early stages of the third period before Rolla finished off his hat trick with a shorthanded goal to complete McKendree's scoring for the contest.
Senior Mike Stier (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) (Belleville, Ill./Belleville West) made 30 saves to grab his third victory in goal for the season.
