(LEBANON, Ill., September 27)—The McKendree University hockey team trailed 3-0 late in the first period but bounced back to register a 7-4 win late Friday night at Illinois State University.
Freshman forward
Ryan Sizer (Belleville, Ontario, Canada/Moira Secondary School) helped lead the charge with two goals and two assists as McKendree pushed its record to 3-2 on the year. The Bearcats and Redbirds will close out their weekend series with a 5:50 p.m. contest Saturday at the Pepsi Ice Center in Bloomington, Ill.
Illinois State started quickly, netting a trio of first-period goals to grab a 3-0 lead. With just two seconds left in the stanza, Sizer got the Bearcats into the scoring column with a goal off a pass from senior forward
Dylan Mueth (Lebanon, IL/Wesclin ).
McKendree scored the lone goal of the second period at the 8:29 mark when senior defenseman
Brendan Whitt (Granite City, IL/Granite City) found the back of the net to trim the Bearcats' deficit to 3-2. Mueth and freshman forward
Jacob Young (Arnold, MO/Fox) were credited with the assists on Whitt's goal.
The Bearcats tied the contest at 3-3 in the early stages of the third period when freshman defenseman
Steve Csanyi (Belleville, Ontario, Canada/Nicholson) pumped in a power-play goal with assists going to Mueth and Sizer. After Illinois State rebounded to regain a 4-3 lead, McKendree took control by scoring the final four goals in the last 10 minutes of play. Sophomore defenseman
Aaron Rogers (Troy, IL/Triad) knotted the score one final time at 4-4 with his goal off a pass from Young. With 5:27 on the clock, Sizer netted the go-ahead goal on the power play thanks to assists from Csanyi and Whitt.
McKendree added a pair of insurance goals in the final 1:24, both of which came on the power play. Junior forward
Jacob Schlote (House Springs, MO/Hillsboro) had the first tally off passes from Sizer and Whitt. Just 20 seconds later, Young capped the scoring with his second goal of the night as freshman forward
Austin Graf (O'Fallon, IL/O'Fallon) was credited with the assist.
Freshman
Chris Stier (Belleville, IL/Belleville West) collected the win in goal for McKendree. Stier made 33 saves on the night for the Bearcats.
