(LEBANON, Ill., Oct. 30)—The McKendree University hockey team opened up a busy weekend Thursday night with a 6-4 loss at the East Alton Ice Arena against Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
 
The host Cougars jumped out to a 4-2 lead and held off a late charge in sending the Bearcats to their second straight loss. McKendree is now 6-6 on the year and will head to Coralville, Iowa for a pair of contests against the University of Iowa. The teams will meet Friday at 7 p.m. before squaring off again Saturday at 4:45 p.m.
 
Freshman forward Sasha-Mitchell Perron (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada/Bellingham Blazers (NPHL)) netted a pair of goals for McKendree, while senior forward Andrew Falls (Brentwood, TN/Brentwood) and sophomore forward Jacob Young (Arnold, MO/Fox) also found the back of the net for the Bearcats. Defenseman Brendan Whitt (Granite City, IL/Granite City) handed out two assists in the effort as well for McKendree.
 
SIUE took a 2-0 lead in the first period before Perron cut the deficit in half with a power-play goal with 4:42 left in the period. Perron then knotted the contest at 2-2 just 35 seconds into the second period off a pass from Whitt. The Cougars then shut down the Bearcats for the rest of period while scoring twice to regain a 4-2 advantage. Falls buried a shot in the early stages of the third period to bring McKendree within 4-3.
 
However, that was as close as the Bearcats would get as SIUE scored twice in the next three minutes to stretch its lead to 6-3. Young tallied the final goal of the evening with 7:29 remaining.
 
Freshman Jared Bradley (St. Peters, MO/St. Louis Frontenacs Juniors (MNJHL)) made 35 goals in taking the loss between the pipes for the Bearcats.