(O'FALLON, Ill., Jan. 15) – The McKendree University D2 men's hockey team completed the sweep of Northern Illinois University on Sunday with a 7-1 win. The Bearcats extend their winning streak to 10 games as senior forward Ryan Sizer (Belleville, Ontario, Canada/Moira Secondary School) and sophomore defenseman Ty Watt (Barrie, Ontario, Canada) scored two goals each.
 
The first period of this game was much closer than in Saturday night's contest. The only goal of the period came when Sizer stepped around the Huskies defenseman and beat the goaltender over his blocker on an unassisted effort.
 
The second period brought an onslaught of goals for the Bearcats, who scored six times. Sophomore forward Kristjan Toivola (Bellingham, WA/Bellingham Blazers (NPHL)) opened the scoring in the second period just 42 seconds in with a goal coming on a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot on a pass from junior defenseman Josh Donovan (Ojai, CA/Cornerstone Academy). The Bearcats struck again just one minute later when Watt found junior forward Billy Lamb (St. Louis, MO/St. Mary's HS), who sent a turn-around pass to Sizer for his second goal of the game. Watt scored his first goal of the game on a two-on-one when Sizer sent a pass through the Huskies defenseman to Watt, who undoubtedly buried it behind the Northern Illinois net minder. The Bearcats found their first power play goal of the game with 10:45 left in the second period, when senior defenseman Steve Csanyi (Belleville, Ontario, Canada/Nicholson) ripped a low shot from the blue line beating the Huskies goalie. Freshman forwards Dominic Naas (Neurensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland/KV Zurich Business School) and Levi Armstrong (Urbana, IL/Urbana HS) each tallied an assist on Csanyi's goal. Just two minutes later, sophomore forward Blair Davies (Georgetown, Ontario, Canada/Christ the King) netted an unassisted goal when he stepped out from behind the Huskies net and fired the puck in behind the Huskies goaltender to put the Bearcats ahead 6-0. Closing out the scoring in the second period was Watt, who found the back of the net on the power play with a shot from the blue line. Sizer and Naas each earned assists Watt's goal.
 
The third period saw just one goal, which came on a shorthanded effort from the Huskies with eight minutes remaining. That goal would not prove to be enough for the Huskies, as the Bearcats took home yet another victory. The final score of the contest was 7-1, in favor of the Bearcats. In the game, the Bearcats went 2/6 on the powerplay and 4/4 on penalty kills.
 
The first star of the game for the Bearcats was Sizer, who scored two goals and added two assists for four points in the contest. McKendree's second star of the game was Watt, who netted two goals and registered one assist for three points. The third star of the game for the Bearcats was sophomore goaltender Andrew Best (Midland, Ontario, Canada/Saint Theresa’s High School), who made 23 saves on 24 shots for a save percentage of 0.958.
 
The Bearcats D2 team is back in action on Friday, January 27, at 7 p.m. at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex to take on the University of Iowa Hawkeyes.

Highlights from this afternoons game can be found below!