(O'FALLON, Ill., Jan. 14) – The McKendree men's D2 hockey team took home an incredible 12-2 victory in their home opener at the new McKendree Metro Rec Plex on Saturday evening. With the win the Bearcats extend their winning streak to nine games.
 
In a game the Bearcats dominated, the Huskies jumped out to a quick lead scoring just 22 seconds into the contest. However, the Bearcats wouldn't be held off the scoreboard for long. Junior forward Billy Lamb (St. Louis, MO/St. Mary's HS) netted his first goal of the season and the first goal for McKendree in their new facility. Assisting on Lamb's goal was freshman forward Levi Armstrong (Urbana, IL/Urbana HS) and senior forward Ryan Sizer (Belleville, Ontario, Canada/Moira Secondary School). The Bearcats would continue to show their scoring prowess in front of the packed stands, finding the back of the net six more times before the conclusion of the first period. Other players scoring goals in the first period were sophomore forwards Blair Davies (Georgetown, Ontario, Canada/Christ the King) and Kristjan Toivola (Bellingham, WA/Bellingham Blazers (NPHL)), along freshman forwards Dominic Naas (Neurensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland/KV Zurich Business School) and Stanislav Gavrus (Grodno, Belarus/Gymnasium #1), and freshman defenseman Brogan Walters (St. Louis, MO/Ladue Horton Watkins HS). Naas added two goals in the first period to help the Bearcats take a 7-1 lead into the first intermission.
 
The second period was all Bearcats with Naas finding the back of the net to complete his hat trick 12:20 into the period. Naas was assisted by Armstrong and senior defenseman Steve Csanyi (Belleville, Ontario, Canada/Nicholson). Sophomore defenseman Ty Watt (Barrie, Ontario, Canada) scored his fifth of the season to close out the scoring in the second period, giving McKendree a 9-1 lead heading into the third period.
 
Sizer was able to net his first goal of the game just over 2 minutes into the third period with assists coming from Lamb and freshman defenseman Alec Nichols (Cedar Rapids, IA/George Washington HS). However, the Huskies struck on the power play to make it a 10-2 game. The Bearcats weren't finished scoring though, with Armstrong netting his first goal of the game. Freshman defenseman Nick Gay (Pinedale, WY/Pinedale HS) capped off the scoring for the Bearcats with an unassisted effort with just 16 second remaining. The Bearcats made their home opener a memorable one, taking home a 12-2 victory of the Huskies.
 
In the contest McKendree went 2/4 on the power play, killed off 2/3 penalties, and posted an impressive 60 shots on goal. The Bearcats had three players with five points each in the contest. Those players were Naas with three goals and two assists, Sizer with one goal and four assists, and Armstrong with one goal and four assists. Sizer continues to rack up the assists this season with a team leading 26 assists. Armstrong continues to lead the team in goals scoring his 14^th of the season in the game. Naas is close behind with 13 goals of his own, after a hat trick in Saturday's contest.
 
Sophomore goaltender Andrew Best (Midland, Ontario, Canada/Saint Theresa’s High School) played outstanding earning second star of the game stopping 30 of 32 shots on goal. Best earned a save percentage of 0.938 and a goals-against average of 2.00. After winning Saturday night, Best now has a record of 10-2.
 
McKendree hits the ice again on Sunday at noon for another game against the Huskies of Northern Illinois at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex.
 
Check out the highlights of Saturday night's game here!