(O'FALLON, Ill., Jan 27) – The No. 5-ranked McKendree University ACHA Division 2 men's hockey team won its 11th consecutive game thanks to a 6-1 victory Friday evening over University of Iowa, ranked 16th in the nation, at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex in O'Fallon. McKendree improves to 15-3 on the season thanks to Friday's win. 
 
The Bearcats fought a physical battle against Iowa early in the first period. McKendree started off by outshooting the Hawkeyes 10-3 in the opening moments of play. Neither team could break each other's control and played scoreless hockey until less than five minutes remained in the first period. Lazar Lestaric (Belgrade, Serbia/National Sports Academy USHS) put McKendree on the scoreboard with assists from Levi Armstrong (Urbana, IL/Peoria Mustangs NA3HL) and Ryan Sizer (Belleville, Ontario, Canada/Picton Pirates EBJCHL) at the 4:38 mark. 
 
The second period brought a continued physical battle between the Bearcats and Hawkeyes. Still McKendree continued to dominate the play with more time spent in the offensive zone. At 13:47 Sizer went in for the goal that ricocheted off the post and Billy Lamb (St. Louis, MO/St. Mary's HS) was there in front of the goal to slam it past the Iowa goaltender to claim his first goal of the game. Sizer came back and scored with less than a minute left on the power play with traffic in front of the goal with his 15th of the season and third on the power play. Lestaric picked up the assist as the Bearcats increased their lead to 3-0. 
 
McKendree commanded most of the third period with action heating up over the final 10 minutes of play. With a four-on-four for two minutes with just under eight minutes to play, Josh Donovan (Ojai, CA/Channel Islands Riptide) scored with an assist from Lestaric. Iowa scored just under the crossbar past McKendree goaltender Andrew Best (Midland, Ontario, Canada/Cambridge Bears Junior A team) a minute later to break up the shutout bid for the Bearcats. Sizer added another goal at the 4:53 minute mark, netting his second of the night and 16th of the season. Armstrong and Lestaric were credited with the assists on Sizer's second goal of the evening., The assist was Lestaric's third of the evening. The final McKendree goal game from Dominic Naas (Neurensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland/Casper Coyotes WSHL) with a minute to play in the game from Blair Davies (Georgetown, Ontario, Canada/Christ the King) and Kristjan Toivola (Bellingham, WA/Bellingham Blazers NPHL).
 
Best made the goal nearly impossible to get to for the Hawkeyes. Best had a .960 save percentage and improves to 12-2 for the overall season as he stopped 24 shots on the night. 
 
Head coach Garry Henson named Sizer, Lestaric, and Best as the players of the game. Sizer had two goals and two assists, while Lesatric had three assists and Best collected 24 saves against the Hawkeyes.
 
McKendree and Iowa will be back on the ice Saturday at noon at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex for the final game in their two-game series.