(LEBANON, Ill., Jan 28) – The No. 5 McKendree University men's division II ice hockey team continues to win as they pick up their twelfth in a row. The twelfth win comes after defeating the No. 16 University of Iowa 5-3 on Saturday at noon.
 
In the first period, Bearcats started off strong. Alec Nichols (Cedar Rapids, IA/Northern Iowa Bulls NA3HL) played a puck that deflected off the boards for Levi Armstrong (Urbana, IL/Peoria Mustangs NA3HL) who slammed it into a wide open net just four minutes into the game with Lazar Lestaric (Belgrade, Serbia/National Sports Academy USHS) earning the second assist. Sophomore Andrew Best (Midland, Ontario, Canada/Cambridge Bears Junior A team) was put to the test stopping 17 shots in this period alone. Yesterday Best only saw 25 shots on goal throughout the entire game. Jacob Young (Arnold, MO/Meramec Sharks) snapped the Bearcats second goal over the left shoulder of the Hawkeyes goaltender just under the cross bar on a power play for his fourth goal of the season with Kristjan Toivola (Bellingham, WA/Bellingham Blazers NPHL) and Nichols registering assists on the goal. McKendree closed out the first period leading 2-0.
 
The second period brought the Hawkeyes to a 2-2 tie with the Bearcats. The Hawkeyes controlled most of the second period as Bearcats were unable to break through on several power play opportunities. However, with less than two minutes to play Toivola picked up his own rebound and found the back of the net on a pass from Steve Csanyi (Belleville, Ontario, Canada/Picton Pirates EBJCHL) for the Bearcats first goal of the second period. Toivola's goal regained the lead for the Bearcats, taking a 3-2 lead into the third period.
 
The beginning of the third period started with the Bearcats and Hawkeyes each being charged with a 10-minute penalty as the buzzer ran out of the second period eliminating Csanyi from play for half of the third period. The Hawkeyes were able to tie up the game 3-3 with 12:08 remaining in the third period. On a pass from Csanyi, Sizer threw it towards the net from the blue line which deflected off Lestaric for a power play goal just a minute after the Hawkeyes tied it up. With just 40 seconds remaining in the game, Sizer found the back of the net as he waited out the goalie to score on a seemingly open net after receiving a pass from Armstrong.
 
In goal for the Bearcats was Best who improves to 13-2 overall stopping 32 of 34 shots on goal. Best finished the game with a .941 save percentage.
 
Head coach Garry Henson named Lestaric (1 goal and 1 assist), Csanyi (2 assists), and Armstrong (1 goal and 1 assist) as players of the game. Henson went on to say that, "The Bearcats really rose to the occasion and were able to squeeze out a win when we weren't on the top of our game tonight."
 
The Bearcats will be back in action for their final regular season games with two home contests against Illinois State University, the first is at 7 p.m. on Friday February 3rd, with the second at 12 p.m. on February 4th at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex.