(LEBANON, Ill., Oct. 27) – The McKendree University men's D2 hockey team defeated Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville (SIUE) by a score of 10-3 on Pink the Rink Night at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex.
 
Friday night's victory improves the Bearcats record to 8-3. Sophomore forward Levi Armstrong (Urbana, IL/Peoria Mustangs NA3HL) netted his second hattrick of the month in the contest, with his first coming against Mizzou on October 6^th. Freshman forward Shayne Pluto (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Central Memorial High School) lit the lamp twice in the game, including his first career goal with McKendree. Junior goaltender Andrew Best (Midland, Ontario, Canada/Cambridge Bears Junior A team) started between the pipes for the Bearcats, turning aside 29 of 32 shots in the contest for a save percentage of 0.906.
 
The Bearcats opened the scoring in the first period on a shot by sophomore forward Tyler Wilson (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada) with sophomore forward Dominic Naas (Neurensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland/Casper Coyotes WSHL) registering an assist. The Cougars had a quick response, scoring just 37 seconds later. However, McKendree was not to be outdone responding just 12 seconds after the SIUE goal. The goal came from Armstrong with junior forward Blair Davies (Georgetown, Ontario, Canada/Christ the King) and freshman forward Connor Brennan (Castle Rock, CO/Regis Jesuit High School) notching the assists. The Cougars tied the game back up at 2-2, with a favorable bounce. McKendree turned up the intensity throughout the rest of the period scoring two more times to take a 4-2 lead into the second period. Naas scored the go ahead goal for the Bearcats, with Wilson and Brennan assists. Sophomore defenseman gave McKendree an insurance goal on the power-play with just 34 seconds left in the first period.
 
McKendree continued to pour on the offense in the second period, with Pluto scoring his first career goal as a member of the Bearcats with 14:34 to play in the period. Senior forward Billy Lamb (St. Louis, MO/St. Mary's HS) and sophomore defenseman Wolfgang Davis (Langdon, ND/Billings Bulls NA3HL) registered assists on the goal. Watt extended McKendree's lead to four after beating the Cougar's goaltender with a laser of a shot. Nichols and senior forward Jason Beilke Jr. each added an assist on Watt's goal. The Cougars responded with a goal of their own inside the last two minutes of the period, but it was too little too late as the Bearcats continued to press on.
 
The third period was all McKendree, scoring four times and holding SIUE off the board. The Bearcats struck just 33 seconds in on a slick power-play goal. The play started off the stick of Naas, who found Wilson moving in towards the net. Wilson sent the puck over to Armstrong who buried it past the Cougars netminder for his second of the game. McKendree scored again after freshman forward Tyler Estermyer (Plano, TX/East Lake High School) won a battle behind the net, moving the puck out to the front of the net for Lamb to slide the puck between the goaltenders legs before he could react. Armstrong completed the hattrick with his second power-play goal of the evening, with Naas and Lestaric registering assists. Pluto was sent on a breakaway by freshman defenseman Ryan Reader (Granite City, IL/Granite City High School), where he topped off the scoring with a goal as he was being pulled down. McKendree took home the 10-3 victory over SIUE on Friday night, with the two teams playing again Saturday at 4:45 p.m. at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex.