(LEBANON, Ill., Feb. 4) – The McKendree University D2 men's hockey team completed the sweep over Illinois State with a 6-1 victory in their final regular season game, for their 14th consecutive win.

This was also the final regular season game for the teams two seniors, forward Ryan Sizer (Belleville, Ontario, Canada/Picton Pirates EBJCHL) and defenseman Steve Csanyi (Belleville, Ontario, Canada/Picton Pirates EBJCHL). The seniors were honored before the start of the game for their numerous accomplishments over their years as Bearcats.
 
What began as a scoreless first period, became a 1-0 lead for the Bearcats. With 59.7 seconds to go in the first period sophomore forward Lazar Lestaric (Belgrade, Serbia/National Sports Academy USHS) found the back of the net with assists coming from Sizer and freshman forward Levi Armstrong (Urbana, IL/Peoria Mustangs NA3HL). The period saw nine shots on goal from the Redbirds each of which Best saved.
 
The second period came with more goals from the Bearcats as they dominated play once again. First on the board was Alec Nichols (Cedar Rapids, IA/Northern Iowa Bulls NA3HL) at the 12-minute mark with Kristjan Toivola (Bellingham, WA/Bellingham Blazers NPHL) and Dominic Naas (Neurensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland/Casper Coyotes WSHL) on the assists. Four minutes after Nichols' goal, came a tally from Armstrong with an assist from Sizer and Lestaric. Young netted a goal five minutes later on the power play with an assist from Sizer.
 
Redbirds scored their one and only goal in the first three minutes of the third period. Sizer answered back just before the 13-minute mark was Naas registering the lone assist. A dangerous hit by the Redbirds lead to a 5-minute power play for the Bearcats, which Lestaric capitalized on just 30 seconds in on a pass from Csanyi.
 
The Bearcats then were even strength and then shorthanded, after taking two penalties. However, Illinois State was unable to capitalize on because of the amazing work done on the Bearcat's penalty kill teams.

Sophomore goaltender Andrew Best (Midland, Ontario, Canada/Cambridge Bears Junior A team) stopped 24 of 25 shots on goal for a save percentage of .960 and a goals against average of just 1.00. Over the weekend, Best recorded 39 saves on 40 shots for a save percentage of 0.975 and a goals against average of 0.500.

The three stars of the game for the Bearcats were Lestaric with two goals and one assist, Sizer with one goal and two assists, and Andrew Best (Midland, Ontario, Canada/Cambridge Bears Junior A team) with a .960 save percentage from saving 24 of 25 shots on goal.