(O'FALLON, Ill., Dec. 8) – The McKendree University men's D2 hockey team set a program record for total goals in a game, with a 21-0 victory over Illinois State late Saturday afternoon.
 
The game saw 13 different Bearcats recording a goal and 12 Bearcats registering an assist.
 
The win puts McKendree at 16-4-1 overall on the season.
 
Sophomore Daniel Nordlander (Göteborg, Sweden/Wasaskolan Tingsryd) scored the first goal of the game for the Bearcats with 12 minutes on the clock in the first period. Just nine seconds later, junior Tyler Wilson (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada) got into the scoring column. Capping off the third goal in under a minute, junior Dominic Naas (Neurensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland/Casper Coyotes WSHL) lit the lamp. Sophomore Tyler Estermyer (Plano, TX/East Lake High School) scored his first goal of the season with eight minutes left in the opening period. 44 seconds later, sophomore Adam Dempski (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell North HS) scored McKendree's fifth goal of the game. Just 29 seconds after the fifth goal, sophomore Ryan Reader (Granite City, IL/Granite City High School) netted his first goal of the game. Ending the scoring in the first period was sophomore Shayne Pluto (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Central Memorial High School) as Pluto buried consecutive goals just 23 seconds within each other. The Bearcats led 9-0 after the opening period.
 
Keeping up where they left off, a minute into the second period, senior Ty Watt (Barrie, Ontario, Canada/Rama Aces GMHL) continued his hot streak of goals with his first of the contest. After coming out of the penalty box, senior Blair Davies (Georgetown, Ontario, Canada/Christ the King) scored on a break-away goal. Sophomore Cole Dezainde (Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada/Assumption College) scored the team's only power-play goal of the afternoon seven minutes into the second period. Wilson buried his second goal midway through the second period for McKendree's 13^th goal. Sophomore Connor Brennan (Castle Rock, CO/Regis Jesuit High School) tallied his first goal of the afternoon with six minutes to go in the period. Reader notched his second goal of the game just 32 seconds after Brennan. Wilson capped off the hat trick with a minute left in the period. Freshman Trevor Wolf (Wellington, FL/Wellington High School) recorded his first collegiate goal with under a minute left to close out the scoring in the second period. McKendree would lead 17-0 heading into the final intermission.
 
Brennan got his second goal of the game just a minute into the final period. Naas would record his second goal of the period with 16 minutes left in the game. Nordlander buried his second goal of the game midway through the third period. Senior Lazar Lestaric (Belgrade, Serbia/National Sports Academy USHS) capped off the Bearcat scoring by contributing his first of the game. McKendree went on to set a record with 21 goals scored in the shutout of Illinois State.
 
Assists: Brennan (7), Nordlander (5), Davis (4), Lestaric (4), Dempski (3), Wilson (3), Pluto (2), Nichols (2), Watt (2), Dezainde, Ivasenko, Wolf.
 
Freshman goalie Wes Werner (LaSalle, Ontario, Canada/Sandwich Secondary School) recorded nine saves in 14 minutes of play.
 
Sophomore Zach Stenger (Collinsville, IL/Collinsville High School) recorded 12 saves in the remaining 46 minutes.
 
The Bearcats will return to the rink in 2019 as they host Maryville University on Jan. 11 at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex.