(EAST ALTON, Ill., Sept. 27) – The McKendree University men's D1 hockey team opened up its season on the road with a 6-2 win against SIU-Edwardsville at East Alton Ice Arena on Friday night.
 
The Bearcats will look for a road sweep on Saturday night at 7:30p.m.
 
The Cougars got on the board first but the Bearcats would answer back with six unanswered goals. Sophomore Cory Robinson (St. Charles, MO/) scored the first goal of the season with help from juniors Jacob Scrum (Maryville, IL/Collinsville High School) and Daniel Nordlander (Göteborg, Sweden/Wasaskolan Tingsryd). With a minute remaining on the clock, senior Dominic Naas (Neurensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland/Casper Coyotes WSHL) connected with freshman Bryce Dirscherl (San Diego, CA/Thunder Ridge High School) and senior Alec Nicholas to take a 2-1 lead into the first intermission.
 
Four minutes into the second period, sophomore Otasowie Omoregie (Pickering, Ontario, Canada/) added to the lead with an assist from Nordlander. Junior Shayne Pluto (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Central Memorial High School) scored his first goal of the season midway through the period with passes from Lazar Lestaric (Belgrade, Serbia/National Sports Academy USHS) and Scrum. To close out the second period scoring, sophomore Nikita Sokov (Pervourlask, Russia/School #15) scored his first goal as a Bearcat with an assist from Nicholas. After 40 minutes of play, McKendree led 5-1.
 
Freshman Connor Mullins (Whitby, Ontario, Canada/Donald A. Wilson Secondary School) scored the final goal for McKendree to push the Bearcat lead to five. Nicholas and Omoregie were credited with the assists. The Cougars scored one last goal but McKendree would go on to win 6-2.
 
Sophomore Wes Werner (LaSalle, Ontario, Canada/Sandwich Secondary School) started the game between the pipes, making 12/13 saves. Senior Andrew Best (Midland, Ontario, Canada/Cambridge Bears Junior A team) came on in relief midway through the second period, making 16/17 saves.