(BLOOMINGTON, Ill., Feb. 15) – The McKendree University men's D1 hockey team captured a 5-4 overtime win over Illinois State to split the series on Saturday night. Sophomore Nikita Sokov (Pervourlask, Russia/School #15) scored the deciding goal in overtime for the Bearcats.
 
The Bearcats advance to 15-5 overall and 13-3 in Midwest College Hockey (MCH) play.
 
Just past the midway point of the opening period, junior Adam Dempski (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell North HS) put McKendree up 1-0. Ty Watt (Barrie, Ontario, Canada/Rama Aces GMHL) and senior Tyler Wilson (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada/) were credited with the assists. Illinois State tied the game with six seconds remaining in the period as both teams were even after 20 minutes.
 
The Bearcats opened the second period with three unanswered goals. Freshman Noah Scrum pushed the visiting team ahead with help from junior Daniel Nordlander (Göteborg, Sweden/Wasaskolan Tingsryd) and Dempski. One minute later Lazar Lestaric (Belgrade, Serbia/National Sports Academy USHS) added to the lead with passes from senior Dominic Naas (Neurensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland/Casper Coyotes WSHL) and freshman Oscar Andersson (Stockholm, Sweden/Vasa Real). Wilson made score 4-1 after connected with Dempski and Nordlander for a goal. Like the first period, the Redbirds scored late into the period to make the score 4-2 heading into the final period.
 
Illinois State added in two goals to tie the contest at four. Neither team was able to score the deciding goal in regulation, pushing the game to overtime.
 
Three minutes into the overtime session, Sokov found a pass from Wilson to score the game winner.
 
Freshman goalie Kayne Pasquet (Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada/Peacock Collegiate) made 27/31 saves in the victory.