(O'FALLON, Ill., Feb. 21) – The McKendree University men's D1 hockey team won 8-4 over Waldorf University on Friday night at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex. Senior
Dominic Naas (Neurensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland/Casper Coyotes WSHL) and sophomore
Cory Robinson (St. Charles, MO/) each scored twice in the victory.
The Bearcats advance to 16-5 overall and 14-3 in Midwest College Hockey (MCH) action. McKendree will look for a sweep tomorrow night at 7:00pm.
A minute and half into the game, sophomore
Nikita Sokov (Pervourlask, Russia/School #15) took a stretch pass from senior
Tyler Wilson (Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, Canada/) and dangled the Warrior goalie for the first goal of the game. Freshman
Bryce Dirscherl (San Diego, CA/Thunder Ridge High School) was also credited with an assist. With 10 seconds left in the period, Naas found the back of the net to give the Bearcats a 2-0 lead heading into the second period.
Robinson scored his first 31 seconds into the second period with help from senior
Alec Nichols (Cedar Rapids, IA/Northern Iowa Bulls NA3HL). Waldorf countered back with two goals in a minute to make the score 3-2. With 12 minutes on the clock, McKendree scored twice in eight seconds to push the lead back to three. Wilson scored the first with help from Sokov and Dirscherl. Naas scored the other, his second of the game, connecting with
Lazar Lestaric (Belgrade, Serbia/National Sports Academy USHS) and freshman
Oscar Andersson (Stockholm, Sweden/Vasa Real) for the goal.
Junior
Shayne Pluto (Calgary, Alberta, Canada/Central Memorial High School) scored a short-handed goal with one minute left in the period after receiving a pass from junior
Aleks Ivasenko (Riga, Latvia/Riga 1 Distance Education High School). After 40 minutes, the Bearcats held a 6-2 lead.
Six minutes into the final period, Lestaric extended the lead to five and 18 seconds later, Robinson pushed the lead to six with his second goal of the game. The Warriors countered back with two goals, but were unable to mount the comeback with McKendree winning 8-4.
