(ST. LOUIS, Mo., Jan. 8) – The McKendree University men's D1 hockey team played against Maryville University Friday afternoon. The Bearcats fell short to the Saints 4-3.
 
After 18 minutes of action during the opening period, the Bearcats were trailing behind the Saints 0-1 until Bryce Dirscherl (San Diego, CA/Thunder Ridge High School) sent a pass to Nikita Sokov (Pervourlask, Russia/School #15), scoring the Bearcat's first goal, tying the score 1-1.
 
During the second period, the Saints pushed back by scoring three consecutive goals, creating a 4-1 lead over the Bearcats. With only 0:58 seconds left on the clock, Kirill Proskurin () passed the puck to Brad Richardson () who cut in front of the goalie and passed to Dirscherl, firing a goal on the net.
 
Junior goalie Wes Werner (LaSalle, Ontario, Canada/Sandwich Secondary School) stopped all seven Maryville shots during the final period in order to give the Bearcats a chance at pulling up their score. With less than three minutes remaining, the Bearcats went into a power play where Richardson scored with the help of Proskurin and Ryan Reader (Granite City, IL/Granite City High School).
 
The Saints held their lead in the third period and took a 4-3 victory over the Bearcats.   
 
McKendree will return to the ice Wednesday Jan. 13^th in their season's first home game as they host Maryville.