BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - McKendree University men's d1 hockey fired on all cylinders on Saturday night to even-up the weekend with the Redbirds after dropping the Friday evening outing in Bloomington. The Bearcats claimed the second game on a 4-3 shootout win after knotting regulation up at 3-3 with Illinois State. McKendree dropped the Friday game, 6-2, to the Redbirds.
Game 1 | Friday, October 28
McKendree and No.15 Illinois State opened the weekend pairing on Friday night, with the Redbirds taking the win 6-2 over the Bearcats.
The Redbirds struck first with a goal about half way through the first period, taking a 1-0 lead. Illinois State led 1-0 leading into the first intermission. McKendree evened the game at one goal each way only a couple minutes into the second period with junior forward
Brad Richardson firing the tying goal off a pass from
Cayden Brilley.
Illinois State rattled off four-straight scores then to take a 5-1 lead over the visiting Bearcats in the first matchup of the weekend.
The Bearcats collected one more score in the third period off a goal by graduate forward
Chris Noble. Noble was assisted by junior forward
Karsten Portell.
The Redbirds added one more goal in the final period of regulation to secure the win on night one of the series.
Game 2 | Saturday, October 29
The Bearcats looked to get back in the win column in the Saturday matchup with the No.15 Redbirds and did just that in a thrilling matchup that was sent to a shootout. McKendree managed to claim the win, 4-3, with a 2-1 victory in the shootout as freshman forward
Matias Alexandrov fired the shootout-clinching and game-winning score.
McKendree hit the ground running with a score in the first minute from freshman wing
Jonathan Davenport off an assist by junior forward
Karsten Portell. Illinois State fired back with a game-tying score in the third minute, putting the outing at 1-1.
Illinois State took the lead in the second period during the latter stages, 2-1. McKendree struck back with under four minutes during the second period as the freshman Alexandrov gathered a pass from freshmen forwards
Nikita Eruslanov and
Alex Kent. The first score by Alexandrov knotted the game at two goals each.
McKendree took the lead with the first goal of the third period of regulation as Alexandrov fired another goal, this time from freshmen forward
Cade Rosansky and
Anson Smith. Illinois State managed to tie the game in the 13th minute of the period.
The game went to a shootout as both teams struggled to get past the goaltenders early. The Bearcats and Redbirds were still tied 1-1 in the shootout following the fourth chance by ISU. Alexandrov had an opportunity to win the game outright and did just that for McKendree, scoring the locking up the win via 2-1 shootout and 4-3 final score.
UP NEXT
McKendree men's hockey will be back on the ice on Friday, November 4, and Saturday, November 5, against Waldorf at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex with puck drops at 7:45PM and 3:15PM.
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