O'FALLON, Ill. - McKendree University men's d1 hockey earned a pair of wins with commanding outings against the Waldorf Warriors on November 4 and 5 at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex. The Bearcats shutout the Warriors on the first night with a 5-0 victory and then fired eight scores to beat Waldorf, 8-4, in the Saturday afternoon matchup.
Game 1 | Friday, November 4
The Bearcats fired out of the gate on Friday with a big 5-0 win to start the weekend.
Waldorf and McKendree played a tough first period, which ended null on scoring. In the second 20 minutes of action, the Bearcats took a 3-0 lead as freshman forward
Matias Alexandrov fired two goals with one just four and a half minutes into the period via assist from
Cayden Brilley. His second score of the period and game hit the back of the net at the seven-minute mark as he was assisted by
Jerry Pan and Brilley, once again. McKendree's extension of the lead came via a goal by junior forward
Brad Richardson, assisted on by
Ryan Radke.
In the third period, the Bearcats did not let up with two more goals for the 5-0 win at home. The first was scored just over four minutes into the game by graduate forward
Chris Noble off a pass by
Rycol Davis. The fifth goal was fired by Alexandrov, which marked another hat-trick for the freshman this season. He was assisted by fellow freshman
Joe McCormick.
Freshman
Dylan Dallaire earned the win in goal with 30 saves on the day.
Game 2 | Saturday, November 5
McKendree put up another impressive outing in the Saturday matchup with the Warriors as they fired eight scores.
The Warriors went down 1-0 in the first minute of the game but came back in force with three goals in the first 10 minutes of the period. Junior forward
Karsten Portell fired the first goal in the sixth minute of the game off a pass by
Rycol Davis. McKendree continued its scoring in a power-play in the ninth minute as junior winger
Steven Brachert scored while being assisted by
Brad Richardson and
Trevor Voyda.
Matias Alexandrov got in on the fun with his team during the first period, scoring in the 10th minute behind an assist by
Joe McCormick and
Connor Mullins. Waldorf added a second goal with just six seconds remaining in the first period.
The Warriors tied the contest at 3-3 in the first two minutes of the second period but McKendree took hold following the knot-up. Senior defenseman
Ryan Radke scored the leading goal in the period off assists by
Cade Rosansky and Alexandrov. Portell then added another score to make it 5-3 in favor of the Bearcats. He was assisted by
Ben Anderson and
Rycol Davis on the scoring play. Portell's goal would serve as the eventual game-winner.
The third period held no scoring until the latter 10 minutes of play when junior forward
Brad Richardson fired an unassisted score. Freshman defenseman
Trevor Voyda scored his first collegiate goal in the third period in the 15th minute behind assists from
Chris Noble and
Connor Mullins. Freshman forward
Matias Alexandrov fired his eighth of the year less than 30 seconds after Voyda's score. He was assisted by freshman forwards
Jack Sumner and
Cade Rosansky.
Sophomore
Chad Purdy held net for the Bearcats, grabbing 30 saves on the day.
UP NEXT
McKendree men's hockey is back at home at the McKendree Metro Rec Plex on November 11 and 12 against the Crimson Tide of Alabama. The Friday, November 11, game will start at 7:45 PM while the puck will drop at 12:30 PM on Saturday, November 12.
