SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Looking to string some wins together, the Bearcats hit the road to the southwest corner of the Show-Me State. They battled the Missouri State University Ice Bears, who came into the weekend ranked number 16 in the latest ACHA poll. After getting shutout on Friday, McKendree bounced back with a come from behind overtime victory on Saturday.
Game 1 – Friday, September 20th
The opening period of the weekend was quiet, but filled with scoring opportunities as both teams combined for 30 shots.
MSU got on the board just 72 seconds into the second stanza to give them the 1-0 lead. Four minutes late, they doubled their lead at 2-0. Starting goalie, Dylan Dallaire stopped 31 of 33 shots he faced in the 40 minutes of action. Greyson Skirpan saw the final 20 minutes between the pipes and stopped 11 of 12 shots as MSU capped the scoring early in the 3rd period.
Missouri State outshot McKendree 45 to 32, while both teams 0-for on the power play.
Game 2 – Saturday, September 21st
For the second night in a row, the opening 20 minutes was scoreless between the Ice Bears and Bearcats.
MSU answered for three goals in the middle period within an eleven minute time span. The Bearcats got on the board with just over a minute left as Ben Anderson found the back of the net on the power play with the assist from Matias Alexandrov.
The Bearcats collected momentum into the final period of regulation as Alex Kent connected on a stretch pass to Jack Harris who deposited his fifth goal of the campaign to make it a 3-2 game. Three minutes later, two freshman combine for the game-tying goal. Jacob Begich sent a backhand cross ice pass that Isaac Fuller netted for his first career goal in a Bearcat uniform. The last 15 minutes of regulation was quiet as the two teams would go to a 3-on-3 sudden death overtime period.
In the extra frame, Joe McCormick netted the game winner just past the midway point of the stanza on the assist from Jack Harris.
Greyson Skirpan picked up his second win of the season as he stopped 40 of the 43 MSU shots.
