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WILKES-BARRE, Pa. -- Visiting Nazareth surged to a 3-0 lead and held off a late charge from Wilkes to take a 5-2 men's hockey victory over the Colonels in a first-round playoff matchup in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference.
As the fifth-place team in the regular-season standings, Nazareth scored the mild upset win to improve to 12-7-7 overall. The Golden Flyers move on to play a two-game semifinal series at Utica Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Manhattanville defeated Lebanon Valley, 5-2, in the other fist-round game and will visit second-seeded Elmira this weekend. Wilkes finishes the season at 16-8-2 overall.
Nazareth cashed in on the power play to score two of its first three goals to build a 3-0 advantage midway through the second period. Then, after Wilkes closed to within 3-2 after two periods, Nazareth got 11 third-period saves from sophomore goaltender Sean Kuhn, who totaled 37 saves overall. The Golden Flyers, meanwhile, sealed the victory by scoring a pair of empty-net goals in the final 1:45.
"It was a great team win from our goaltender on out," said Nazareth Coach
George Roll. "It was the type of effort we will need as we move on to the next round."
It marked the Golden Flyers' second post-season win in their seven-year history. The Golden Flyers defeated Manhattanville in a playoff game in 2015.
Nazareth's first goal, at 6:48 of the first period, came off the stick of Ray Falso just 36 seconds after Wilkes' Danny Reidel was called for hooking. Austin Romzek centered a pass into the slot to Falso, who delivered from close range. Mitch Culver also gained an assist.
Falso gained an assist on Nazareth's second goal less than four minutes later as J.R. Wojciechowski scored on a blistering shot from the point.
In the second period, Nazareth converted on the power play again, at 6:13, just 19 seconds after Wilkes was penalized for too many men on the ice. James McDonald's ninth goal of the season came off assists from Alex Corvi and Matt Manzella.
The Colonels finally got on the scoreboard in the second period with two goals that came about five minutes apart, including a power play tally that resulted from a boarding penalty to McDonald.
Wilkes outshot Nazareth 17-5 in the second period and 11-8 in the third, but Kuhn was sharp between the pipes for the Golden Flyers as he was able to record his fifth victory of the season.
In the final two minutes, he Colonels pulled their goaltender, Brandon Gordon, in favor of an extra skater and Nazareth was able to generate a goal as Corvi fired the puck into the open goal with assists from Brian Miller and Zander Pryor.
Then after Romzek took a tripping penalty in the closing minute, the Colonels yanked Gordon again to create a 6-on-4 offensive advantage. This time, Brad PIzzey was able to find the open net with David Powlowski picking up the assist.
Tuesday's game was the third meeting of the season between Nazareth and Wilkes. The Colonels won 3-2 on Dec. 8, then the teams played to a 1-1 tie last Friday.