Reidel's Four Points Give Wilkes Men's Ice Hockey Game One Win over Stevenson
WILKES-BARRE – The Wilkes University men's ice hockey team, backed by four points (two goals, two assists) from Danny Reidel, used a dominant third period to defeat Stevenson University 7-5 in Game One of the 2020 United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) Semifinals at the Toyota SportsPlex on Friday evening.
The Colonels improved to 19-7-0 and take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.
Stevenson opened the scoring at 4:44 of the first period.
Reidel tied the score at 17:58 of the first with an assist from Joey Pasquini.
The Mustangs retook the lead 48 seconds into the second period with a power-play score.
Phil Erickson knotted the score at two at 12:41 of the second with assists to Devon Schell and Tyler Barrow.
Stevenson went back in front at 13:25 of the second, but Dylan Kuipers tied the score at 14:01 with helpers from Michael Gurska and Reidel.
The Mustangs finished the scoring in the second at 18:25 as Wilkes trailed 4-3 after two periods.
Reidel tied the score at 7:39 of the third with an unassisted tally.
Billy Berry gave the Colonels their first lead of the game at 8:33 of the third with assists from Ryan Solomon and Charlie Spetz.
Nick Fea added to the lead at 11:05 with a power-play goal on Wilkes' lone opportunity, assisted by Barrow and Tyson Araujo.
Ryan Galvin added an empty-net goal at 18:03 to put the game away. Stevenson added a goal at 18:26 of the third to finish the scoring.
Michael Paterson-Jones stopped 29 of 34 shots to earn his 16th victory of the season.
Both teams return to the ice for game two of the semifinal on Saturday with puck drop scheduled for 5:00 p.m.