PITTSTON, Pa. – After suffering its first loss in United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) play last night, the Neumann University men's hockey team bounced back with a 4-2 road conference win over King's College on Saturday evening.
Ryan Swain (2 goals) and
Liam Board (2 assists) carried the Knights' offense on the evening.
Thomas Mansbridge and
Barry Kneedler also scored for Neumann, who got solid goaltending from
Matt Gibney (17 saves).
The opening period of play was an evenly played affair with each team generating quality scoring chances. Using three Neumann penalties to their advantage, the Monarchs controlled much of the early portion of the period, but Gibney stood tall in goal to keep King's off the board in the first frame. The Knights grabbed momentum late in the period, but despite registering seven of the last eight shots in the opening twenty minutes, the game headed to intermission scoreless.
Carrying over its late period momentum, Neumann opened the second stanza by breaking through with the game's first goal at the 3:19 mark via Swain's fifth goal of the season. The Knights would control play throughout much of the period, but despite a 17-5 edge in shots in the frame, King's scored at the 15:20 mark of the period to tie the game at 1-1. Neumann answered back late in the period with a goal from Mandbridge to regain the lead, but a Monarchs goal with just 25 seconds left to play sent the game to the third tied at two apiece.
The Knights would finally break the game open in the third and final period of play. Midway through the period, Kneedler and Swain scored two minutes apart to send Neumann home with a split of their two UCHC games on the weekend. Shots for the contest finished 41-19 in favor of the Knights.
Neumann (2-3-1, 2-1-1 UCHC) is back in action next weekend with a home UCHC matchup versus Elmira College on Saturday, November 18
th. Puck-drop is scheduled for 4:00 PM.
