SHELTON, Conn. – Coming off their winter break which lasted 24 days since their last game on December 9^th against Southern New Hampshire, Post University Men's Ice Hockey looked to ring in 2024 with a victory at home, facing off against King's College for the first time in program history. Coming into the day, the Lions had lost two straight games and just faced off against Trinity College last night at 7:30 PM in which they would fall, 6-0, in Hartford, Connecticut. 
 
In a back-and-forth battle between both sides that was filled with offense as well as penalties, the Eagles would hold off a third-period rally by King's College to win their second game of the season with a 6-5 victory over the Monarchs on Wednesday afternoon.
 
THE BASICS

Post University 6, King's College 5

Post University (2-10-1)

King's College (4-9-0)

HOW IT HAPPENED
In a penalty-filled first period, the Eagles would be a man down on five occasions against the Monarchs, holding them off the scoreboard for four of the penalty kills. That fifth power play for King's would be the one they capitalized on as freshman forward Teodor Vaage located freshman forward Cameron Bauer near the right side of the net. Bauer would wrap around the net for the Michigan goal behind sophomore goalie Benjamin Cunneen in the top left corner to give the Monarchs a 1-0 lead with just over five minutes remaining.
 
But the Eagles would strike back for two goals in the final 3:37 of the frame first on a loose puck that found the stick of freshman forward Parker Norling near the right circle and was fired past freshman goalie Diego D'Alessandro in the left corner to knot up the game. Just over two minutes after the Norling goal, graduate forward Jack Engdahl gave Post the lead after the initial shot by graduate defenseman Nick Brewer was deflected to his stick and his second-chance opportunity got past D'Alessandro for the goal.
 
The first eight minutes of the second would go quietly until King's tied the game back up at two with Bauer's second goal of the afternoon. After getting passes from Vaage and junior forward Patrick Nowak, Bauer's shot would go off a skate in front of Cunneen and carom behind him for the goal. A blitz of three goals combined from both teams would come about over the course of just 57 seconds first with Engdahl's second of the day in front of D'Alessandro to give the Eagles a short-lived lead.
 
After an abrupt puck drop on the Eagles' power play saw the puck carry down to the Post defensive zone and after a big save by Cunneen against junior forward Ethan Herschant, the rebound would find freshman forward Kevin Martin for the tying goal 41 seconds after the Eagles took the lead. Another 26 seconds later while still on the power play, sophomore defenseman Ryan Cardow's shot from the point would get by D'Alessandro from Norling and junior defenseman Tommy Buis to help Post retake a 4-3 lead.
 
 
The teams would head to the intermission with 1:50 left in the second after Cameron Bauer took a hard hit into his bench from senior forward Connor Barter. Bauer would leave the game due to the hit and both sides would come back to play the final 21:50 of the contest following the break.
 
Out of the break, the Monarchs would change to graduate goalie Tyler Sayger who as they entered the third period would give up a goal to sophomore forward Jake Aloi less than two minutes into the frame from Engdahl and Cardow to give the Eagles a two-goal cushion, 5-3. But momentum turned back in favor of King's College who used a redirected shot from Martin, his second of the game, from sophomore forward Carson Holliday and sophomore defenseman Matt Metsa to make it a one-goal game with 14:51 left in regulation.
 
A critical penalty shot would be called with nine minutes remaining for the Monarchs after a loose puck seemingly was covered by senior defenseman Casey Sturgeon in the goal mouth resulting in the shot which would be converted by Hersant to the right of Cunneen to tie the game at five.
 
A slew of power play opportunities for the Eagles would help them score a season-high sixth goal of the afternoon when junior forward Patrick Murphy scored on a pass from Cardow with under six minutes left. The Post defense and Cunneen would hold the rest of the way including during a 6-on-5 session over the last 1:25 after King's College pulled Sayger, to hold on for the 6-5 win.

BY THE NUMBERS

• Entering the day without a power play goal in their last three games and 0-for-23 since scoring a goal against Franklin Pierce in their 5-4 win against the Ravens, Post broke that streak at 27 with the second period power play goal from Ryan Cardow
• The Post penalty kill was near-perfect on the afternoon, going 9-for-10 with a man down – The Eagles have allowed a power play goal in seven straight games
• Post has now scored two-plus goals this season in seven games, the Eagles hold a 2-4-1 record in those contests and are 2-0-0 when scoring four or more goals in a game
• The six-goal output is the most Post University has had since their 6-5 win at home against Southern New Hampshire University on January 20^th, 2023

 
WHO'S NEXT
Post University is set to resume Northeast 10 conference action on Saturday evening at home against Assumption University inside the Sports Center of Connecticut in Shelton, Connecticut on the Lower Rink. Puck drop is currently scheduled for 7:30 PM. In three matchups this season, the Eagles have been outscored 12-5 by the Greyhounds, giving up four goals in each game and going into overtime in the first matchup which they dropped. Currently, Post has lost five straight matchups to Assumption and is winless in their last 11 meetings against them.