Lebanon Valley 3, Nazareth 1

LVC Starters
Takacsi-Nagy (LW), Hepler (C), Van Bokkelen (RW), Yingst (D), Straub (D), Perhac (G)

Nazareth Starters
Janzen (LW), McDonald (C), Romzek (RW), Walter (D), Wojciechowski (D), Tilford (G)

How It Happened
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Lebanon Valley's men's ice hockey team moved closer to a UCHC Tournament berth with a big 3-1 victory over Nazareth on Saturday night in conference action. The Dutchmen won their fourth-consecutive game and now sit at 9-7-2, 8-2-2 UCHC, while the Golden Flyers dropped to 8-10-2, 5-5-1 UCHC.

Just over three minutes into the game, Nazareth's Casey Kubara scored to give the Golden Flyers an early 1-0 lead. That advantage stuck until 12:59 of the second period when Danny Galvez netted his first goal of the season, off assists from Travis Acker and TJ Sneath, knotting the game at 1-1. Later, with 1:28 to go in the second, Russ Armbruster found the back of the net from Nick Skerlick and Brett Johnson, giving the Dutchmen a huge 2-1 lead heading into the third.

LVC's defense, along with starting goaltender Tyler Perhac, played an impressive third period and held Nazareth off the scoreboard. In the final minute, Johnson scored an empty-netter from Bryan Hovanec to clinch the game for the Dutchmen.

Inside the Numbers
 - LVC's points-leader Johnson picked up two more this evening and was also a +2.
 - Zach Yingst and Mike Straub also skated to a +2 rating.
 - Perhac was impressive between the pipes and made 28 saves to pick up the W.
 - Nazareth's Michael Tilford made 25 saves in the losing effort.
 - The Dutchmen held a 34-27 edge in faceoffs.
 - Cole Hepler went 13-for-20 from inside the faceoff circle to lead the team.

Playoff Push
LVC (8-2-2) is now tied with Stevenson (7-2-4) in the UCHC standings with 18 points, although the Mustangs own the tiebreaker. Utica (8-3) sits in third, followed by Elmira and Neumann at 7-5-2.

Who's Next?
The Dutchmen face a tough test tomorrow when they take on No. 8 Utica, who LVC beat earlier this season, in Utica at 4 p.m.

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