ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Artem Mikhaylov scored his first career goal in overtime to power the Lebanon Valley men's ice hockey team to a thrilling 3-2 victory at Nazareth University on Friday evening in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference opener.
 
The Dutchmen (2-1-0, 1-0-0 UCHC) earned a huge three conference points while rallying from a 2-0 second period deficit for the second consecutive road game. The teams battled up and down the ice throughout the first period with neither team able to score in the first 18 minutes. Chris Branch did an excellent job stopping 16 shots while Haralds Jirgens and Jackson Legro blocked three shots. The Dutchmen were called for the first penalty of the game at 18:33 of the period and 11 seconds later, the Golden Flyers capitalized with the first goal of the game.
 
Nazareth was able to increase their lead to 2-0 with a goal 4:26 into the second period. LVC fought back and cut the lead in half at 11:02 of the period as Brenden Yingling lit the lamp off an assist by Legro. Nazareth responded with a furry of shots on net over the final four minutes of the period but Branch was strong in goal making nine saves while Mac Diver and Reece McDonald blocked shots during the stretch.
 
The Dutchmen battled for the game-tying goal during the third period. Harris Blackwood, Ian Lindberg, Troy Andrews, and Yingling all had shots on net in the first half of the period that were saved by the Golden Flyers' goalie. Jordan Stear and Mikhaylov put a trio of shots on goal with just over five minutes to play. LVC had a power play opportunity at 15:45 of the period but they were only able to have a shot wide and a blocked shot during the two-minute advantage forcing the Dutchmen to call a timeout with two minutes left. Lebanon Blake Tosto won the faceoff off the timeout and LVC pulled Branch for an extra attacker with 1:27 on the clock. The move worked as Cameron Croteau tied the game up at 18:44 off assists from Yingling and Blackwood to send the game into overtime.
 
The game seemed headed towards a shootout as neither team was able to score for the first four minutes of overtime. However, Mikhaylov was able to knock in his own rebound on a scramble in front of the goal to give the Dutchmen the victory.
 
Inside the Box

• Mikhaylov scored his first career goal and recorded his 14th career point. He led the Dutchmen with five shots.
• Yingling recorded two points on a goal and an assist with two shots.
• Croteau scored a goal and led all skaters with a +3 on the ice.
• Tosto won a game-high 18 faceoffs.
• Branch finished with a career-high 45 saves.
• Jirgens blocked three shots while John King and McDonald blocked two each.
• The Dutchmen defeated Nazareth for the first time since a 4-2 win in Hershey on January 22, 2022, and won in Rochester for the first time since 2018.

Up Next
The Dutchmen will go for the sweep of the Golden Flyers tomorrow afternoon with first puck drop scheduled for 3 p.m. at Tim Horton's Iceplex.

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