PITTSTON, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's ice hockey team finished off the weekend sweep of King's College on Saturday with two third period goals for a 5-3 win at the Revolution Ice Centre in Pittston.
 
The six points earned this weekend give the Dutchmen 15 points in the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) with two games remaining. They are a point back of Arcadia University and two points back of Neumann University and Nazareth University for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Dutchmen moved up to third in the Middle Atlantic Conference and have a chance to finish second as they sit three points back of King's with two games against Alvernia next weekend.
 
The Dutchmen came out firing as they looked to keep the momentum of their Friday win going. Darion Benchich, Jackson Legro, and Cade Helmer all had shots saved in the first two minutes of play. The Monarch were called for the first penalty of the game at 3:19 to give LVC a power play opportunity. Brenden Yingling and Blake Tosto had shots saved during the two-minute advantage for the Dutchmen. The Monarchs were called for another penalty two minutes later and started to build some momentum in their favor as they successfully killed off the penalty and outshot the Dutchmen 2-1 during the kill. King's scored 28 seconds after the penalty expired on a rebound from a shot that hit the pipe.
 
LVC was quick to respond as Cade Freer lit the lamp a little bit over two minutes later at 12:14 of the period for his second goal of the season. The Dutchmen kept the pressure on as Yingling and Benchich had shots saved. King's put a fleury of shots on goal with Jadon Lee making six saves in a two-minute stretch. The Dutchmen took their first lead of the game with 1:15 remaining in the period as Cameron Croteau scored his fifth goal of the season off assists from Jered Stevenson and Legro.
 
The teams came out of the first intermission and battled hard up and down the ice to begin the second period. Both teams were called for penalties early in the period and the Monarchs were able to score the equalizer at 3:34 as the teams both had a skater in the box. King's had their skater released six seconds after the goal and went on a power play for a little over a minute where they took five shots. Lee made two saves and two shots were blocked by Reece McDonald and Jordan Stear while the other two shots were off the mark. Harris Blackwood gave the Dutchmen back the lead with his third goal of the weekend at 6:22 on assists by Haralds Jirgens and Benchich. The physicality between the two teams continued throughout the period but neither team was able to score as LVC took a 3-2 lead into the second intermission.
 
The Dutchmen earned a power play opportunity early in the third period but were kept off the board during the two-minutes of playing a man up. LVC kept the pressure on the Monarchs as they looked for an insurance goal. King's was called for another penalty eight minutes into the period and scored a short-handed goal one minute into the penalty kill to tie the score up at three. LVC was called for a penalty 30 seconds after the goal and King's went on a 1:30 minute power play opportunity. The Dutchmen did not allow a shot on goal during the penalty kill. 11 seconds after the Dutchmen got back to full strength, Cade Helmer scored his second goal of the year to give LVC the lead. Croteau assisted on the goal. King's pressed for the equalizer but were unable to solve the Dutchmen defense. The Monarchs pulled their goalie with a little under a minute and a half to play and LVC capitalized on the empty net as they passed the puck around until Croteau got the puck in the middle of the ice just outside the blue line where he buried the insurance goal giving the Dutchmen the much-needed sweep.
 
Inside the Box

• The Dutchmen won their third consecutive game for the first time since the 2018-19 season.
• Croteau had a career-high three points on two goal and an assist. The sophomore won 13 faceoffs and recorded the first multi-goal game of his career.
• Blackwood scored for the third consecutive game and now has a team-leading 10 goals on the season.
• Freer scored his second goal of the year and has now recorded a point in three straight games.
• Helmer scored the game-winning goal, his first as a Dutchman.
• Tosto had another excellent game on faceoffs winning 21 of 28 attempts.
• Yingling led the Dutchmen with five shots as LVC had a 37-33 shot advantage in the game.
• Lee won his second consecutive game in goal with 30 saves. He made 12 in each of the first and second periods and then stopped six shots in the third.
• LVC is now 8-3-1 all-time against the Monarchs including a 5-0-1 record at the Revolution Ice Centre. 

Up Next
LVC will close out the regular season next weekend with a home-and-home series with Alvernia University. The Dutchmen will host the Golden Wolves on Friday for Senior Night at Hersheypark Arena with a 7 p.m. start time.

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