Pittsburgh, PA – Chatham Men's Hockey (18-4-0, 9-4-0) matched up with Elmira (4-17, 2-9-1) at home on Saturday. The Cougars beat the Soaring Eagles 4-1 to clinch a playoff bid in the UCHC tournament. 

The Cougars came out on fire, quickly jumping out to an early 2-0 lead in the first period. Just over a minute into the game, Kyle Contessa found the back of the net for his 5th goal of the season to open the scoring. Assisting on the game's first goal were Oscar Saarinen and Bekk McClaine. A minute later, the Cougars doubled their lead as Tyler Samodral picked up his 10th goal of the season from Caden Pendo and Nick Cyprian. The Cougars' deadly power play continued its dominance later in the frame. Samdoral fired his second goal of the game past the Eagles' goaltender after a pretty setup from Cyprian and Michael Roby. The Soaring Eagles answered back 46 seconds later to cut the Cougars lead to 3-1 as the first intermission rolled around. 

In the second period, the Cougars would score the lone goal, continuing their dominant play in today's game. At 14:23, Jake LaRusso scored his 9th goal of the season to put the Cougars up 4-1. He was assisted by Pendo and Cyprian. 

The teams went scoreless in the third period, despite Elmira pulling their goalie on the power play with over two minutes left in the game. Cougars' goaltender Cameron Kuntar became the star of the show in the second half of the game. He stopped all 30 shots he faced in the second and third periods, finishing with 46 saves. Kuntar finished the game with a .979 save percentage, his highest mark of the season, outside of his shutout last week. 

Defensively, True Crowe led the way with a game-high 3 blocks. Nick Cyprian led all skaters with 3 points, with Caden Pendo adding 2 assists, the 8th multi-point game of his rookie campaign. Tyler Samodral led with 2 goals, including the game-winner, his 3rd multi-goal game of the season. The Cougars special teams were essential in tonight's victory, with a perfect night on the penalty kill and chipping in two power-play goals. 

Men's Hockey faces off in game two of the series with Elmira tomorrow, February 13th. The Valentine's Day matchup is scheduled to start at 1 pm at the Alpha Ice Complex.