BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – Maryville M1 hockey improved to 3-1 this past weekend after splitting a road series against Illinois State University. The Saints were led to a 5-2 win by a two-goal performance from Sam Edwards on Friday before falling 4-2 on Saturday.
 
The Illinois State and Maryville programs are two of the few that field three men's ACHA teams, thus building up a hockey rivalry. Each season, the programs will play each other back-to-back-to-back on a two-day weekend. Over the six games, the program with the most wins/points will take home the "Big Red Cup" trophy for the season, named after Maryville's "Big Red M" and the Illinois State Redbirds. The three Maryville teams won four of the six weekend contests, winning the annual weekend series.
 
Game One
The Saints hopped off the bus and were ready to play on Friday evening, scoring four first-period goals. Tj Prexler scored his first of the season off an assist from Colt Corpse at 3:37. Brett Ursulak and Sam Edwards followed up with powerplay goals before Hunter Floris netted his second of the season shorthanded at 19:08.
 
The Redbirds scored the only goal of the second period three minutes in when Mitchell Oberlag took a pass from Alex Matsas and put it by Maryville goalie Kyle McNair. They scored again in the first minute of the third period to make it 4-2.
 
Roughly 10 minutes later, Edwards capped off the game with a powerplay goal off Timon Prexler's third assist of the game and a secondary assist from Floris.
 
The Saints outshot the Redbirds 41-27, with McNair picking up his first win at Maryville with 25 saves.
 
Game Two
Edwards struck again at 5:18 in the first period of Saturday's game for his fifth of the season. Timon Prexler picked up his fourth assist of the weekend on the goal while Will Smith tallied his third of 2023.
 
Ethan Chesney tied the game for ISU at 7:26 to kick off a run of four unanswered goals through the beginning of the third period. Maryville eventually answered on Floris' powerplay goal at 10:05, but it would not be enough to turn the tide.
 
The Saints outshot the Redbirds 57-31 in total, but it was no match for Redbird goalie Brendan Donovan who saved 55 of 57 shots to hang on to a 4-2 win for his club.

Head Coach John Hogan's Thoughts
 "We certainly played good enough to win both games this past weekend," said Head Men's Hockey Coach John Hogan. "Friday, I thought we played okay and buried our chances. Powerplay looked as good as ever. Saturday, we put up almost 60 shots on net so we did some good things. But, our powerplay didn't look as good, we didn't bury our chances, and we want two of the three goals we gave up back. Good learning lesson for our group early on that good play isn't sometimes good enough. We will be better for it moving forward."

Next Game
The M1 Dawgs are back in action at home this Sunday, Oct. 1, against the Midland University Warriors. The puck drop is set for 1:45 p.m.