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District A Fund to host ‘Santa in the Park’ on Dec. 8 in South Wilkes-Barre

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WVC wrestling holds inaugural media day

<p>Effort and pride are often words used to describe first-year collegiate programs. Wilkes has added tenacious, persistent and even annoying to that list.</p><p>The Colonels&#8217; new ice hockey program has started the season with a 6-3 record and a surprising 5-1 United Collegiate Hockey Conference record, proving to be a tough team to play opposed to most programs in their inaugural year.</p><p>Led by head coach Brett Riley, Wilkes men&#8217;s hockey has had the bar set high from the start due to Riley&#8217;s family history, which includes John P. &#8220;Jack&#8221; Riley, the long time West Point head coach and coach of the 1960 USA olympic gold medal team.</p><p>Riley only increased those expectations when he brought in one of the top recruiting classes for all of Division II and Division III hockey. According to neutralzone.net, the Colonels had the best recruiting haul in those divisions with 271 recruiting points, 30 points higher than the next school.</p><p>&#8220;The expectation for us in year one was to create and establish an extremely competitive culture both on and off the ice,&#8221; Riley said. &#8220;It started with these guys saying yes to come to Wilkes and help build this program.&#8221;</p><p>Riley and the Colonels have taken the league by storm, winning the program&#8217;s first game in their second attempt, holding a winning record following their first month of play and continuing to surprise opponents with their speed, physicality and a knack for keeping themselves in games.</p><p>&#8220;Despite being one of the youngest teams in college hockey, we have had early success on and off the ice because of our 30 young men buying into being great teammates, maximizing practices and willing to pay the price on Friday and Saturday nights,&#8221; Riley said. &#8220;They recognize the importance in every day and they take nothing for granted.&#8221;</p><p>Wilkes has now won five of its last six games and all but one of its conference matchups thanks in part to a fast, physical style of play.</p><p>&#8220;We let our guys go out and play a pretty free flowing game and allow them to use their speed, skill and hockey sense,&#8221; Riley said. &#8220;Our recruiting efforts focused on finding young men that posses character, hockey sense and unmatched work ethic. The consistent effort these guys put in is starting to pay off.&#8221;</p><p>Wilkes has leaned heavily on both Donald Flynn and Nick Fea, as they are tied for second on the team in goals with five. Flynn sits at third in total points in the conference with 16 and Fea is right behind him in seventh with 13. Both Flynn and Fea have played just nine games, while the rest of the top five have played 11. Flynn leads the conference in points per game with two.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been something special and it&#8217;s a lot of fun so far,&#8221; Fea said. &#8220;As we continue to move forward, I&#8217;m confident in our team, and hope to keep proving people wrong. We want to make a statement that we can be a top team in the league.&#8221;</p><p>Both Flynn and Fea are also plus players, Flynn a plus-five and Fea a plus-seven, good enough for first and third in the conference, respectively.</p><p>The Colonels have gotten a lot of production from Tyler Barrow, who leads the team with eight goals, good enough for second in the conference</p><p>There was a lot of buzz around this team with the high expectations brought by Riley, but with the success and promise that has been brought by the early parts of the season have gotten the Wilkes community to come out in their two home games, including filling the stands for a game against rival King&#8217;s.</p><p>&#8220;We have gotten tremendous support from the Wilkes student body and the staff. They have embraced the new faces and new hockey teams on campus,&#8221; Riley said. &#8220;The support from everyone has made this experience of building a program much more rewarding knowing that there are so many people behind us.&#8221;</p><p>Wilkes will look to continue its hot start as the Colonels return home to the Toyota SportsPlex to take on Utica and Nazareth on Friday and Saturday.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Donald Flynn (11) and the Colonels have had plenty to celebrate so far in their first season on the ice. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_DSC_0458.jpg</photo0><caption0>Donald Flynn (11) and the Colonels have had plenty to celebrate so far in their first season on the ice. </caption0><photoCredit0>Kirsten Peters </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_DSC_0125.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The Wilkes men&#8217;s hockey team has turned in a strong start to its inaugural season thanks to boosts from recruiting and coaching. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/web1_DSC_0125.jpg</photo1><caption1>The Wilkes men&#8217;s hockey team has turned in a strong start to its inaugural season thanks to boosts from recruiting and coaching. </caption1><photoCredit1>Kirsten Peters </photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Ben Mandell</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

Wilkes men’s hockey team off to strong start in first season