In a battle between two top teams in the Washington area, the #1-ranked Gonzaga Eagles exploded for five unanswered goals in the third period to defeat #4 Landon at Ft. Dupont Ice Arena on Friday night. With the win, Gonzaga now sits atop the MAPHL standings with a 6-0 record and 12 points.

Landon's Hayes Cusick struck first at 10:38 of the opening period, but Gonzaga's Jack Sanborn scored less than a minute later to tie the game at one.

After Sanborn scored his second of the game on the power play to put the Eagles up, 2-1, at 4:09 of the second period, it was Landon's turn to respond immediately. Spencer Davis tallied for the Bears at 5:26. They also got goals from Patrick Giles and Cole Gibson to take a 4-2 lead into the third period. Gibson's goal came on a power play with 47 seconds left in the second.

Gonzaga's John Cardellicchio began the third period heroics--and string of three power play goals in about three minutes--with a man-advantage strike at 6:18 to bring the Eagles to within one. Captain Mackey Wheeler tied the game with another Landon player in the penalty box in the seventh minute, and Sanborn completed his hat trick by scoring the eventual game winner with Gonzaga on another man advantage at 8:15 of the third.

The Eagles completed the onslaught with goals from Chase Vallese, who also had three assists in the game, and Connor Tait.