The Lockport Express skated to a 4-1 victory of the Wilkes-Barre Miners Sunday afternoon at Cornerstone Arena. (PHOTOS BY SCOTT LEFFLER / ENP STAFF)

By +Scott Leffler 
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com

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The Lockport Express scored four goals Sunday afternoon against the Wilkes-Barre Miners, powering the team to a three-game sweep of the Pennsylvania team.

The Lock Monster made an appearance at Sunday's Express game, posing for photos with hockey fans at Cornerstone Arena.

Frank Vecchio Jr. scored a pair of goals for the Lockport team and assisted on a third, while Lockport goaltender Sam Fitzpatrick stopped 22 of 23 shots for the win.

Vecchio's first goal came on the power play at 9:32 of the first period, assisted by Justin Andriaccio and Dylan Jenkins. Just 1:06 later, Anthony Tomassi made it 2-0 with a goal assisted by Brendan McFall and Frankie Bodami. Andrew Logar put the Express up 3-0 at 14:30, assisted by Vecchio and Gibson Stuart.

Vecchio added his second of the game -- and 22nd of the season -- at 11:16 of the third period. Bodami and Stuart assisted.

In the third period, Connor Landregan scored one for Wilkes-Barre, assisted by Hunter Hackling and Zacharia Ouladelhadjahmed, leading to the 4-1 final.

"Cookies for George" raised money for ENP's George Root -- 50 cents at a  time. There were also dozens of other gifts donated, including proceeds from  both hockey games. The ice time fees for the alumni game were also  graciously waived by the arena.

With the three-game sweep, Lockport's record now stands at 18-16-6, three points better than the Syracuse Stampede and good for fourth place in the NA3EHL West. Syracuse, however, has a game at hand against Lockport and will face off against the Express for Lockport's last two games of the regular season.

The Express will play a pair of games against the Jersey Shore Wildcats on Feb. 20 and 21.

The Lockport Express team donated ticket sales to East Niagara Post's George Root, while also holding a basket raffle and 50/50 split for Root, who is undergoing treatment for kidney cancer. The game was followed by a 4 p.m. Lockport Hockey Alumni game -- with ticket proceeds also going to Root.

An online fundraiser for Root continues at GoFundMe.com/LoveGeorge. As of the publishing of this article, $845 had been raised online. It was not immediately known how much was raised on Sunday.

John Ottaviano looks over gift baskets donated to the cause.

RELATED LINKS: 

• PODCAST: Lockport Express vs. Wilkes-Barre Miners 021416 (George Root Day)
• Photo album from the day's events

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