More Significant Moments
After only the second weekend of SUNYAC play, significant moments continue to pile up in the young season:
– Only two teams remain undefeated, Oswego and Morrisville. Not Plattsburgh. Not Geneseo. Not Fredonia.
– Oswego defeated Plattsburgh, 5-3, for the fourth time in a row, tying their longest winning streak against their archrival, which occurred twice before. (Plattsburgh’s longest winning streak against Oswego is 11 games, while they also had a 12-game unbeaten streak of 11-0-1).
“For the rookies from last year, they don’t know anything else,” Oswego coach Ed Gosek said. “They don’t know the years of pain and suffering at the hands of Plattsburgh.”
The Lakers jumped out to a 2-0 lead only to have Plattsburgh tie it up on the same penalty thanks to the new rule of allowing a power play even after you score on the delayed call. After a scoreless second period and trading goals in the third, Ian Boots won it with 1:39 left, followed by an empty-netter.
“It’s ironic the new rule,” Gosek said. “We talked about it. They scored the goal on the delayed penalty and then they continued and scored another one. There’s something that really changed it around for them.”
“We didn’t weather the storm,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said. “We got behind early. I was really concerned. I thought we played really well the final 50 minutes of the game. I thought we showed good character coming back.”
– Morrisville swept their opening weekend of conference play. They clobbered Brockport, 8-2 (Jamie Nelson and Dave Schultz each got a pair of goals), after a scoreless first period. Next, they edged Geneseo, 3-2, again after a scoreless period and after they blew a 2-0 lead when Geneseo’s Zachary Vit scored twice, before Nick Kulas registered the game winner with 4:05 left.
– In the battle of Western New York, it was, as usual, a tight, hard-fought game won by the visitors, Buffalo State, 2-1, in overtime on a goal by Shane Avery, his first collegiate tally, with 23 seconds left.
“I thought we did a nice job sticking with the plan,” Buffalo State coach Nick Carriere said. “And believing that eventually if we continue to do that we’ll be rewarded.”
“I thought we got beat up by Buffalo State,” Fredonia coach Jeff Meredith said. “I thought we got outworked by Buffalo State. I thought we got out-battled by Buffalo State. I think we got exactly what we deserved.”
– Potsdam’s impressive first weekend all went wrong the second weekend. After holding Oswego to one goal for 37 minutes, the floodgates opened in an eventual 7-1 loss. The Bears’ horrifying habit from last season of letting up goals in the last seconds of a period reared its ugly head again, as Oswego made it 3-0 with two seconds left in the second. That goal essentially sapped the energy out of Potsdam, which before that put a scare in Oswego.
“It certainly wasn’t a 7-1 game,” Gosek said. “The difference in the game was Paul Beckwith. When we were clinging to that one-goal lead, we coughed it up twice on the power play. Two breakaways on our power play where he came up big. I really thought that was the turning point in the game. We got confidence, and we started to roll.”
– Cortland again won the second game of a weekend, defeating Potsdam, 5-4. Yet, the Red Dragons again lived dangerously, blowing a 2-0 lead (both scored by Ryan Markell) and nearly blowing a 5-2 lead.
– Lastly, Plattsburgh fell behind, 2-0, in a 29-second span to Cortland before roaring back for a 7-3 win as Patrick Jobb got a pair of goals.
“We have to stop playing catch-up hockey,” Emery said. “They’re starting to build a better program there. Baldy [Joe Baldarotta] is a great coach. You can’t play catch up, because he’s getting better players there.”
SUNYAC Players of the Week (selected by the conference)
Player of the Week: Luke Moodie, Oswego (F, So., Burlington, Ontario) registered a natural hat trick over a six-minute span in the second and third period to break open a one-goal game versus Potsdam. In Saturday’s contest against the Cardinals, he netted the game’s first goal and assisted the first Lakers score in the third period.
Rookie of the Week: Kevin Carr, Buffalo State (G, Unionville, Ontario) earned his first collegiate win between the pipes with a 2-1 overtime decision against Fredonia. He made 39 saves and posted a .975 save percentage against the Blue Devils, including 16 in the third period to force the extra session, where he made five saves.
Goaltender of the Week: Caylin Relkoff, Morrisville (Sr., Grand Forks, British Columbia) collected 79 saves and a .952 save percentage in two conference wins, allowing two goals against Brockport and Geneseo. In the win over Brockport, he turned away 32 for a .941 save percentage and on Saturday, tallied 47 (including 23 in the final period) for a .959 save percentage.
