Where Do We Start?
This past weekend produced quite an array of results, surprises, and comebacks.
Let’s first set up the game of the week I selected, which was Plattsburgh at Buffalo State on Saturday, with the respective games each team played on Friday.
Buffalo State did not start out the weekend properly, despite opening up a 2-0 first period lead over Potsdam on goals by Drew Klin and Anthony Orange.
However, Potsdam scored the next three goals, two in the third period, to win 3-2. Mike Arnold got the first and last Bears’ goal sandwiched around Sy Nutkevitch’s tally.
“I love our kids,” Potsdam coach Chris Bernard said. “They never give up. I’m so satisfied to see them get rewarded.”
“We turned the puck over a lot. We took a lot of penalties,” Buffalo State coach Nick Carriere said. “We faced a pretty fast team against Potsdam. They threw a lot of pucks at our ‘D,’ and I don’t think our defensemen dealt very well with that.”
Meanwhile, Fredonia was jumping out to a 2-0 lead over Plattsburgh on goals by Bryan Ross and Brian Doust. Plattsburgh scored the next six goals. Nick Jensen got two while Alex Jensen, Mark Constantine, and Jake Mooney got the others. Mat Hehr stopped the bleeding, but Jordan Gidaro got it back for a 7-3 final.
“We were excited,” Fredonia coach Jeff Meredith said. “We thought it was a good time to catch Plattsburgh. We played six games. They only played like two or three. We were home. We got out to a two-goal lead. I was happy with our work. Our downfall was going to the penalty box.”
Buffalo State gets caught by Potsdam and Plattsburgh comes in with a big win. Sure enough, just as I predicted, the Bengals beat Plattsburgh for the third consecutive time.
“They’re going to be humming,” Buffalo State coach Nick Carriere said before the game. “They got a bulls eye on our chests from last year. I’m sure coach Emery will be getting them going on that.”
However, it was Buffalo State that was humming, never trailing in the game. Klin gave them a first period lead, only to have Patrick Jobb tie it before intermission. Trevor McKinney and Dave Lansdowne produced a 3-1 lead. Mooney got one back, but Justin Knee expanded the lead back to two. Patrick Jobb scored a power-play goal to cut the lead to 4-3. The Bengals were able to hold on from there.
In the biggest shocker of the weekend, Brockport beat Geneseo. Not just beat them, shellacked them, 6-1. Colin de Jersey gave Geneseo the 1-0 lead, and that was it for the Ice Knights. Mike Hollander, Troy Polino, James Cody, Mike Hayward, and Steve Sachman twice, scored in that order. Oliver Wren made 27 saves.
Another shocker was Morrisville tying Oswego 3-3. Like a famous playoff game a few years back, the Mustangs opened a 3-0 lead on goals by Patrick Stillar, Todd Hosmer, and Ryan Marcuz. Oswego got on the board with 16 seconds left in the second period thanks to Jesse McConnery. Chris Brown and Chris Muise tied it in the third. Oswego outshot Morrisville, 15-5, in the final period, but could not get the winner.
Finally, and certainly not the least newsworthy, Joe Baldarotta got his 300th coaching victory when Cortland defeated Morrisville, 5-4, in overtime. The winning goal was scored by Michael Lysyj on a power play. This came shortly after Cortland successfully killed off a penalty.
Other Highlights
– Fredonia scored three goals in each period to beat Potsdam, 9-1. Billy Sanborn and Bryan Ross each got a hat trick. Mark Friesen made 34 saves in 54 minutes of work. A number of spectacular saves in the first period kept his team ahead when the game was close.
“He made two glove saves and a pad save that were lights-out saves,” Meredith said.
– Geneseo rebounded with a 6-1 win over Framingham State. They opened up a 5-0 lead as Zachary Vit scored twice (the first and last) and got two assists. Bryan Haude made 15 saves. Despite the low number of shots, Geneseo still failed to get a shutout, extending a streak that now stands at nine years. Their last shutout was November 2, 2002, against Lebanon Valley in a 3-0 win.
