Lose a lead day
The hockey stat which favors the team scoring first meant squat on Friday in the SUNYAC. Three of the four games saw the team which grabbed the early lead lose.
The most extreme of all was Geneseo. The Ice Knights opened up a 3-0 lead on first period goals by Jimmy Powers and Blake O’Connor and an early second period goal by Carson Schell.
“I thought it was going to be a long one after the first period,” Buffalo State coach Nick Carriere said. “The first goal bounced off our chest. Another one a shot from the outside that had eyes. Another tip in the second period. The pucks were finding a way to get in.”
Drew Klin then scored two consecutive goals, the first 1:42 after Geneseo’s last goal and the latter short-handed.
“That was a big goal for us,” Carriere said. “We wanted to keep the process going. We started competing more and more as the game went on. I thought we battled hard.”
Mike Zannella tied it up with 44 seconds to go in the second on a power play.
The third period was scoreless, but the key moment came with 58 seconds left in regulation when Justin Knee received a major and game misconduct for contact to the head. Schell also received a minor, so after two minutes, Geneseo had three minutes in overtime to try and win the game with a man advantage.
They could not get it done, and in the final minute of even-strength play, Buffalo State did get it done. Zannella was the hero with 19 seconds left for the 4-3 victory.
“I just got to the front and made a tip,” Zannella said. “Shane Avery dug the puck out of the corner and gave it to [Matt] Bessing. I got to give credit to Bessing. He made a great play to get the puck on net.”
The details were different, but the game had the same theme as their first meeting in reverse where Buffalo State had the lead and lost it in overtime.
Brockport scored twice in the final three minutes of the first period on goals by Ian Finnerty and Brendon Rothfuss to take a 2-0 lead over Fredonia.
Fredonia then scored four unanswered goals, two in the second (Brett Mueller and Ben Waldman) and two in the third (Jared Wynia on a power play and Bryan Ross on an empty-netter) to win it 4-2.
After a scoreless first period, Potsdam took a 2-0 lead over Morrisville on goals by Bill Tsekos and Adam Place (power play). Then, a crazy final 1:11 of the second period took place.
Daniel Morello scored twice, the latter on a power play, 11 seconds apart to tie the game. Then, 34 seconds later, Dan McCarney gave Potsdam the lead back.
“We gave up two goals with one minute left in the period, and it just goes to show a little bit of our youth and we have to learn how to close out periods and close out games in order for us to get the points we work hard enough to get,” Potsdam coach Chris Bernard said.
Morrisville scored three unanswered goals in the second half of the third period to win, 5-3. Former Bear Todd Hosmer tied it on a power play, Ryan Marcuz scored the go-ahead goal at 17:07, and Jamie Nelson clinched it.
“A devastating loss for us, to be up 2-0,” Bernard said.
Geneseo and Brockport would agree with that assessment on a night where leads were meaningless.
Other highlights
— The other game on Friday was close at first, but Oswego pulled away en route to a 5-1 win over Cortland. Luke Moodie got two third period goals, and Andrew Hare made 21 saves.
– Buffalo State’s emotional high didn’t last long, as it lost to Brockport, 4-2. The Bengals scored first, but as we saw on Friday, that didn’t mean much. Brockport took a 2-1 lead before Buffalo State tied it. Ian Finnerty got the game-winner with 2:25, with an empty-netter clinching it, 4-2.
– Fredonia swept the weekend, as Geneseo’s weekend was a total disaster. The Blue Devils took a 4-2 win as Mark Friesen made 29 saves.
– Plattsburgh took a 3-0 lead after two periods against Morrisville, beating the Mustangs, 3-1. Mathieu Cadieux lost the shutout with 13 seconds left as Morrisville pulled its goalie.
– Oswego blew out Hamilton, 6-1. Dan Jones got the start, and lost the shutout with 2:47 left. He made 21 saves. Moodie again got a pair of goals.
