After going down 4-0 to Hobart in the opening round of the Rochester Hockey Cup, Brockport chipped away at the lead in the second and third periods and scored late in overtime to take a 6-5 victory.
Brandon Marineau, who tallied four points on the evening, scored the winner 13:23 into the extra frame to send his squad into the tourney title game.
Just 27 seconds in to the game, Hobart got hit with one of the NCAA’s Points of Emphasis this season, an obstruction penalty. But the Statesmen pressed during the penalty kill, and a turnover led to a shorthanded goal. Greg Reynholds passed from behind the Brockport net out to Matt Pane alone in the slot, and Pane buried the chance at the 49-second mark to give Hobart the 1-0 lead.
Hobart got a real emotional jump from the early goal and continued to be opportunistic throughout the rest of the first period. The Statesmen converted on each of their next two power plays.
First, Jerry Toomey sent a shot from the faceoff dot over Brockport netminder Tom Payment’s shoulder for a goal at 7:25. Then Zach Mundy slapped in a rebound at 13:10, and it looked like Hobart was rolling.
Hobart tallied another power-play goal late in the first period, its third on four power plays during the period. Tim McCarthy got the puck off a faceoff deep in the Brockport zone and put a wrist shot into the back of the net to give the Statesmen a 4-0 first period lead.
“I think that the shorty (shorthanded goal) was a good thing to bring our team together,” said Brockport coach Brian Dickinson. “Although I didn’t think that it would get to four-nothing.”
Brockport began to claw back early in the second period with two power-play goals of its own. The first tally was at 1:31 as Casey Firko took a slapshot from the point that missed the net, but rebounded off the back boards directly on to teammate Adam Prescott’s stick on the far side of the goal, who tapped the puck in to the net.
Golden Eagle Christian Christensen weaved down the Hobart slot, around defenders, and flipped the puck in to the top corner of the net for a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 7:52, and all of a sudden the Brockport ship was righted.
Brockport’s Dave Braunstein put in a rebound at 10:34 to finish off the scoring for the second period, with Hobart clinging to a slim 4-3 lead.
Hobart’s Matt Pane scored his second goal of the game 4:29 into the third period, and got the Statesmen back to a two-goal lead.
The teams continued to trade penalties throughout the third period as special teams ruled.
“We need to learn how to play more disciplined,” said Hobart coach Mark Taylor. “Not just on the power play, but one-on-one. That cost us the game.”
Brockport cut the deficit back to a single goal at 10:27, when Brandon Marineau skated in from the blue line and sent a wrister into the back of the Hobart net for the power-play goal. The Golden Eagles then tied the score on another power-play goal at 17:27 with a tally by Nick Smyth.
Overtime was the best period of hockey in the entire game featuring end-to-end action with both teams getting quality chances before Marineau scored, his fourth point of the game, at 13:23 to lift the Golden Eagles to victory. Stephen Howard shot from the point, and netminder Sam Weiner made the save. But Weiner lost sight of the puck, and Marineau was there to slide in the rebound.
Brockport advances to the championship game of the Rochester Hockey Cup against RIT. Hobart will face Geneseo in the consolation game.
