Brockport ended their first semester of hockey with a 4-0 victory over visiting Western New England thanks to three power plays scores and 33 saves by Todd Sheridan. It’s the senior’s fourth career shutout.
“He’s been nothing short of outstanding in our net all year,” Brockport coach Brian Dickinson said of Sheridan. “Tonight he didn’t have to make a lot of saves but he made a couple of big ones when it was 1-0, 2-0. Even early in the third he made one through traffic that was pretty impressive. I think he’s so much more at ease this year.”
“I thought Sheridan played fantastic,” Western New England coach Greg Heffernan said.
Both goaltenders played very well as Brockport only managed a goal in each of the first two periods. The Golden Eagles needed a third power-play opportunity before finally breaking the ice at 16:26.
Gregg Amato from the left corner fed a wide open Justin Noble in the slot. Noble let loose a one-time blast that blew by Justin Richards.
However, Dickinson was not too happy with their first power-play attempt where they controlled the puck the entire time, but never came close to scoring.
“I was concerned that our power play that we worked so hard on this week, we didn’t do anything with it,” he said. “Essentially, we just passed it around a stationary box.”
The second period saw Western New England pick up their game, but still saw Brockport outshoot the Golden Bears. Richards was able to keep the score close.
“That’s the level of goaltending that we need night in and night out,” Heffernan said. “I thought he played a fantastic game. He played well. He certainly kept us in the game, and we missed on a couple of opportunities, like a 2-for-1, a couple of crossbars. That was the difference in the game right there.”
Brockport made it 2-0 at 12:11 of the second period with the only even strength tally of the night. Alan Liwush’s soft outside shot was saved by Richards. However, he left a big rebound. Jason Gorrie jumped on it, scooped it around the goalie, and easily placed it into the net.
The home team put the game away quickly in the third, 27 seconds in and eight seconds after a power play started. Ray Tremblay picked up a loose puck to the right of the goalie and flipped it into the net. The goal was a result of one of many won face offs for Brockport.
“We dominated the faceoff circle which is pretty impressive for us,” Dickinson said. “That’s a good step for us.”
Brockport wound up with three power play goals in seven attempts. The final coming at 8:04 of the third. Tremblay’s cross ice pass found Ian Finnerty off to the goalie’s left by the post. Finnerty stopped the puck with his skate and then smacked it in with his stick.
“As the game wore on, it felt we finally worked our system for 60 minutes,” Dickinson said. “I was really happy with getting pucks deep and outworking Western New England. I thought we played all three zones really well. All in all, a solid effort to end the first semester.”
Brockport goes to .500 with a 6-6-0 overall record at the break. They return to action on January 7 at Hobart.
“I thought Brockport competes like they always do,” Heffernan said. “They are always a tough team to compete against. I don’t think the score really reflects how we played. When you get 33 shots on goal against a team that works as hard as Brockport, I can’t even be mad at our guys. I think we played hard.”
Heffernan, who used to be the assistant coach at Fredonia, gets to face another familiar SUNYAC foe before they begin their break as Western New England (1-8-1) goes to Geneseo tomorrow night.
