The Losses Mount
Plattsburgh lost again, dropping its conference (and overall) record to 3-4. The last time Plattsburgh lost four SUNYAC games in a season was in 2006-7, when they went 6-4-4, and that was after a 14-game season. They’ve already lost that many in half that schedule. In fact, the loss to Buffalo State, 6-2, was their third in a row.
“I got about three hours sleep,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said on WIRY’s Behind the Bench radio show. “Success is determined how you get back up after you fall down.
“We are a work in progress. I don’t know why we are a work in progress, because we have so many players returning, but that’s confidence.”
Plattsburgh ended its skid the next night, defeating Fredonia, 4-2. The Cardinals scored first for only the second time this season and pulled away in the third with two goals within 10 seconds.
“It was a big win for us,” Emery said. “It was a relief win.”
On the flip side, Buffalo State did what they have only done once before — sweep a North Country trip. After putting down Plattsburgh, the Bengals defeated Potsdam, 4-2, despite being outshot, 59-27. Buffalo State jumped out to a 3-0 first period lead and Kevin Carr did the rest with 57 saves. The only other time Buffalo State pulled off a North Country sweep was 2005-2006.
Fredonia split its trip up north, starting out by upending Potsdam, 5-3, after falling behind, 3-1. Jordan Oye got the first goal on a power play before the Bears scored the next three. Then Oye got an assist on the next three Blue Devils scores, and clinched the game with a late short-handed tally.
Geneseo swept its weekend with one conference game, a tough 3-2 win over Brockport. After the teams traded goals, Jonathan Redlick won it with 4:49 left in the game.
“The timing couldn’t have been anymore perfect on that play, because Bulach didn’t really have much at that point,” Geneseo coach Chris Schultz said. “He was pretty much one-on-three against their defenders. At that point I was saying to myself, Bulach get the puck deep. Don’t turn the puck over at that spot. I didn’t even see Redlick on the far side going. It was a great goal scorer’s goal right there.”
For Brockport, it’s their seventh loss in seven games. Even considering they no longer have Todd Sheridan, their winless start is still a surprise.
“There’s nobody who even remotely thought at this point this year we would be 0-7,” Brockport coach Brian Dickinson said.
The Golden Eagles then went to 0-8 Saturday night, losing to Elmira, 8-4. James Cody scored twice in the first period to tie it at 2-2, but then it was downhill from there.
The Ice Knights won the next day against Hobart, 5-2, after a scoreless first period. David Arduin scored twice.
Elsewhere, Morrisville split its games, beating Cortland, 6-3, and then losing to Oswego, 4-2. The surprise in the first game was who was between the pipes: it was not Caylin Relkoff, but Colin Breen. Brain Grady said before the season he planned on using his freshmen goaltenders this season, and he was true to his word. Despite letting up the first goal of the game, Breen made 43 saves for his first win, as six different Mustangs scored.
Relkoff was back in net the next night, but he couldn’t hold off the undefeated Lakers. Tyler Swan scored the two goals for the losing team as Paul Beckwith got the win for Oswego with 25 saves.
SUNYAC Players of the Week (selected by the conference)
Player of the Week: Jordan Oye, Fredonia (F, Sr., Richmond, British Columbia) scored two goals and added four assists as the Blue Devils went 1-1 on the weekend. Fredonia rallied Friday night for a 5-3 win over Potsdam. Oye took part in every goal for Fredonia, scoring a power-play goal in the first period, a short-handed goal in the final three minutes of the game, and picking up an assist on the other three scores. On Saturday, Oye registered one assist.
Rookie of the Week: Collin Breen, Morrisville (G, Waterloo, Ontario) scored his first collegiate goal with 51 seconds remaining in a 5-4 win over Brockport.
Goaltender of the Week: Kevin Carr, Buffalo State (Fr., Unionville, Ontario) made his first collegiate start between the pipes and earned a victory with a 6-3 decision against Cortland. He made 43 saves and turned back shots at a 93.5 percent clip.
Comments are closed.