Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda
Last week, I said if I had to pick an upset special, it would be Fredonia over Elmira. Well, I should have picked Fredonia beating Hobart as the upset special.
After Hobart won six in a row, including ending Oswego’s undefeated season, they came into Steele Hall and ran up against a typical stifling Fredonia defense and strong goaltending in Mark Friesen. Fredonia only allowed Hobart 26 shots on goal, and Friesen turned away 23 of them, as the Blue Devils won, 5-3.
The game wasn’t safe for Fredonia until nine seconds remained, when Jordan Oye scored his second of the night into an empty net.
Chris de Bruyn gave Fredonia a 1-0 first period lead. Hobart tied it in the second. Oye’s first goal, on a power play midway through the second, gave the Blue Devils the lead again, only to be tied up a couple of minutes later. Less than two minutes after that, Mat Hehr put Fredonia back in front.
Steve Rizer got a power-play goal at 13:35 of the final period, but that wasn’t safe enough. While on the power play, Hobart pulled their goalie and converted with 56 seconds left to make it 4-3. Then Oye finally put the game away.
Will Fredonia be able to do it again Tuesday night at Elmira in my original upset special?
Offensive Explosion
Before this past weekend, Brockport averaged less than 2.4 goals per game. Then, they hosted Western New England College, who have improved but still have a ways to go. The Golden Eagles lit up the red light, scoring 17 times, in 9-6 and 8-3 victories. They outshot the opposition, 52-27 and 58-27, respectively.
Ian Finnerty had a field day in the first game, scoring two goals and four assists. Bobby Conner and Chris Cangro also had two goals apiece, as Tom Galiani and James Cody also had four assists apiece. Joe Reagan started the game and made 19 saves before giving way to Jeremy Rossignolo for the last nine minutes with the score at 8-3. Rossignolo let in three goals on five shots before Brockport locked the game down with the last goal.
The next day, Cody got a hat trick as well as an assist. Finnerty picked up another two assists. Reagan went the whole way in net, making 24 saves. Brockport opened up a 4-0 lead after the first period and never looked back.
Wild Affair
Buffalo State played a wild game against Adrian. The Bengals took 2-0 (both goals by Trevor McKinney) and 5-2 leads before Adrian came roaring back with five goals for a 7-5 win. The goals came in bursts. Three goals in the second period came within 30 seconds, with the first two coming eight seconds apart. Three goals in the third period came in a 1:02 span, with the first two coming within nine seconds.
“Our defensemen played simple,” Buffalo State coach Nick Carriere said of the strong start. “They kept things in front of them. They chipped pucks off the glass when they didn’t have options readily available to them. We got a couple of fortunate goals by just throwing pucks at the net, competing for them, and got rewarded for that. We’re that type of team. And when we get away from that, that’s when things don’t go our way.”
Then, he describes what happened in the third period.
“You name it. Whatever situation you need to come up with and donate to the opposition. The defensemen put it on their tape and started sending guys on breakaways. Got away from a lot of things. Goaltending, defensemen, all the way up to our forwards not taking care of spots.”
Other Highlights
– Ever since Oswego lost two in a row, letting up five goals in each game, the Lakers have let up just one goal in their last three. This past week, they shutout Skidmore, 2-0, with a goal in the first and third, and then did the same to Curry, 3-0, with all the scoring in the second period. Dan Jones was in net for the first shutout, making 25 saves, and Andrew Hare stopped all 17 shots he faced for the second shutout.
– Geneseo had no trouble against Franklin Pierce, sweeping the Ravens, 8-2 and 5-1. Eight different players got a goal in the first game, with Rich Manley leading the scoring with a goal and three assists. Manley scored two goals and two assists in the second game as Zachary Vit scored twice with three assists and Jonathan Redlick got for assists.
– There were two ties, each involving the North Country teams. Plattsburgh, after an impressive 7-4 win over Norwich early last week, tied Elmira, 2-2. Each time the Cardinals took the lead (once in the second, again in the third), Elmira tied it up. The final goal came with an extra attacker at 18:39. Potsdam also took 1-0 and 2-1 leads over their opponent, Neumann. Neumann took a 3-2 lead going into the third before Mike Arnold tied it at 7:23 on the power play.
SUNYAC Players of the Week (selected by the conference)
None released at time of posting.
