Despite a strong effort, the shorthanded Brockport Golden Eagles (1-1) was no match for the Manhattanville Valiants (2-0-1) in a 4-0 Valiant win.
Brockport only dressed eight forwards and five defensemen as the rest of the players were suspended due to off-ice disciplinary action stemming from an incident last weekend.
“We tried to keep it simple, and a lot of guys showed their mettle tonight,” said Brockport coach Brian Dickinson.
Golden Eagle goaltender Todd Sheridan saved 49 of the 53 shots that he faced, with three of the four goals he let in being scored on rebounds.
“Todd is solid, and the guys have a lot of confidence playing in front of him,” said Dickinson. “But our guys got tired. Rebounds is where it really showed where we were fishing for pucks and not picking up sticks.”
Brockport played with a lot of spunk in the first period, winning many of the battles in the corners and blocking several Manhattanville shots. The Golden Eagles kept the game scoreless for the first ten plus minutes, and kept the shot count to a low two shots on goal per team.
But the strong effort wasn’t enough to keep the Valiants off the scoreboard for the entire period.
Manhattanville first struck at 10:45 when Kevin Maresco slid in a rebound for an even strength goal. Niklas Berntsson created the scoring opportunity with a spin-o-rama shot from the middle slot that Brockport goaltender Todd Sheridan stopped, only to have Maresco on the doorstep to push in the rebound.
That goal opened the flood gates of shots, as Manhattanville outshot Brockport 16-1 during the remainder of the opening period.
Manhattanville tallied its second goal of the period less than three minutes later as Matt Piegza flipped in another rebound while on the power play. Defenseman Matt Ruberto set up this goal with a blast from the right point that Piegza collected in the far faceoff dot and scored at 13:12.
The remainder of the period was controlled by Manhattanville, but the Brockport defense firmed up and kept the Valiants to only a 2-0 lead as the first period ended.
The Valiants came out strong again in the second period, trying to take advantage of two early Brockport penalties. But the Golden Eagle penalty killing unit played strong and kept the score close.
Brockport’s best scoring chance of the period came right at the five minute mark when Steve Seedhouse intercepted a poorly played clearing pass at the Manhattanville blue line and skated in alone. He whipped a quick wrist shot near side that eluded Manhattanville goaltender Paul Reimer, but the puck dinged harmlessly off the post and into the corner.
The Valiants scored the only goal of the period at the 11:14 mark as they were trying to kill off a penalty. Arlen Marshall collected a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated in to the Brockport zone unmarked. Marshall patiently waited for goaltender Sheridan to commit and then slid the puck through his 5-hole and trickled it over the line for the shorthanded score.
The remainder of the period was played relatively evenly, with Manhattanville enjoying a narrower 17-10 shot advantage in the second stanza. But Brockport was unable to solve Reimer and the second period ended with the Valiants up 3-0.
Marshall also threw in the game’s final goal early in the third period, as he collected a rebound and roofed the puck home at 1:45 to give Manhattanville its final 4-0 lead.
