After undisciplined play by Geneseo helped stake Lebanon Valley to a 2-1 lead in the opening five minutes of play, the Ice Knights scored eight unanswered goals en route to a 9-2 victory over the Flying Dutchmen on Saturday.
Geneseo set a physical tone from the opening faceoff, putting Lebanon Valley on its heals. Geneseo took advantage just 1:06 into the first period. Dutchmen goaltender Sonny Holding stopped Chris Kestell’s initial shot from the slot, but Mitch Stephens slid the rebound into an open goal to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.
Geneseo found themselves in penalty trouble early, surrendering two five-on-three power-play goal to Lebanon Valley in less than a minute.
The first Lebanon Valley goal came at 3:30 when Alex Beatrice slid the puck into the left side of the net from the near hashmark through a screen.
Off the ensuing faceoff, Kestel was goaded into a tripping penalty to put Geneseo down two men again. This time it was Brendon Herr who slapped home a rebound at 4:16 and give Lebanon Valley a 2-1 lead.
Geneseo got a power play goal of its own midway through the period to tie the game at 2-2. Matt English received a pass from Stephens and one-timed a blast past Holding to score the goal at 10:57.
Special teams again came into play again late in the period. Jack Bullard scored for Geneseo at 15:46 while each team was skating a man short to give the Knights a 3-2 lead at the first intermission.
After being whistled for 22 penalty minutes in the first period, Geneseo committed only one infraction in the second and began to control play. The Knights’ Brett Bestwick buried a one-time pass 23 seconds into the second period having just left the penalty box to give Geneseo a 4-2 lead.
Geneseo expanded its lead to 5-2 when Dan Schofield scored at 5:47.
The Ice Knights chipped in two more goals in the final minute of the second period, both on the power play, to take a commanding 7-2 lead. Schofield scored again off a nice tic-tac-toe passing play at 19:33. Tyson Terry followed at 19:57 with a wrap-around goal to conclude the period.
Geneseo’s offensive barrage continued into the third period. Stephens made a spectacular play to keep the puck in the Lebanon Valley zone at the left point, and then found Kris Heeres on the far side of the net for a goal at 4:19. English then tallied his second power-play goal of the game at 5:01 off a blast from the top of the slot to complete the night’s scoring.
