{"id":30113,"date":"2008-11-20T15:37:12","date_gmt":"2008-11-20T21:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2008\/11\/20\/this-week-in-sunyac\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:19","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:19","slug":"this-week-in-sunyac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2008\/11\/20\/this-week-in-sunyac\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in SUNYAC"},"content":{"rendered":"
The game lived up to its billing. And instead of a one goal, low scoring affair, Fredonia and Buffalo State did one better — a high scoring deadlock.<\/p>\n
Just how wild was it? One team jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead and couldn’t hold on. The other team scored four unanswered goals to take a three goal lead, but that too proved short-lived. The teams traded goals in the first 26 seconds of a period. To top it all off, there was a penalty shot with 32 seconds left in regulation for a chance to win it. But this game was destined to be tied.<\/p>\n
“It was a pretty up and down, back and forth hockey game. We weren’t exactly playing a door shutting game,” Buffalo State coach Nick Carriere understated.<\/p>\n
“It was back and forth,” Fredonia coach Jeff Meredith concurred. “I don’t think either goaltender for the first half of the game was really spectacular.”<\/p>\n
James Muscatello and Ian Evans scored for Fredonia in the first 9:05 of the game.<\/p>\n
“Going down 2-0, we basically gift wrapped two plays for them,” Carriere said. “But then really quick, Nick Petriello came down and buried one and with one minute left in the period, Cory Park buried one. Nice to get back and seal it up at the end of one.”<\/p>\n
Jeff Aonso put Fredonia back in the lead eight seconds into the second. That didn’t last long as Petriello knotted it up again 18 ticks later.<\/p>\n
The Bengals proceeded to score three more times with Park getting his second, Petriello notching a hat trick, and Joel Sheppard getting one on the power play.<\/p>\n
“And we were up 6-3, and all of a sudden they come back,” Carriere said.<\/p>\n
“They’re very explosive,” Meredith said. “We replaced the goalie [Kody Van Rentergem] at the 7:27 mark of the second period with Pat Street.<\/p>\n
“Our guys did a good job of not taking themselves out of it mentally. When it was 6-3, we just kept going and going and suddenly it’s 6-4 and there was a light at the end of the tunnel. Then, it’s 6-5, and we’re back in the game.”<\/p>\n
Aonso scored late in the second followed by third period tallies thanks to Jordan Oye and Muscatello, the latter with 4:33 left in the third. Now the score is tied 6-6. But of course, the excitement wasn’t done.<\/p>\n
Buffalo State was awarded with a penalty shot when Colin Sarfeh closed his hand on a puck in the crease during a scramble. Jim Durham was chosen to take the penalty shot, but Pat Street stopped it.<\/p>\n
“When it comes down to it, we weren’t playing the style of play we’re accustomed to,” Carriere said.<\/p>\n
Both teams know going into next week’s game against Morrisville, they will need to tighten it up against a hard working squad.<\/p>\n
“We talked to the fact that they tied a team [Oswego] we were unable to tie, and that’s a scary thing,” Carriere said. “We have to make sure to get back to doing a lot of little things we’ve been doing before.”<\/p>\n
“We’ll see a good hard working team that’s well organized,” Meredith said. “We’ve got to be ready.”<\/p>\n
Speaking of looking ahead, mark you calendar for Saturday, February 7. That’s when Buffalo State and Fredonia go at it again — this time in Fredonia. Let’s get greedy and hope for a playoff match up as well. …<\/p>\n
… to play Morrisville, the Mustangs return to their hard working style of hockey and once again gave fits to the favorite. And this time, the Mustangs stole a point as Oswego fell victim to a team that refused to pack it in.<\/p>\n
“It’s really been a work in progress,” Morrisville coach Brian Grady said. “We focus on our strength and what works for us. In previous weeks, we turned into something we’re not. I thought we had the better chances through regulation and carried the play. Credit to our defense and goalie.”<\/p>\n
What makes this result so impressive is the Mustangs could have cashed it in various times against a team they may have felt they had no right to hang with.<\/p>\n
For starters, Oswego jumped out to a 2-0 lead halfway through the opening period on goals by Eric Selleck and Ryan Ellis.<\/p>\n
“We talked so much about the mental aspect of the game,” Grady said. “How the next shift is the most important one. The previous one doesn’t matter. They had just made it 2-0, then a minute later we scored a goal and made it 2-1, and that was a huge momentum shift.”<\/p>\n
Actually, it was 41 seconds later when Andrew Alarie scored. That was followed by a Kyle Roberts goal a minute into the second and a Geoff Matzel score, both on the power play. Suddenly, the underdogs had a 3-2 lead.<\/p>\n
Oswego knotted it up with 19 seconds left in the second. With that sort of momentum, once again it would not have surprised anyone if Morrisville called it a day — especially when the Lakers took the lead early in the third when Garren Reisweber scored.<\/p>\n
But no.<\/p>\n
“We knew the type of team Oswego is,” Grady said. “We knew if we got away from our focus, they could score three to four goals.”<\/p>\n
Keith Williams tied it up for Morrisville midway through the period. Brendan McLaughlin retook the lead, 5-4, for Oswego on the power play. This time, Morrisville could have conceded.<\/p>\n
But no. Instead they shocked the large crowd with a single tick left on the clock.<\/p>\n
“Their crowd was almost like a seventh man for us by counting down the seconds. It helped us,” Grady said.<\/p>\n
Matzel, a freshman, had the puck in the corner with a few seconds left. Three Oswego players did the logical thing and collapsed near the crease to prevent a centering pass. But Matzel outsmarted them knowing there was enough time to pass it out to the point to Evan Kernohan.<\/p>\n
The defenseman put the puck on the net and Rob Sgarbossa got a stick on it, deflecting it over the shoulder of Chris Hyk just inside the post and just beating the clock.<\/p>\n
The crowd was silenced. Morrisville celebrated.<\/p>\n
“We haven’t been able to express that sort of emotion,” Grady said. “It was good for us especially on the road in front of a large stage like that.”<\/p>\n
In regulation, Morrisville out shot Oswego, 31-28, but Oswego poured it on in the extra period for an 8-2 edge. Ultimately, though, Caylin Relkoff held them off for 31 saves on the night to preserve the 5-5 tie.<\/p>\n
“The best part for me was walking into the locker room and the tone of the guys was geez, we should have won that game,” Grady said. “Very satisfying in a lot of different ways.”<\/p>\n
Next up is traveling to Buffalo State and Fredonia.<\/p>\n
“Two great teams to go up against,” Grady said. “This is such an exciting league as there is always a good team to face every week.”<\/p>\n
Opponents better count Morrisville amongst that category or they may find themselves watching the Mustangs do a lot more celebrating.<\/p>\n
True, Brockport only got one point from the weekend, losing to Plattsburgh, 5-0, and tying Potsdam, 2-2. Look a little closer, and there’s still something very impressive about the Golden Eagles — their stingy defense.<\/p>\n
Against Plattsburgh, only one of those five goals came when the teams were skating five aside. Ditto for the Potsdam game. In six games overall this year, Brockport has allowed just 14 goals. That’s 2.33 goals per game. However, now consider this — only five of those goals were let up when both teams were playing at full strength. That’s 0.83 a game.<\/p>\n
If you are going to score against Brockport, you better do it when you’re on the power play or when teams are skating four-on-four (they have not allowed a shorthanded score). Otherwise, you’re just skating in circles.<\/p>\n
Part of the reason is the play of Todd Sheridan who has never been healthier, and it’s showing with a 2.16 goals against average (GAA) and a .935 save percentage. That translates to the team willing to take more offensive chances, and thus keeping the puck out of their zone more so than in years past.<\/p>\n
“He’s steady as a rock back there, and our guys appreciate having him back there,” Brockport coach Brian Dickinson said. “It gives them some chances to go on the offense.”<\/p>\n
What’s keeping Brockport from having a better record with defensive stats like those is their own inability to score. They scored 19 goals in those six games for an average of 3.16 per game. But they too have not scored much while five-on-five — nine goals for an average of 1.50 per game.<\/p>\n
If Brockport’s offense comes alive, and they are skating very well but not converting, watch out. The Golden Eagles could be in for a better season than anyone expected.<\/p>\n
For Plattsburgh, the stats do indeed tell the story. The Cardinals have also played six games overall, and have let up only 10 goals (1.67\/game). Of those 10 goals, only three have been let up in five-on-five situations. And Plattsburgh has not allowed a goal in the last 133:13. All thanks to Bryan Hince\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s 1.67 GAA and a .929 save pct. while playing every minute of the season so far.<\/p>\n
“We have all our defensemen returning from last year, and we had a pretty good year defensively last year,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery explains. “So, that gives us a solid base and combined with two good freshmen defensemen, it has created a lot of competition. So, everybody is making sure to do the right things. And obviously, your goaltender is your best defender.”<\/p>\n
Unlike Brockport, Plattsburgh’s offense is having no trouble scoring — 33 goals for an average of 5.5 per game. Dylan Clarke and Joey Wilson each have five goals while defenseman Nick Rolls has nine assists.<\/p>\n