Start of season delayed

In response to ongoing health and safety concerns, the members of the State University of New York Athletic Conference will suspend fall sports competition. In addition, the winter conference and non-conference schedules will be delayed until January 1, 2021.

The decision was made by the SUNYAC Presidents in consultation with the SUNYAC Board of Directors on Monday, July 20. The SUNYAC Board of Directors is composed of the 10 directors of athletics from each member institution

Despite these changes for Brockport athletics this fall, the campus community recognizes the importance of athletics participation to its student-athletes. Administrators and coaches have developed plans to engage student-athletes safely in small-group activity through in-person practices and instruction, strength and conditioning training, leadership training and team building activities. All students on campus will also have access to recreational and wellness opportunities, and the fitness facilities will be available in accordance with all New York State guidelines and campus protocols.

"The decision to suspend fall sports was made with the safety and well-being of our student-athletes and campus community top of mind," said SUNY Brockport President Heidi Macpherson. "Sports, like our fine arts performances, are part of the fabric of college life, and I know how disappointing this must be to our players, coaches, staff, and our fans. But we will get through this, and I look forward to the day when we can again cheer for our Golden Eagles."

Division III student-athletes will not be charged with participation for the 2020-21 season if their team can complete only 50% or less of the sport's maximum contests/dates of competition due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Division III Administrative Committee approved a recommendation from the Division III Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement to provide a blanket waiver in all sports that are unable to reach the 50% threshold, providing student-athletes with the option of extending their participation.

Insalaco promoted at RIT

1990's Brockport hockey great David Insalaco -- he of the 47 goals and 109 points in his career and a senior campaign that sported an incredible 16-20-36 line -- has been promoted at RIT...

Rochester Institute of Technology men's ice hockey head coach Wayne Wilson announced that Dave Insalaco was promoted to Associate Head Coach.

Insalaco enters his 19th season as a coach and 13th year with the program in 2020-21.

"Dave's hard work has not gone unnoticed and this title represents his loyalty to the program," said RIT Head Coach Wayne Wilson. "Dave's knowledge of the game has been instrumental through the years, helping RIT reach the Frozen Four during three NCAA Tournament appearances, while winning three Atlantic Hockey Association (AHA) Championships and four regular season titles."

Insalaco's duties include overseeing the Tiger defenseman and penalty killing efforts. He most recently mentored Adam Brubacher (Elmira, Ontario/Powell River Kings), who graduated in May a two-time AHA All-Star and was one of only six defenseman in the nation over the last four years to eclipse the 100-point plateau.

Continued Wilson, "Dave's work with our defenseman over the years has led to numerous all league selections, highlighted by current Vancover Canucks assistant Captain Chris Tanev, who was named Atlantic Hockey Rookie of the Year and an All-Tournament Team member during our 2010 Frozen Four run. He has a great hockey mind and, with his work ethic, will be a great head coach at some point down the road."

"I am truly appreciative of the opportunity provided to me by Wayne Wilson, (Executive Athletic Director) Lou Spiotti and (Senior VP for Student Affairs) Dr. Sandy Johnson," Insalaco said. "As a kid growing up in Rochester who attended his first hockey school at RIT, it has been a dream come true to coach here.  It has been a remarkable 12 seasons and I am proud of what our staff has built in such a short period of time. I am excited for the start of the season and I look forward to helping facilitate our program's continued success."

In 2009, 2011, and 2012, Insalaco coached at the USA Hockey Select Under-17 and Under-16 Development camps in Rochester with several of the nation's top collegiate coaches and was tapped to coach in the 2011 Select 17 All-Star game. Insalaco also served as a guest coach for the Washington Capitals prospect development camps prior to their Stanley Cup in 2018.

Insalaco's arrival at RIT coincided with one of the winningest stretches in program history. The 2008-09 season saw the Tigers finish with a 23-13-2 record to clinch the second seed for the AHA Tournament. The following year, the Tigers won their first AHA Championship and made its Cinderella run to the Frozen Four to finish with a program-record 28-12-1 mark.

Insalaco came to RIT after spending two seasons (2005-07) with the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League, including half a season as head coach and general manager. During his tenure with the Gamblers, he coached several players who went on to standout RIT careers, including Cameron Burt, Taylor McReynolds, Sean Murphy and Chris Saracino. He also coached defenseman Derrick LaPoint, who was a 2006 draftee of the Florida Panthers.

Insalaco spent the previous three seasons as assistant coach at SUNY Geneseo (2003-05), including two under current RIT Associate Head Coach Brian Hills. Insalaco helped guide the Knights to a 51-23-11 record, including back-to-back State University of New York Athletic Conference Championships and NCAA Division III Tournament berths in 2005 and 2006. Insalaco's first coaching stint came as a volunteer assistant at his alma mater, SUNY Brockport, during the 2002-03 campaign.

Graduating with an education degree in 2000, Insalaco closed his career tied for seventh in Golden Eagle history with 47 goals and 10th with 109 points. The standout left winger punctuated his career with All-SUNYAC Second Team honors while also winning Chase Memorial Academic Athletic Scholarship recognition.

Insalaco played two years of professional hockey for the Adirondack IceHawks of the United Hockey League from 2000-02, recording 31 points (10 goals, 21 assists) in 128 career appearances. He was voted both the "Unsung Hero" and "110 Percent" Award winner by the fans following his first season as the IceHawks won the Northeast Division title.

Insalaco also completed a master's degree in education from Brockport. The Greece, N.Y. native currently lives in Fairport, N.Y. with his wife, Erika, and children, David and Clare.

Insalaco's sister, Kim, was a member of the 2006 United States Women's Olympic Hockey Team which earned a bronze medal in Turin, Italy.

Shapiro joins the Covid fight

Remember Dylan Shapiro, who was a hero on the ice for the Golden Eagles? He was the assistant captain in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.

Well, he's still a hero...off the ice.

Check this out!

Ensign Dylan Shapiro, from Rochester, treats a patient in a ward aboard the hospital ship USNS Mercy (T-AH 19) on April 13. Mercy deployed to Los Angeles, California, in support of the nation’s COVID-19 response efforts, and will serve as a referral hospital for non-COVID-19 patients currently admitted to shore-based hospitals. This allows shore-based hospitals to focus their efforts on COVID-19 cases. One of the Department of Defense’s missions is Defense Support of Civil Authorities. DoD is supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the lead federal agency, as well as state, local and public health authorities in helping protect the health and safety of the American people.

Former assistant Mallaro has new coaching role

Former Brockport assistant coach, Stephen Mallaro -- who was with the team in the 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 seasons -- has assumed the head coaching role at the Albany Academy

News report about Brockport alumnus Mark Digby

Oswego County News Now offers this report on Mark Digby's ascent to the head coaching role of Oswego weomen's hockey:

http://www.oswegocountynewsnow.com/sports/fulton-s-digby-ready-to-take-reins-as-head-coach-of-oswego-women-s-hockey/article_a398bb74-b7bd-11ea-a105-27275141fd71.html

Brockport is 8th in attendance

Yesterday, USCHO posted the final attendance numbers for all DII and DIII hockey programs. Of the 91 colleges and universities, Brockport came in at eighth place in average attendance. The home games averaged 821 fans.

Lincoln transfers to LMU

Next season, Brockport goalie Sean Lincoln is heading to the west coast -- Loyola Marymount -- to work on his MBA and finish his collegiate hockey career. During his Brockport career the junior saw action in 3 games for the Golden Eagles and secured a shutout in stellar 2019 performance against Canton. We wish the young man the best of luck in his academic and athletic pursuits!

Hutchins to play in France with childhood friend

Next season, now Brockport alumnus and former team captain Connor Hutchins, who had an exceptional career with Brockport, will be playing professionally with the Meudon Comets in France. Here's a nice article about Penn State's Blake Gober joining him -- they grew up in Texas together!

https://www.collegian.psu.edu/sports/men_hockey/article_142ca434-b1a3-11ea-baa2-8754f5f90751.html

Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll

The State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) released its 2019-20 Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll which recognizes student-athletes with a 3.30 or higher cumulative grade point average (GPA) on Wednesday.

193 Brockport student-athletes earned the distinction. This year over 1,600 SUNYAC student-athletes met the criteria across the conference's 10 full member institutions and one associate member institution.

Brockport women's soccer and men's hockey led the way with 17 student-athletes represented on the list.

Here's the list:

https://gobrockport.com/news/2020/6/18/194-brockport-student-athletes-earn-sunyac-commissioners-academic-honor-roll.aspx

Brockport alumnus Digby now head coach of Oswego women's hockey

On Wednesday, June 17, SUNY Oswego's Interim Director of Athletics Eric Summers announced that Mark Digby, Associate Head Coach for women's ice hockey has been named Interim Head Coach of women's ice hockey.

Prior to Oswego, Digby was an assistant men's ice hockey coach at his alma mater, SUNY Brockport (2006-10) where he earned his B.S. in physical education (2005) and M.S. in Recreation Management (2008). 

Digby was hired as the assistant men's ice hockey coach at Oswego in August of 2010. During his time as the assistant men's ice hockey coach, the team reached six NCAA tournaments, two frozen fours and competed for the national championship twice.

Digby moved over to the women's ice hockey team in the spring of 2019 as the Associate Head Coach. In the 2019-20 season the women's ice hockey team showed huge improvements, including the most wins (16) the program had seen since 2016. Along with their win totals, the women's ice hockey team competed for their second NEWHL Championship falling to nationally top ranked Plattsburgh in the title game.

Digby takes over the women's ice hockey program from Diane Dillon, who coached the program for 14 seasons.

Great academic results!

In D3 athletics everyone is a student-athlete...student first!

The hockey team had incredible success in the classroom this academic year.

Spring GPA: 3.45

Overall GPA: 3.30

Shane Visnick had the highest GPA & secured Presidents List Honors.

15 of these men were Deans List students.

Congratulations!

The Welch hockey dynasty

Scott Welch was a goalie for Brockport. Here's an excellent write-up about his hockey dynasty -- four girls and four NCAA Division I hockey scholarships:

https://thehockeywriters.com/womens-hockey-welch-family-success/

Tremblay to coach Elmira Enforcers

Longtime Brockport hockey fans will remember Ray Tremblay, a British Columbia native who played for the Golden Eagles from 2008-2009 through 2010-2011.

His story was always one of perseverance.

Two years before his NCAA career began he suffered compression fractures of two of his vertebrae, which certainly would have derailed the hockey careers of most guys. But, he fought on and had a solid career at Brockport. His 2008-2009 campaign was his best, with a 7-10-17 line.

We've received great news that he's back in New York, selected as the new head coach of the Elmira Enforcers.

Congrats, Ray!

Here's an article about it:

https://www.stargazette.com/story/sports/2020/05/19/elmira-enforcers-name-tremblay-head-coach-bring-back-players/5214928002/

Good luck, seniors!

This year's commencement ceremony is something that was totally unexpected and will be totally unusual. It's unfortunate that Covid-19 totally changed the second half of your last semester, the fruition of all your work in college and internships. Luckily, you managed to get the hockey season in before the world changed.

Thank you, seniors, for everything you did on and off the ice the past four years.

It was an exciting ride, for sure. Such incredible hockey. So many memories!

Congratulations on the coming graduation. Best of luck in everything you do in the new life before you -- work, service, and family. Based on everything you've showed us at Brockport, you will excel in all phases.

We've been blessed to have you at Brockport.

The world will be blessed to have you now.

2019-2020 awards

Your 2020-2021 captains

Gershon is the head coach at Chatham

Mike Gershon was a joy to watch when he played for the Golden Eagles over 10 years ago. He was a hard-hitting All-SUNYAC defenseman who once had a hat trick for Brockport -- not something blueliners are known to do!

We have some great news about Mike. He was just named the head coach at DIII Chatham University:

https://www.tribdem.com/sports/new-chatham-coach-has-johnstown-connections/article_5895bb18-8117-11ea-b622-937dd6c5b24b.html

DeFazio battling cancer

I had the privilege of watching Jeremy DeFazio play hockey at Brockport for 4 years. The left winger graduated in 2016 after scoring 12 goals and amassing 24 assists in 98 games. Powerfully built and intelligent, he was one of the best defensive forwards in the SUNYAC during his career.

Jeremy now faces a different kind of fight than those he saw on the ice.

The young man was recently diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer of the soft tissue. He began chemo treatments on Wednesday.

One of his friends has opened a GoFundMe account for Jeremy to help him with various costs associated with his healthcare. Please help if you can.

The page can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/spreading-the-love-to-a-friend

Winn family hosting a German hockey player

Here's a cool story about people doing good. The family of Brockport's Casey Winn is hosting a young German hockey player who is waiting out the coronavirus crisis in Penfield.

https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/sports/2020/03/27/german-hockey-player-stranded-rochester-ny-staying-with-family-of-roommate-bishop-kearney-selects/2919336001/

Dylan Wiemer commits to Brockport

The East Coast Wizards are pleased to announce that Dylan Wiemer has committed to SUNY Brockport for the fall of 2020. The '99 native of Greece, NY joined the Wizards in late October, and went on to win 13 games in the Eastern Hockey League (EHL), while posting a 2.45 GAA and .923 save percentage.

"Dylan came in and immediately claimed the net for our team," said Wizards head coach and general manager Freddy Meyer. "He provided us with instant stability between the pipes, and it came as no surprise when we won his first three starts. Dylan is as talented as any goaltender we've ever had with the Wizards, and Kory [Falite] and I are looking forward to following him at the next level."

When Wiemer arrives at Brockport this fall, he will be part of an incoming freshmen class that includes six more alums from the EHL. Included on that list is Andrew Harley, the 2nd leading scorer on the 2019-20 Wizards team, who made his decision back in mid-December. Overall, Wiemer is looking forward to playing his college hockey close to his hometown.

"I would like to thank Freddy and Kory for taking me in and making me feel welcome and guiding me along in order to reach my dreams of playing college hockey," said Wiemer. "I would like to thank the organization for its great facilities and giving us the chance to get better both on and off the ice. Of course, I would like the thank my family for being supportive whenever I needed them, and for being my number one fan. And lastly, I would like to thank my teammates for making this experience one to remember by creating friendships that will last forever."

Hutchins signs with Rivermen

The Peoria Rivermen have added a pair of forwards to their lineup, signing both Connor Hutchins to a three game contract and Liam Stirtzinger to an amateur tryout offer (ATO). The pair will be with the club this weekend for the Rivermen’s three games inside Carver Arena.

Hutchins, 24, just finished his senior year playing for NCAA-DIII Suny-Brockport, where the Texas native served as captain the last two seasons, and an alternate during his sophomore year. Hutchins tallied 97 points in 102 games with SUNY-Brockport, and played his first two seasons with the team while Rivermen defenseman Brandon McMartin was there. In addition to wearing a letter in college, Connor served one season as captain of the Brookings Blizzard in the North American Hockey League (NAHL).

Stirtzinger becomes the second player out of Aurora University to sign an ATO with the Rivermen this season, joining fellow forward Drew Doyon. Stirtzinger, 24, finished 7^th on the Aurora Spartans in scoring this past season, and led the team in penalty minutes (47). The 6’4” winger played three years in the NAHL before college, collecting 422 penalty minutes, which puts him in the top 40 all-time amongst NAHL players for penalty minutes.

Senior Spotlight: Aidan Salerno

Last week marked the end of Aidan Salerno's NCAA hockey career.

He spent the last 2 seasons with the Golden Eagles after having been with Cortland his freshman year and University of Wisconsin - Superior his sophomore year.

Powerfully built at 6'3" and 215 pounds, he was a force to reckon with on defense. He doled out punishment to many a forward. This past season, his led the team in penalty minutes (55) in 13 games played.

He was always busting his butt on and off the ice. None other than NHL Hall of Famer Pat Lafontaine (who coached Salerno for 4 seasons in the Juniors) said he was one of the hardest working kids he ever saw.

More than brawn, he had touch, too: In 74 games at the 3 colleges he had a 5-23-28 line, his best season being his freshman year with 4 goals and 12 assists.

His biggest Brockport goal came in Brockport's 3-1 playoff loss to Plattsburgh in 2019 (which was, for the most part, a 2-1 game before an empty-netter).

Senior spotlight: Chris Pollini

Chris Pollini's NCAA career came to an end last Wednesday in the double overtime loss to Plattsburgh.

The defenseman was beloved by teammates and coaches for bringing levity to the ice and locker room. In Wednesday's postgame interview with WBSU you could hear Coach Dickinson light up when he spoke of how much he'll miss Chris's humor.

That humor helped loosen the young Golden Eagles squad the past two years and eliminate some of the nerves and stiffness that comes with the attainment of winning hockey.

Over his 4 seasons he played in 71 games and had 20 assists. He had no goals to his credit, but that's because Chris was a blueliner's blueliner. He played old school, hard-charging d without the flash, taking on the big forwards that fill the rosters of Oswego and Geneseo.

His biggest game came earlier this year when he dished out 3 assists (including a helper on the game winner with 21 seconds left) to help Brockport secure a 5-4 comeback win over Neumann.

I wish Chris the best in his post-Brockport endeavors.

Senior spotlight: Hunter Laslo

Hunter Laslo's final NCAA game was last week's double overtime thriller against Pittsburgh.

He was hugely responsible for getting the team into the playoffs the last two seasons.

As co-captain he was charged with an almost unenviable task...how do you take a very young team and transform it into a winner?

Coming into the 2018-2019 campaign, the team had 9 freshman on the roster and had lost 39 goals to graduation.

Hunter helped those rookies learn the nuances of super-competitive NCAA hockey and how being an athlete fits into one's academic career.

Despite all odds against them, that young team went 15-9-2. This year, they went 15-10-1.

They far exceeded the expectations of outsiders. But, Hunter, the insider, knew better. He knew how to help the coaching staff and his team glean the most from their talents and their drive.

He led with character and the team thrived off that.

Hunter finished his career with a 15-17-32 line in 98 games.

Senior sptlight: Doc Gentzler

Doc Gentzler's NCAA career came to an end last week in the playoff game against Plattsburgh.

That game was typical Doc -- he was rocked by a hit that sent him to the ice in agony. But, mere minutes later, he brushed it off and went top shelf with a hustling wrist shot.

Despite being one of the lightest players on the roster (the stats say 150) he always played like one of the biggest, mixing it up and getting physical with anyone and everyone. He was second on the team in penalty minutes this year (47), one minute fewer than his team-leading total of last season.

That physicality never tempered his other skills and, as a matter of fact, it added to them. Always driving, most of his goals were of the Joe Lunchbucket type -- he would drive to the net at full speed through and over defensemen and take shots that most shy away from.

He scored 7 goals this year and added 14 assists. He scored 2 game winning goals this year. He ended his four-year career with a 23-29-51 line in 96 games played.

His energy and fire will be missed.