The Brockport Golden Eagles have only one game this weekend but, as with any SUNYAC game, it’s a big one. They are heading east to take on the Morrisville Mustangs.
The Mustangs are a very hard playing group of guys who every weekend do their best to play spoiler in the SUNYAC. They are 5-11 this year and only 2-6 in conference play, scoring 2.75 goals per game while allowing 4.5 on average.
When last they faced one another at Tuttle North in November Brockport barely escaped with a 4-3 victory thanks to an exciting overtime goal by Sean O’Malley.
The Mustangs are led by goaltender Caylin Relkoff who has a .880 saves percentage and a 4.39 goals against average. He’s played valiantly but he’s been peppered by 34 shots a game. He always makes the great initial save, but his weakness is his inability to control rebounds (and his defense isn’t helpful in that category). So, it would serve Brockport well to either have a trailer well-positioned by the net or ensure that the fellow taking the shot finishes off his goal by closing in after the first blast.
They are not a high scoring team. One player to watch is Rob Sgarbossa who has a team-high 14 points on 4 goals and 10 assists but is best-known for being one of the better defensive forwards in the SUNYAC. Bobby Cass leads the team in goals with 6. No one else has scored more than 4.
Morrisville also has a few pests to watch out for: Defenseman Matheson and forwards Hercules, Carnegie, and Salmon all have more than 35 penalty minutes on the season. If they can be led induced into committing a penalty, Brockport’s 16th ranked power play will do well against Morrisville’s 49th ranked penalty kill.
Brockport must also keep Morrisville off the crease. The Mustangs made November’s game such a nailbiter because they consistently put 2 guys right on top of the goal – mostly untested, too - as a way to keep Todd Sheridan from sprawling out and using his athleticism to stop the shots. They need to be muscled out of there.
Brockport must do everything possible to come out on top. The Golden Eagles are tied for fourth place with two others and points are at a premium, especially with the high-scoring Fredonia and Oswego teams coming up.
The game starts at 7:00 and can be viewed at www.FastHockey.com and heard at www.891thepoint.com
