Gary Efthemis of WBSU wrote a great piece for the Point After's blog today. Here it is...
The sea of green, a sight that truly needs to be experienced to fully appreciate. That was the Tuttle North Ice Arena on Friday night as 1,700 rabid fans packed the rink when Brockport hosted their biggest rivals, the Geneseo Knights. Riding the passion of their home crowd Brockport came out matching the intensity of their faithful. Unfortunately, the period didn’t come out in the favor of the home team.
Two goals in the period on essentially isolated incidents must have really been deflating for the Golden Eagles. They controlled every aspect of play in the first 20 minutes but we’re down by a pair. Sometimes justice is never served.
About half way through the first frame, and a solid minute of pressure in the offensive zone, a two on one chance for Geneseo turned into their first goal. Dan Brown and Sebastien Panetta came down into the Brockport zone and worked a crisp pass through the slot for the easy tap in.
The second goal came on a power play for the Knights a rarity for the Golden Eagles to give up. It has been mentioned before just how stout the Brockport penalty kill is and is worth mentioning a thousand times over. On this occasion, it bent on one out of the four chances in the game.
The problem with bending, it sometimes leads to breaking. That power play goal was the tally that broke the Eagles’ wings. One goal by Sean O’Malley early in the second period is all Brockport could muster against (younger brother of former Golden Eagle, Mike Gershon) Cory Gershon. Gershon played very well in the game especially in that middle frame when Brockport peppered him with 13 shots.
At the other end, no surprise that Todd Sheridan played just as well as his counterpart, however not much help was given to him on those goals. The only time the defense broke down were the times the puck beat Sheridan.
There is some joy that Brockport can take out of this game in the fact that no matter what Geneseo does for the remainder of the season, they will not be making the playoffs while the Golden Eagles will be soaring on their way to a first round home playoff game. If you’re just tuning in to the SUNYAC hockey season, Geneseo and Buffalo State were banned from this year’s post-season due to NCAA infractions.
With that being said, the Knights took the high road that Buffalo State did not. By nature, this game that is played two times a year between these warring factions is a nasty, physical match up. This game saw nothing outside of the ordinary and Geneseo must be commended for accepting their fate with grace and choosing to bow out with class.
In the next two SUNYAC games that Brockport will play, against Oswego and Cortland, they need but one point to sew up that home playoff berth. This would mark the second time the Tuttle North Ice Arena has seen a post-season game of puck and second in as many years. Seeing as these games are no cake walk, if Brockport should fail to pick up a single point they can hope for a single Potsdam loss which will also give Brockport the berth. Potsdam will face Buffalo State and their rivals, Plattsburgh in their final two games.
Next week Friday, Brockport hosts Oswego for their annual “Saves for a Cure” game. All ticket proceeds from the game go to the charity created by senior goalie and Hockey Humanitarian finalist, Todd Sheridan.
Source:
http://thepointafter.org/2010/02/13/bport-ice-hockey-falls-to-geneseo-in-front-of-nearly-sold-out-crowd/#more-167
