The DIII hockey season is just about over with only two weekends left in the playoffs, so we can finally look back at overall numbers for the team and its players as standings really won’t change much with only a handful of teams of the 72 in Division III still playing.
2009-2010 was another super-successful year for the team. For the second year in a row, the team posted 14 wins, ranking it with last season for the third most-wins in the team’s history as a varsity sport (going back to the ’73-’74 season). At 14-12-1, their .537 winning percentage was .537, putting them in the top half of all DIII teams. Quite an accomplishment!
Defensively, the team was out of this world, allowing 3.11 goals a game, for a total of only 84 over the 27-game season. That set a new scored record for the fewest goals allowed per game, besting last year’s previous record when 90 were let in. It should be noted that the ’74-’75 team allowed 68 goals but that was in 19 game season, good for a 3.58 average.
That stellar performance allowed them to overcome their offensive flaws. The team lit the lamp only 82 times, good for 51st in the nation and an average score of 3.04/game. That output ranks them only 27th among all the Golden Eagles teams of the past.
But, the team was amazingly cohesive when it came to special teams and in that category they had, well, a special season. Never a team known for a flashy power play, that’s where the team excelled: With two weeks left in the regular season they had the 9th best PP unit in the country. They finished the season 12th best finding success on 23% of their chances (38 of 165). The penalty kill was just as awesome, ending up 14th best in DIII, killing 85.5% (124 of 145) of their opponent’s man advantages. Helping along those numbers was the fact that the Golden Eagles were the 45th-least-penalized team in DIII, facing only 14.8 minutes in the box per game.
The team was led in scoring (28 points) for the second year in a row by sophomore James Cody, who also led the team in goals with 14. James was among the best in the nation in power play goals, his 9 such goals good for third (and only 2 behind the leader). He also netted 4 game winners, which was the 10th best total in DIII. If James keeps up the pace he has shown in his young career (a pace he is he destined to exceed the next 2 seasons) he will finish his among the top 6 scorers in Brockport history.
Junior Ray Tremblay was second in scoring with 25 points on 6 goals and 19 assists. His assist output (.73/game) was good for 62nd in the nation.
Goaltender Todd Sheridan finished the season with a 3.07 GAA (48th in the nation) and a .911 saves percentage, good for 26th in DIII. The senior now holds all four of Brockport’s single-season GAA records (2.59 - 3.07 – 3.22 – 3.51) and the career record for saves percentage at .904, which includes the two best single-season records of .911 and .917. He also set the single-season record for shutouts this season with 3 and now holds the College’s all-time record with 5.
And, we can't forget the fans. Thanks to the success of the team on the ice and the awesome efforts of the fellows in the Eagles Nest, Brockport had the 11th best attendance in the nation, averaging 1,032 fans in their 11 home games. They were only 1 of 12 teams to exceed an average attendance of 750. In comparison, Buffalo State, a SUNY school of similar size, saw only 309 fans per game.
