THE STRENGTH OF SUNYAC

How tough of a conference do the Golden Eagles play in?

Get this....

The USCHO DIII poll came out today and Oswego is ranked #1 in the nation with a 9-0-0 record. Geneseo continues to be ranked in the top ten at the #10 spot and Buffalo State earned it's first ever national ranking at #15. Plattsburgh is in the "other receiving votes" category after defeating previously ranked #1 Norwich.

How is that for competition?

REAGAN IS BROCKPORT'S MALE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK

Freshman Joe Reagan (Yonkers, NY) started both games in goal and led The College at Brockport’s hockey team into the championship game of the Rutland Herald Tournament at Castleton College this weekend. After making 46 games in the first contest and stopping 42 shots in the championship, Reagan was named Brockport’s Male Athlete of the Week.

Among Reagan’s big saves in the tournament’s opener against Tufts University on Friday night, Reagan stopped all four shots in the shootout as the Golden Eagles scored a 1-0 shootout win to earn a spot in the title game. Reagan turned away the first three shooters in the shootout, and after a Brockport goal, Reagan made one last save to clinch a spot in the championship.

Facing host Castleton, Reagan stopped 42 shots, but Brockport, after taking a 1-0 lead, fell 5-1 in the title game. Reagan was named to the All-Tournament team for the Golden Eagles.

BROCKPORT FALLS TO CASTLETON

Junior Ian Finnerty (Ardmore, PA) scored a goal for The College at Brockport Hockey team just four minutes into the contest but Castleton State University responded with five unanswered goals to post a 5-1 victory Sunday over Brockport in the championship game of the Rutland Herald Tournament in Castleton, Vermont.

Freshman goalie Joe Reagan (Yonkers, NY) was named to the All-Tournament team for the Golden Eagles.

“Joe (Reagan) played extremely well this weekend and goaltending was not the problem today,” said head coach Brian Dickinson. “He had a great weekend. It’s not often you see the goalie from the team that did not win the tournament named to the All-Tournament team.”

In the first period, Finnerty gave Brockport (0-9-1) an early lead with his third goal of the season just 4:31 into the game with assists from James Cody (Schwenksville, PA) and Bobby Connor (Lititz, PA).

Three minutes later, Castleton (4-0-0) evened the score with an offensive rush up the ice that was finished with a move to the stick side of Reagan and the teams played with a 1-1 tie until late in the second period.

With less than a minute to play in the second period, Reagan stopped a Castleton shot from the top of the right side faceoff circle but was unable to cover up the rebound and temporarily lost sight of the puck as it squirted loose into the slot and was knocked into the back of the net to give the Spartans a 2-1 lead.

In the third period, Castleton scored twice in the first 6:17 of the period to take a 4-1 lead. The first goal of the period came off a slap shot from the top of the right circle on a power play and the second goal – four minutes later – came from the top of the left circle as the Spartans opened up the lead to a three-goal advantage.

With 6:21 left in the third period, Castleton scored on another power play with a slap shot from the middle of the zone at the blue line for a 5-1 Spartan lead.

BROCKPORT WINS IN SHOOTOUT VS. TUFTS

The Atheltic Department reports on last night's wild finish...


Freshman goalie Joe Reagan (Yonkers, NY) made 46 saves and stopped all four shots in the shootout to determine the team that would advance to the championship game of the Rutland Herald Tournament and The College at Brockport scored a 1-0 win in the shootout to advance in the tournament. The game officially ended in a 3-3 tie and Brockport will play Castleton State Sunday at 4 pm.

Junior James Cody (Schwenksville, PA) scored his team-leading seventh goal of the season in the opening period to give the Golden Eagles (0-8-1) a 1-0 lead. In the second period, Brockport Cody’s line mate Adam Finnerty (Ardmore, PA) picked up a loose puck in front of the net and scored his second goal of the season to give the Golden Eagles a 2-0 lead.

“The guys that play on the line with James (Cody) feed off his energy and it showed again tonight,” said head coach Brian Dickinson. “That whole line with Bobby (Connor), James, (Cody) and Ian (Finnerty) had good scoring chances all day.”

Tufts (1-2-1) scored near the midpoint of the second period to close to within a goal at 2-1 but Brockport extended the lead back to a two-goal cushion as sophomore Nick Panepinto (Tonawanda, NY) scored his first collegiate goal on a rush to the net which turned out to be a key goal as Tufts scored twice late in the third period including the game-tying goal with just 15 seconds to play in the period sending the game into overtime.

“It was nice to see Nick (Panepinto) get his first goal,” said Dickinson. “We keep telling him that it is just a matter of time. He has been working hard in practice and he made a nice move to the net and kept his stick on the ice in a good position to score and knocked it in.”

In the extra session, Brockport had scoring chances including an offensive rush at the net with under 30 seconds left as the Tufts goalie was able to make three saves to preserve the tie.

In the shootout – used to decide which team advanced to the championship game of the tournament, each of the first three shooters for each team were unable to score and Tom Galiani (Lindenhurst, NY) scored as the fourth shooter for the Golden Eagles and Reagan made another huge save on the fourth Tufts shot to advance Brockport to the title game.

BROCKPORT HITS THE ROAD THIS HOLIDAY WEEKEND

Whereas most Brockport students are out of commission for the next 4 days, the hockey team, on the other hand, will be taking the ice over the holiday weekend. They are traveling to Vermont to play in the fourth annual Rutland Herald Invitational (aka the Spartan Invitational).

The Golden Eagles will take on Tufts at 3:00 PM on Saturday. The Jumbos (yes, that’s their team name) are 1-2-0. Nonetheless, they are solid. Last season, Tufts was 12-10-3 and they have one of the best goaltenders in DIII…Scott Barchard. He was an All-American and led the nation in saves (986) and saves percentage (a wild .939). He also recorded a 2.74 goals against average.

On the other side of the ice, Tufts senior Tom Derosa is a two-time All-New NESCAC pick. He led the league in power-play scoring with 13 points on seven goals and six assists last year. Overall, he tied for second in the conference scoring race with 31 points on 15 goals and 16 assists. Fellow senior Zach Diaco blasted 15 goals last year.

On Sunday, depending on victory or loss, the Golden Eagles will play at either 1:00 or 4:00 against either Castleton or Becker.

Castleton was 9-12-5 last season but is 2-0-0 so far in 2010-2011. They have strength in goal as well. Sophomore Arthur Hollinger was thrown into the fire last season and was impressive for a freshman, posting a 2.66 GAA to go with his .894 saves percentage. With a year under his belt, he can only be better.

The Spartans also have 2 returning 20-point guys, including senior Stuart Stefan who lit the lamp 16 times last year. Sophomore Josh Harris had 9 goals and 19 assists as a sophomore and should be good for more goals this season. Another one to watch is defenseman Omar Pacha, a solid (5’11”, 200 pounds) hitter who can add a little offense (15 points).

The Becker Hawks have played more games than the other 2 so far this season and have a line as even as you can get: 2-2-2. Once again, they are a team well-manned in goal. Jake Rosenthal sports a .923 % after 5 games. He boasted a brilliant .916 last year. They have some snipers in forwards Parkhouse (4 goals) and Anderson (3) and defenseman Norducci (3).

Brockport has found it difficult to put the puck in the net this season and will definitely have their work cut out for them with Tufts and either of the 2 others. All of them sport a strong goaltending presence. In order to win, the Golden Eagles will have to play blue-collar offense (flooding the net with close quarters pressure) and count on Oliver Wren and/or Joe Reagan to match the play of their opposing netminders.

If you love goaltending, this is the tournament for you!

Both games can be heard on WBSU at 89.1 FM and online at www.891thepoint.com

On a side note, the hockey team will be playing again during Thanksgiving weekend of 2011 as a part of the Skidmore Tournament. Next November Coach Dickinson and I will be launching an “Adopt a Hockey Player” initiative where we’ll connect hockey players with families in Monroe and Orleans counties who would be interested in hosting a couple of players for Thanksgiving dinner. It will be a great way to connect the hockey team to the community and guarantee our Golden Eagles can share in the holiday festivities.

Have a great Thanksgiving, everyone!

USCHO RECAP OF GENESEO GAME

USCHO reported the following about Friday's game....

BROCKPORT, N.Y. — Geneseo’s Jonathan Redlick raced down the right side entering the Brockport zone, received a pass from Ryan Bulach, got behind the defense, cut across the crease, and slipped the puck through the spread out legs of Oliver Wren with 4:49 left in regulation to allow his Ice Knights to escape with a 3–2 victory.

“The timing couldn’t have been anymore perfect on that play, because Bulach didn’t really have much at that point,” Geneseo head coach Chris Schultz said. “He was pretty much one on three against their defenders. At that point I was saying to myself, Bulach get the puck deep. Don’t turn the puck over at that spot. I didn’t even see Redlick on the far side going. It was a great goal scorer’s goal right there.”

The hard fought game between travel partner rivals filled with near misses and spectacular saves nearly went into overtime. James Cody, with his Golden Eagles skating with an extra attacker, rang one off the crossbar with seconds to go.

“It’s always nice to beat Brockport,” Schultz said. “I give them a lot of credit. For being an 0–6 team, they played just as hard as any team we’ve played this year. They always get up for us.”

“They’re pretty heart broken in there,” Brockport head coach Brian Dickinson said of his team. “There was a lot of energy for the first time. Tonight, for 60 minutes our bench looked together. When they scored, we didn’t get down. We battled back. When they scored again, we didn’t get down. The end result obviously isn’t what everyone thought. At the end of the day, we’re still o-fer. There’s nobody who even remotely thought at this point this year we would be 0–7.”

Geneseo’s first lead came at 6:15 when Andrew Rygiel weaved his way into the zone, letting go of a wrist shot which beat Wren on the far side.

Cody tied it up three-and-a-half minutes later on an unassisted goal. He walked out in front from the corner. From the left circle, he turned and shot beating Adrian Rubeniuk. The goal was the result of a determined Brockport forecheck to keep the puck deep.

The Ice Knights retook the lead at 11:29 on their first power play. Redlick passed it to Danny Scagnelli at the middle of the blueline. His shot through the screen beat Wren five-hole.

“We just didn’t react well,” Dickinson said.

The second period started the habit of one near miss after another, mostly by Geneseo. Seven minutes in, David Arduin cut across the net, but Wren dove across to make the save. Late in the period, Carson Schell had the puck inches from the line with Wren completely out of the picture, but somehow managed not to push it over.

Minutes later, on the other end, Cody made a spectacular move around the last defender and then apparently around the goalie, but Rubeniuk made an equally spectacular recovery to just get a piece of it.

In the third period, it was Arduin again who found himself one-on-one with the goalie, but Wren robbed him. Bulach had a breakaway midway through the final period, but Wren get the better end of the deal.

Wren wound up with 34 saves.

“He gave us a chance to win,” Dickinson said. “That’s all we ask out of our goaltenders, to make the first stop.”

“There was a little bit of frustration kind of like the Buff. State game last weekend,” Schultz said. “But we learned from it. You just have to grind it out. Keep getting pucks to the net. You have to keep believing. It’s more of an attitude than anything else. I’m trying to talk our guys out of such things as puck luck. It’s really about attitude. If you think positively and do the right things, good things are going to happen. And finally we were able to get that third goal.”

Before Geneseo could score that third goal, Brockport tied it midway through the second period, 17 seconds after their first power play started. The Golden Eagles did a good job possessing the puck, passing it around the perimeter. Matt DeLuca let go of a slapshot from the middle of the blueline that sailed past Rubeniuk.

Geneseo defenseman Colin de Jersey injured his leg early and did not return to the game. The Ice Knights were already missing their rookie forward sensation Rich Manley for the second weekend in a row.

“We’re hurting defensively already,” Schultz said. “We played with five D. One of our D is playing hurt for us right now. It will be interesting tomorrow what we come up with for a lineup. It’s not getting any better. Then we have a quick turn around for the Thanksgiving tournament. We have to get guys healthy quickly.”



Source: http://www.uscho.com/recaps/2010/11/19/geneseo-edges-brockport-3-2/

GOLDEN EAGLES BROUGHT DOWN BY SOARING EAGLES

The Brockport Athletics Department reports on last night's loss...


Junior James Cody (Schwenksville, PA) continued his hot scoring as he netted two goals in the first period for The College at Brockport Hockey team but Elmira College responded with four goals in the second period and recorded an 8-4 victory over the Golden Eagles Saturday night in Elmira.

The game was marred by over 60 minutes in penalties including a game disqualification penalty to Elmira’s Joe Gagne after a scuffle with less than three minutes left to play in the game.

“It’s unfortunate that had to happen especially from one of the top teams like Elmira,” said head coach Brian Dickinson of the fight near the end of the third period. “James (Cody) had a good, clean hit on one of their players and the reaction was to try to get him back but they didn’t do it within the rules of the game.”

Elmira (4-4-1) jumped out to an early lead with two goals in the first five minutes of the period but Cody added both of his goals in the closer to the end of the period as the Golden Eagles (0-8) went into the first intermission with a 2-2 tie.

In the second period, Elmira opened up the offense and scored four times to take a commanding 6-2 lead.

“We gave up some opportunities with one extra pass in the offensive zone several times,” said Dickinson. “We need more players to look to shoot and score in those situations.”

In the third period, two hard-working Golden Eagles scored goals as Dan Galiani (Lindenhurst, NY) and Chris Cangro (Holbrook, NY) hit the back of the net. Cangro’s goal was his first as a Golden Eagle.

“That line (Cangro, Mike Baxter and Galiani) has been working really hard for us,” said Dickinson. “Chris (Cangro) has scored at every level so hopefully this goal will get him going and he’ll start to score more for us.”



Boxscore: http://www.collegehockeystats.net/1011/boxes/mbrcelm1.n20

BROCKPORT FALLS TO GENESEO IN EXCITING GAME

Friday’s game delivered on its hype.

The Brockport-Geneseo rivalry made for a very well played game, one that any hockey fan would have enjoyed. Even though the home team lost 3-2 it was one of the more exciting games of the past couple of years.

Here are my random musings on the event…

* You knew from the start that it was going to be a tight game. Over 4 minutes into the contest neither team had put a shot on goal

* Geneseo’s Andy Rygiel scored on the Blue Knights’ second shot of the game. It was a real head scratcher. He moved the puck unassisted and unmolested from beyond center ice, nearly the other blue line. I knew he was a fast kid, but, wow!

* I’ve watched maybe 200 DIII hockey games over the years. This one was the first that I’ve ever seen decided by a line change. Geneseo’s game winning goal by Jonathan Redlick capitalized on a Brockport line change that occurred while the puck while still in the Brockport zone. Geneseo’s Ryan Bulach, who was across ice from the Brockport bench, saw that unfolding and expertly fed the advancing forwards before Brockport’s fresh skaters could get into their first strides

* Brockport’s defense was markedly-improved from what we’ve seen this season. The stat line may show 37 shots on goal, but most were not what you’d call quality shots. The defensemen kept the wingers at bay and forced them to take long-distance shots. There were very few times that the Knights were atop Brockport’s crease

* Brockport goaltender Oliver Wren was tested a few times and he was up to the task. He made some impressive saves in the last 2 stanzas. 7 minutes into the 2nd he made a diving stop of a for-sure goal. With 5 minutes left in that period he showed catlike reflexes and good strength: Lying flat on his belly he did a one-armed pushup and caught a wrist shot with his glove, his most exciting save of the night. His best save, though, was in the 3rd when he single-handedly stopped a breakaway

* Mike Hayward showed last night, yet again, that he’s the #1 defenseman on the team. The man can cover a lot of ice and he physically matches up well with the SUNYAC’s elite forwards. He did not allow a quality shot to be fired from his proximity all night

* He was aided quite well by 2 freshmen. Pat Hayden showed that physical style of play that Brockport has been lacking this season. He made Geneseo regret getting into the Brockport zone any chance he could.

* Their fellow D-man, Matt Deluca, scored for the second time in as many games. It was a really impressive slapshot from the blue line that flew past Adrian Rubeniuk’s shoulder like a rocket. The young man has a really nice shot. Here’s hoping for more scoring chances in the future!

* James Cody’s performance further cemented his status as Brockport’s most-exciting player. His goal in the first was all him. He out-muscled Geneseo and with limited space to make a shot he put a wrister past Rubeniuk. The Geneseo goaltender then returned the favor in the second absolutely robbing James of a goal on a breakaway.

* James nearly tied the game twice in the last minute. With 50 seconds left he fired a very hard shot that flew off the goalies’s blocker to back beyond the blue line. Then, with 7 seconds left, James rifled a shot off the crossbar. So close!

* The nearly 800 fans in attendance were almost treated to a donnybrook after the game. After the final bell Adam Shoff was mixing it up with not one, but three guys and he was so fired up his gloves came off (luckily, nobody obliged him. The NCAA frowns on fights). You’ve got to love his energy!

* Last night the game was considered "sold out". Attendees could not re-enter without their ticket or stamp. The 2 pep bands took up a fair amount of space (maybe enough for 75 people), so it's probably safe to say (given the 800 headcount was correct) that the maximum capacity due to SERC's impact on Tuttle is no more than 900 about 1/2 that it should be. It's noticable with so many seats and standing room space taken away.

* All in all, a very exciting game and a performance that Brockport can (despite the “L”) take pride in




Here's what the athletic department reported...

Behind goals from junior James Cody (Schwenksville, PA/Philly Little Flyers) and freshman Matt DeLuca (Skippack, PA/Syracuse Stars), The College at Brockport’s ice hockey team twice rallied from one-goal deficits before losing at home to rival Geneseo 3-2 Friday night.

Trailing 3-2, and with an extra attacker after junior goalie Oliver Wren (Oakville, ONT/Oakville Blades) was pulled late in the third period, Cody had a good look on goal with seven seconds left, but his shot ricocheted off the post and Brockport (0-7 Overall, 0-6 SUNYAC) couldn’t net the equalizer.

Geneseo took a 1-0 lead 6:15 into the game, but Cody responded with an unassisted goal 3:45 later. Cody skated in alone on goal and buried his shot to the far portion of the net, his team-leading fourth goal of the year, to tie it at one.

The Blue Knights (5-1-2, 4-1-1) answered back 96 seconds later to retake the lead, 2-1. The score remained the same for the rest of the first period scoreless, as well as the first 10:06 of the second period, until DeLuca netted his second goal in three games for the Golden Eagles. Junior Adam Shoff (Port Dover, ONT/Port Colborne Sailers) fired a shot on net, and the rebound came out to DeLuca, who blasted a shot from outside the left circle and in to knot the score at two.

Geneseo regained the lead with 4:49 to play in the third, and despite several good scoring chances down the stretch, Brockport was unable to come away with a win.

A game removed from surrendering seven goals during a road loss to Morrisville, the Golden Eagles’ defensive players, particularly Mike Hayward (Toronto, ONT/Vaughan Vipers) and Patrick Hayden (Springfield, PA/Philadelphia Little Flyers), did a good job limiting Geneseo’s chances. Wren made 34 saves for the Golden Eagles, who next travel to Elmira College for a 7 p.m. contest Saturday night.

“I was impressed with the energy we had for sixty minutes, we’ve been hit or miss all year long and we worked on guys just paying attention to their own work ethic and not worrying about the end result,” said Brian Dickinson, Brockport’s head coach.

“Hopefully we’re in a spot where we’re starting to take that next step. We hit rock bottom last week at Fredonia (7-0 loss) and quite frankly, this was a gut check for us. Geneseo is a team that will probably compete for a SUNYAC championship and we played them tooth and nail for sixty minutes.”

BROCKPORT TO PLAY GENESEO & ELMIRA THIS WEEKEND

Every sports fan loves a good rivalry.

The SUNYAC is chock-full of inter-team intensity; in essence, every team views the other as a hated rival because every game is as exciting as – and important as - a playoff game as the teams jockey for a valuable playoff position.

Among the most storied of the conference’s rivalries is the ongoing Plattsburgh-Oswego war. The Fredonia-Buffalo State turf war has been as equally exciting.

There’s one here at Tuttle North that has taken on similar drama in recent years: Brockport and Geneseo. After decades of it being nothing more than a game between neighboring SUNY schools, it has changed to something special.

Both teams - and their fans - despise one another and want to see the other fall, not only for a playoff spot, but also for bragging rights of being the Rochester area’s best DIII hockey team.

Brockport has taken home those bragging rights the past two seasons. Had Geneseo not been charged with infractions and omitted from the playoffs last season, that crown may have gone to them. They had a 7 game unbeaten streak to close out the year. This year, they have been just as good. They are 4-2-1 and know how to score goals and stop them.

Their novel Smoke Eaters Line (they all played on that junior team) of Decosse, Arduin, and Bulach is solid and they have 7 goals on this young season. Freshman Zach Vit has been a pleasant surprise with 5 goals and 5 assists while defensemen Danny Scagnelli has 10 points, rivaling last season’s output already.

The goaltending tandem is the best in the conference. Pick your poison, they are both excellent goalies. Adrian Rubeniuk has a .947 save percentage while Cory Gershon sports a .932 saves percentage (he is the brother of Brockport alumnus Mike Gershon, who ranks among the College’s all-time best defensemen).

Geneseo games have been the most popular in recent seasons (our fans and theirs understand the match-up’s importance), so get their early Friday. No doubt they’ll bring their pep band, so our already-limited space may be even more so.

On Saturday, the Golden Eagles travel to Elmira to take on that perennial DIII powerhouse. They are a very good team, one long based on speed and puck control. They are 3-3-1, but don’t let the record fool you. I’ve seen them in 2 different Frozen Fours the past few years and they have a proven system that wins.

Both games start at 7:00 PM and can be heard at 89.1 FM or online at www.891thepoint.com. You can also watch them at www.FastHockey.com

STYLUS REPORT ON BUFF STATE & FREDONIA GAMES

From the pages of this week's Brockport Stylus...


Brockport's struggles continue with losses against SUNYAC rivals Buffalo State and Fredonia

By Andy Lipari

Issue date: 11/17/10



It was another weekend without a victory for the Brockport hockey team, which is still looking for its first win of the season. Brockport lost a tough 5-4 game at Buffalo State on Friday, Nov. 12, and they were shut out at Fredonia 7-0 Saturday.

Brockport Head Coach Brian Dickinson made a switch in goal Friday. Joe Reagan started his first game of the season after playing 15 minutes the week before at Morrisville. Reagan had 26 saves on 31 shots in the loss.

Brockport had defeated Buffalo State three of the last four meetings prior to the game.

The story for Brockport is how well its freshmen played. Along with Reagan starting in goal, the Golden Eagles had three freshmen score a goal against Buffalo State.

Bobby Conner scored the only goal in the first period for Brockport, the only goal of the period, and the Golden Eagles took a rare lead into the locker room. Like they have been doing all season, Brockport starts off with a chance to win, but their opponent took over as the game progressed.

The Bengals took control by scoring three times in the second period. Mike Connolly, Shane Avery and Nick Petriello all found the back of the net.

Brockport showed resilience and tied the game twice in a wild third period. Freshmen Matt DeLuca and Mike Baxter scored for Brockport to tie the game at 3-3 at 5:34 remaining. Trevor McKinney answered for Buffalo State with 9:35, then Brockport captain Justin Noble scored his first of the year to tie the game at 4-4.

With 51 seconds left, Mac Balson scored the game-winning goal for Buffalo State.

Kevin Carr had 21 saves for the Bengals.

Brockport may have hit a low point of their miserable season in Fredonia. Brockport has tied Fredonia twice and lost to the Blue Devils twice in the last four meetings coming into the game Saturday.

Oliver Wren was back in goal, but it didn't help, as Brockport let Fredonia take 47 shots in the loss. Wren made 40 saves and Mark Friesen stopped all 31 shots for Fredonia.

This time, Brockport never gave themselves a chance to win. Alex Morton and Will McLaughlin scored in the first period and Bryan Ross and Jordon Oye scored in the second period to give Fredonia a 4-0 lead.

Ross scored his second goal of the game in the third period, then Andrew Christ and Ben Waldman tacked on a goal each in the third.

Brockport is 0-5 in the SUNYAC, 0-6 overall. They will host Geneseo this Friday Nov. 19, and they will get a break from their conference with a game at Elmira on Saturday, Nov. 20.

Practice this week will again lead to Dickinson's decision regarding the starting goaltender against Geneseo.

KEEP HOPE ALIVE!

The Golden Eagles are now 0-6 overall and 0-5 in the SUNYAC.

That's a shocking record to me, anyone who follows the team and, most importantly, the team itself.

Not to sound like the eternal optimist (I'd prefer "realist"), but, it's not the end of the world. The season is not over yet.

How so?

This is the 18th season that I've been watching the team and if anyone can come back and make a go of it, it's this team. The core of leadership that led the team on ice, in the locker room, and in the classroom for the last 2 playoff years is still there. They know what it takes to overcome adversity. They know what it takes to put numbers in the win column. They know how to get the most out of themselves and their teammates.

Their teammates are a talented lot. The returning players are a solid bunch who are full of energy, skill, drive and determination. The newest additions to the team? Well, I still believe that this is Brockport's best recruiting class ever, one that will payoff with unbelievable sucess in the next few seasons.

So, don't let the numbers (the losses, shots on goal, lack of goals) scare you. The Golden Eagles certainly possess the personnel to turn it around. The record-setting defensemen are still here. The blue-collar physical, smashmouth mentality has been a little dormant this season but once unleashed, look out! And, the goals....they will come. The team is too talented to not score.

This coming Friday's match-up will be the defining moment for this season. If the Golden Eagles can show us the Golden Eagles of the past 2 years, they will stifle the highly-touted Geneseo. From there, they need to win all non-Oswego, non-Plattsburgh conference games but one over the rest of the season to make waves and get a spot in the SUNYAC playoffs in the second semester. This team reminds me of the 2007-2008 squad that just missed a playoff spot. This one, though, can just earn a playoff spot. That was a nailbiter of a second semester back then. This one will be no different.

So, fans...don't give up on the team. They need your support. They play an exciting brand of hockey that you'll want to see.

And, players...don't throw in the towel. Get out there and kick some butt. Show the SUNYAC who is the toughest, most ornery team in the conference...show them that Brockport is playoff-bound.

BROCKPORT BESTED BY FREDONIA, 7-0

The Athletics Department offers this report on last night's loss....


The College at Brockport Hockey team suffered another setback on the road with a 7-0 loss to Fredonia Saturday night at Steel Hall Arena in Fredonia in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) game.

Brockport (0-6 Overall, 0-5 SUNYAC) fell behind early as Fredonia (2-5, 2-3) scored 21 seconds into the contest. The Blue Devils had a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. Fredonia added two goals in a span of 2:41 midway through the second period to stretch the lead to 4-0 and tacked on three more goals in the third period for the final margin of victory.

Wren had double-digit saves in each period including 16 in the third period as Fredonia fired 47 shots on goal.




The Dunkirk Observer reported on the game in today's paper...



The Fredonia State hockey team wasted little time jumping on top of Brockport and cruised to an impressive 7-0 victory on Saturday evening.

"It was a much needed SUNYAC win," Fredonia State head coach Jeff Meredith said.

Just 21 seconds into the game senior Alex Morton gave the Devils a 1-0 lead. It was Morton's team-leading fourth goal of the season. Sophomore Will McLaughlin upped the lead to 2-0 at the 15:50 mark.

The Devils would score twice in the second period, with junior Bryan Ross and senior Jordan Oye each scoring. Ross got off a spectacular shot, as he was hit in the act of shooting, falling to the ice from just outside the crease, beating the Brockport goaltender. Oye's goal was his fourth of the season and gave the Devils a 4-0 lead heading into the third.

"I thought we played about as close to a 60 minute effort as we have all year," Meredith said. "That's the first thing. The second thing is we got pucks to the net. And I think when we got pucks to the net, we generated opportunities and we generated rebounds and I think that's how our offense was able to prosper tonight."

The Devils would add three more goals to give the 7-0 final. Ross, freshman Andrew Christ and sophomore Ben Waldman accounted for the final three scores. Waldman's goal was the game's lone power play.

Oye also added a pair of assists on the evening.

Mark Friesen earned the shutout in goal making 31 saves. Brockport's Oliver Wren allowed all seven goals while making 40 saves.

"We got pretty good penalty killing," Meredith said. "And we got excellent goal tending from freshman Mark Friesen."

The Devils improve to 2-3 in the conference and 2-5 overall. Brockport drops to 0-5 in the SUNYAC and 0-6 overall.

3 FRESHMEN SCORE IN 5-4 LOSS TO BUFFALO STATE

The Golden Eagles lost to Buffalo State last night, but there was some good that came out of it. The team looks to be waking from its offensive slumber and the wealth was spread out a little bit with 4 different Golden Eagles scoring goals, including 3 freshmen.

The Athletics Department offers this report on last night's adventure...

Hockey Comes Back but Falls by a Goal to Buffalo State
November 12, 2010

Goals by freshmen Matt DeLuca (Skippack, PA) and Mike Baxter (Bracebridge, ONT) along with senior Justin Noble (Georgetown, ONT) for The College at Brockport Hockey team in the third period tied the score at 4-4 but Buffalo State battled back and scored with just 51 seconds left in the third period to score a 5-4 win Friday night in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) game in Buffalo.

Down 3-1 entering the third period, Brockport (0-5 Overall, 0-4 SUNYAC) rallied for two goals in a span of 1:10 in the first five minutes of the period as DeLuca and Baxter each scored their first career goals to tie the game at 3-3. DeLuca’s goal came on a hard shot from the point on a power play as the puck snuck in the goal just under the cross bar. Less than two minutes later, Baxter worked the puck near the goal and tucked in a shot past a sprawling goalie to tie the game.

“We definitely had the momentum in the third period,” said head coach Brian Dickinson. “We just made a couple mistakes trying to clear the puck and they (Buffalo State) were able to get the puck in front of the net and take advantage.”

The first clearing mistake happened with eight minutes elapsed in the period and Buffalo State (2-2, 2-2) picked up the loose puck and scored for a 4-3 lead. Just minutes later, Noble took a feed from junior James Cody (Schwenksville, PA) and tapped one in the open side of the net to tie the score at 4-4.

The score remained tied until near the end of the period. After Brockport had successfully killed off a penalty with four minutes remaining, Buffalo State pushed the puck ahead and into the Brockport zone. An apparent Bengal hand pass was not whistled and Buffalo State was able to keep the puck in the offensive zone before a centering pass to the stick of Mac Balston and he scored the game-winner with only 51 seconds left to play.

Brockport freshman Bobby Connor (Lititz, PA) netted his first career goal to open the scoring 2:15 into the contest and junior Adam Shoff (Port Dover, ONT) was credited with two assists on the night. Freshman goalie Joe Reagan (Yonkers, NY) made his first career start and stopped 26 shots including 22 in the final two periods of play.

A LOOK AT THE WNY ROAD TRIP

Brockport embarks on their annual Western New York road trip this weekend, visiting Buffalo State on Friday and Fredonia on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles and Bengals are evenly-matched. Buff State is 1-2-0 this season, having upset Fredonia in OT last weekend while falling to Oswego and Cortland. They are in a transitional stage, having lost quite a few defensemen to graduation. They also have 2 freshmen in goal although only one, Kevin Carr, has seen play this year. He’s been a rock, with a .920 save percentage to go with a 2.95 GAA. He’ll definitely be a thorn in Brockport’s side over the next 4 seasons.

Their best player is Nick Petriello. He’s had 30, 45 and 28 points in each of the last season. He can best be compared to James Cody, less the physical presence.

Player to watch: Buffalo State’s sophomore defenseman Zach Hale. Last year he saw little time as a freshman but this year he has made the most of it He has great vision and anticipation that has allowed him to have 2 goals and 2 assists.


Saturday’s game will be a tough one. Brockport has had a hard time scoring goals this season. Fredonia has had ease in preventing them.

Russel Jaslow’s weekly report from USCHO says it best:

In three conference games, there has been a total of 11 goals scored in Fredonia games. To put that in perspective, Morrisville has scored 11 goals themselves in just two games.

This is typical Fredonia hockey — bottle up the middle, don’t give up odd man rushes, play tight, tough team defense, and back it up with strong goaltending.

In conference play, freshman Mark Friesen has a 1.96 GAA and a .940 save pct.

But, that doesn’t mean Brockport can’t win: Despite playing so well on their side of the rink, Fredonia, like Brockport, is having a heck of time putting pucks in the net. In 5 games this year they’ve scored only 12 times.

Player to watch: James Cody. Brockport’s leading scorer will have to score a couple and ignite the team in order to overcome Fredonia’s stifling defense. If anyone is up to the task, it’s Cody because Fredonia has not yet seen a scoring forward as physical as he.


Both games have 7:00 starts and can be heard on 89.1 FM in the Rochester area or online at www.891thepoint.com

NEGLEY'S NOOK: HOCKEY NEEDS DEFENSE, SUPPORT

In her weekly column for the Stylus, Cassie Negley wrote about the hockey team...


Negley's Nook: Hockey needs defense and support
Cassie Negley

The hockey team has started the season colder and stiffer than the ice they play on. First, they opened the season with a 3-1 loss against Utica. The last goal for Utica was an open-netter, though, so we'll say that's a 2-1 loss. Then the Eagles had back-to-back home catastrophes: 5-2 against Potsdam and 7-3 against Plattsburgh. That's 13 goals against in a tad more than 24 hours. They followed that up with an 8-2 loss to Morrisville.

So if you've been counting, the men's hockey team is 0-4. If it can get worse, the team is 0-3 in-conference. That puts them at ninth, or rather last, in the SUNYAC standings.

Watching the team can be frustrating. I say that because I can't think of a better word. On double-digit occasions the puck has been inches from the goal, but Brockport has been unable to get the red light going and "The Hey Song" pumping.

Brockport could score so many more goals if the team just followed up on shots. Second chances are always the best time to get a score. That's why you box out in basketball. You can get chance after chance after chance to get the ball to go through the hoop. Plus, you don't have to work as hard to get the ball back there.

And what happened to the defense? No matter how good your goalie is, you can't leave him back there alone. Oliver Wren has 142 saves so far this season. In case you're like Dory in Finding Nemo, let me remind you there has only been four games. In the game against Plattsburgh, Brockport allowed the Cardinals 56 shots. That should be closer to a game total for the combined teams.

Of the 45 top goalies in Division--III - of which Wren is ranked 40th - Wren has the second most saves by a significant margin. Most goalies have 60 to 70 saves, while Wren is seeing black pucks fly at his face during his sleep.

The team has been in this situation before, though. Keep in mind that they started last season 3-1. After three-point losses to Potsdam and Plattsburgh, the Eagles beat Morrisville 4-3 in overtime before falling to Hobart 4-1. They finished last season 14-12-1 overall and 7-8-1 SUNYAC with a first-round victory in the SUNYAC tournament.

To further help their cause, the team is playing some stiff competition. Potsdam and Plattsburgh are always tough foes. And if you glance over the DIII ice hockey leaders page at www.uscho.com/stats you'll see a plethora of players from the SUNYAC conference.

No matter how well the team is playing or how many games it is losing, fans shouldn't give up quite so easily. Even if the team can't get it together - not that I'm saying they won't, I think the team will get their act going soon - fans should still go out and support their team. Losing teams need fans more than the winning ones do, anyway.

Do you leave your pro teams when they start to fall? Bills fans still Billieve. They still wear their jerseys and stand tall. One day the Bills are going to string together some wins and see the playoffs again. Not this season, but maybe by the time I can cook some fancy-shmancy recipe without any major malfunctions.

Cowboys fans are somehow still wearing the big D and the star. They must have missed the massacre that was Sunday night, Nov. 8. Dallas mustered somewhere near 40 total yards in the first half. Again, if you have Dory-syndrome, that's the team's total yards. Not the total rushing yards of Marion Barber.

No team in the universe wants to play for an empty house. With all the hockey fans on campus, Brockport shouldn't be put in the position to - especially when the team has become used to such a rambunctious crowd.

The home opener against Potsdam had a reported attendance of 1,123. The next night against Plattsburgh, Tuttle North Ice Arena hosted a mere 680 reported fans. The slash in fans is hopefully attributed to the fact that it was Halloween weekend.

Since Halloween is only once a year, no one has any more excuses. They may not be winning now, but that doesn't mean they won't soon. And even if the team doesn't turn around its season and January rolls around with a one-win Brockport team, you can go to the games and yell at them about how much they suck. In fact, you may need to do that when the team returns home Nov. 19 if the Eagles can't get it going this weekend.



Source:

http://media.www.thestylus.net/media/storage/paper1380/news/2010/11/10/Sports/Negleys.Nook.Hockey.Needs.Defense.And.Support-3956384.shtml

STYLUS: HOCKEY REMAINS WINLESS

From this week's Stylus...

Hockey remains winless
Andy Lipari

Brockport hockey is still looking for its first victory of the season after an 8-2 loss at Morrisville Friday, Nov. 5. Following a 5-2 loss against Potsdam and a 7-3 loss to Plattsburgh last week, Brockport is now the last team in the SUNYAC without a win.

As they did last week, Brockport started competitively against Morrisville. The first period ended scoreless. Morrisville found the back of the net first when senior forward Dave Shultz scored at 5:06 in the second period.

Dan Galiani tied the game at 6:45 with assists from Ray Tremblay and James Cody.

At 10:37, Jamie Nelson scored for Morrisville and Tremblay committed a tripping penalty as the goal went in. Derek Matheson scored 15 seconds later on the ensuing power play to give Morrisville a 3-1 lead after two periods.

Morrisville blew the game open in the third period. Shultz scored his second of the game at 2:41 and Curtis Renaud put the puck in the net at 5:03.

"I felt that in the third period we gave the Morrisville forwards too much time and space to skate with the puck and to receive passes from the defensemen in the neutral zone," Brockport Head Coach Brian Dickinson said. "This allowed them easy entries into our defensive zone and allowed them to be rewarded with a two-on-one goal, a breakaway goal and a powerplay goal when the Morrisville player had too much speed for our defenseman to handle."

Brockport goalie Oliver Wren was pulled and freshman Joe Reagan saw his first action of the season.

"Pulling Ollie had nothing to do with the way he was playing," Dickinson said. "He did give up five goals but I was looking for a spark and a lot of times a goalie change is just what the team needs. It gave Joe a chance to get some work at this level."

Reagan didn't fair too well, either. Tom Longland scored on the power play at 9:26 and Nelson scored his second of the game 29 seconds later to give Morrisville a 7-1 lead halfway through the third.

Cody scored late for Brockport and Morrisville's senior forward Rob Sgarbossa scored at 18:10.

Wren made 31 saves on 36 shots in his 45 minutes of action. Reagan made eight saves on 11 shots in 15 minutes of playing time.

Goalie Caylin Relkoff stopped 32 shots for Morrisville.

Dickinson didn't say he was going to pull Wren out of the starting goaltending position, but he also didn't rule it out.

"As we do every week, we will evaluate how the goaltenders look in practice and we will make a decision on who will play Friday night," he said.

Brockport has fallen into a quick last place in the SUNYAC at 0-3 and 0-4 overall. They will look for its first win of the season next week on the road at Buffalo State Friday, Nov. 12 and Fredonia Saturday, Nov. 13.


Source:

http://media.www.thestylus.net/media/storage/paper1380/news/2010/11/10/Sports/Hockey.Remains.Winless-3956375.shtml?reffeature=htmlemailedition

BROCKPORT ALUMNI IN THE FHL

I got word today from Aaron Boyer ('09) that he, Sean O'Malley ('10) and Lucas Schott (who last played for Brockport in '09-'10) are playing in the Federal Hockey League.

Boyer is playing for the Broome Barons and 5 games into the season has 2 goals and 2 assists.

O'Malley is with the Danbury Whalers and has a goal and assist after 5.

His teammate Schott has 1 point after 5. It should be noted that Schott was on fire in the playoffs for the Durham Thundercats last season. In 23 playoff games he had 6 goals and 12 assists.

The FHL is a six-team league based in the Northeast and Ontario.

You can follow their adventures at the FHL website:

http://thefederalhockeyleague.pointstreaksites.com/view/thefederalhockeyleague/fhl

BROCKPORT TRAMPLED BY MUSTANGS

The Atheltic Department offers this report on last night's game...

Hockey Drops Conference Game on the Road
November 5, 2010

Junior James Cody (Schwenksville, PA) continued his hot play for The College at Brockport Hockey team scoring one goal and adding an assist but the Golden Eagles surrendered five goals in the third period and dropped an 8-2 decision to Morrisville in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) game Friday night in Morrisville.

After a scoreless first period, Morrisville (1-1 Overall, 1-0 SUNAYC) scored five minutes into the second period for the early lead but Brockport (0-4, 0-3) responded 1:39 later as Dan Galiani (Lindenhurst, NY) scored first goal of the season. Cody and Ray Tremblay (Peachland, BC) assisted on the play to tie the score at 1-1.

Four minutes later seemed to be the turning point of the game as Morrisville took a 2-1 lead on a controversial goal with a delayed penalty waiting to be called and a battle for the puck in front of the net. After a brief discussion, the goal was allowed giving the Mustangs a 2-1 lead and due to a new rule change in 2010-11, the penalty that was waiting to be called was still assessed to Brockport. Just 25 seconds into the power play, Morrisville scored on a long wrist shot to make it a 3-1 score.

The score remained 3-1 for the remainder of the second period and in the third stanza, Morrisville rallied for two goal in the first five minutes of the period and then added two more in a span of 30 seconds midway through the period for a 7-1 advantage.

Cody scored for the Golden Eagles at the 16:23 mark of the period with a power play goal but Morrisville added a late goal for the final score.

“We just didn’t adjust well,” said head coach Brian Dickinson. “They won a lot of pucks between the red line and the blue line and we didn’t react well. Everything turned on that second period goal. We thought the whistle had blown (to stop the play) but it didn’t go our way. Regardless of that, we need to be able to fight through those situations.”

Brockport surrendered 47 shots on goal and junior Oliver Wren (Toronto, ONT) and freshman Joe Reagan (Yonkers, NY) combined to make 39 saves.

BROCKPORT VISITS MORRISVILLE ON FRIDAY

Coming off a weekend that saw Brockport drop 2 conference games, the Golden Eagles will see action only once this weekend, on Friday night when they travel to Morrisville to play the Mustangs.

There’s no such thing as an easy game in the SUNYAC. Even Morrisville, once considered a lowly cellar-dweller, is downright scary. Ignore their first 2 games, which were a 7-1 loss to Princeton and a 9-2 loss to Elmira. Morrisville shocked the world in last year’s SUNYAC playoffs when they beat Fredonia 3-2 and led #1 Oswego for 2 periods in the following game. Granted, they wouldn’t have made the playoffs without Geneseo’s suspension, but still, what they did when they got there was awesome.

Even though their scoring pace could best be considered cold, that doesn’t mean they don’t try. They have always put a lot of shots on goal when they’ve played Brockport. In a pair of very similar 5-2 Brockport victories the past 2 seasons, Todd Sheridan was the deciding factor, having stopped 44 and 36 shots.

Watch out for their 2 best offensive players, Srgarbossa (21 points in 26 games last year) and Cass (an 8-10-18 line last year). The former is excellent defensively as well.

Brockport must keep Morrisville away from the crease. Knowing that goaltending is one of Brockport’s strengths and can only be beat in numbers, they’ve consistently put 2 guys right on top of the goal – mostly untested, too - as a way to keep the goalie from sprawling. They need to be muscled out of there.

Morrisville also has a few pests to watch out for. Last season they had 7 guys with more than 30 penalty minutes. Some had astronomical totals, like returning defenseman and captain Matheson (52) and forward Hercules (57). Forward Cerbino already has 15 minutes on this young season. If they can be induced into committing a penalty, Brockport’s power play will do well against Morrisville’s lowly-rated penalty kill.

Caylin Relkoff, their goalie, often looks like a man out on an island by himself. He regularly gets buried by shots. He held up admirably last season with a .887 % and 4.21 GAA. He faced well over 30 shots a game, so the defense around him may be a great jumpstart for what has ailed Brockport’s offense this season.

As long as Brockport sticks to the fundamentals, moves the puck efficiently rather than flashily, they should be able to score at least 5 goals on the Mustangs. Brockport really needs to win this game – and handily -- to get back in the SUNYAC race and give themselves an emotional boost. But, to do so, they can’t look at Morrisville as pushovers as many teams have (ask Fredonia and Oswego). Play hard!

Player to watch: Brockport's Oliver Wren. The goaltender has faced plenty of shots this year and Friday night will be no different with Morrisville's slap-happy wingers. He will be tested early and often and will have to show his glove a lot.

The game can be heard on WBSU at 89.1 FM and www.891thepoint.com

STYLUS REPORT ON THE POTSDAM/PLATTSBURGH WEEKEND

This week's Stylus offers this report on the past weekend's games...

Ice hockey starts 2010 cold
Andy Lipari

It's a horrible start to the season for The College at Brockport hockey team following a 5-2 loss to Potsdam on Friday, Oct. 29 and a 7-3 loss to Plattsburgh Saturday, Oct. 30.

Brockport fell into a quick 0-2 hole in the SUNYAC conference, 0-3 overall, with teams at the bottom of the conference looking like they have improved early this season.

In both games, Brockport showed signs that they could come away with a win. The Golden Eagles' Tom Galiani scored his first goal of the season at 12:15 in the first period against Potsdam, Friday. But the opponent's player Colin MacLennan scored late in the first to tie the game at 1-1.

Potsdam dominated the second period. Fraser Smith and Brandon Couto scored for Potsdam in the second period to give the Bears a 3-1 lead after two periods. MacLennan gave Potsdam breathing room with two goals in the third to earn a hat trick.

Mike Hayward then tacked on a late goal for Brockport.

Saturday, looking to bounce back after an ugly loss, Brockport ran into a team they haven't beat since 1983, the Plattsburgh Cardinals.

Brockport Head Coach Brian Dickinson talked about not taking too many penalties against Plattsburgh before the game.

"As we have seen through the years when we take a lot of penalties, those are the long years," Dickinson said. "We are taking so many penalties and are giving up power-play goal after power-play goal. They always have a lot of talent."

Plattsburgh's talent was too much for Brockport from the start. The Golden Eagles took six penalties and Plattsburgh turned three of those power plays into goals.

Vick Schlueter scored Plattsburgh's first goal on the power play at 6:59 in the first period. The assist was from Eric Satim, who got credit for two assists on the night. He was a terror for Brockport to try and control all night.

Plattsburgh added on to its lead in the first period. Kyle VanDermale and Dan Sliasis both found the back of the net to give the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

Brockport came out in the second period and gashed into Plattsburgh's lead. Ray Tremblay wristed one by Plattsburgh goalie Ryan Williams, and Ian Finnerty had a shot bounce off Williams' glove to make it 3-2 with just over five minutes into the second period.

"We had that six-minute spurt where we couldn't do anything wrong, where we were keeping it simple," Dickinson said. "Our guys had a lot of jump, and we were making five-and six-foot passes instead of 85-foot passes."

It was all Plattsburgh after that. Kyle Kudroch and Ian DeLong put the puck in the net in the second period for a 5-2 lead. Nick Jensen and Dylan Clarke added goals in the third for Plattsburgh and James Cody tacked one on late for Brockport to end the blow out.

"We talked about this being a work in progress and we have to continue to get better," Dickinson said. "We aren't a finesse team. The sooner we learn we are a lunch pail, blue collar team, the sooner we'll start having success."



Source:

http://media.www.thestylus.net/media/storage/paper1380/news/2010/11/03/Sports/Ice-Hockey.Starts.2010.Cold-3952991.shtml?reffeature=htmlemailedition