This week's Brockport Stylus features the following report from Brandon Wood...
In its opening round game of the Rutland Herald Invitational against Manhattanville College, the College at Brockport’s ice hockey team was charged with three game misconducts, a disqualification and nine minor penalties for 68 total penalty minutes.
The Golden Eagles (2-7-1 overall, 1-3 SUNYAC) lost that game and the consolation game at the tournament held in Rutland, Vt. Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
Manhattanville capitalized on the numerous Brockport penalties by scoring three power-play goals to win the opening game 7-3. Head Coach Brian Dickinson said many of the game misconduct penalties were due to talking back to the officials.
“I’m disappointed, and I told the players after that we can’t do those types of things,” Dickinson said. “I told them they can’t mouth off to the officials, and we need to stop taking these types of penalties. It’s the coach’s job to handle the referees.”
Freshman forward Nick Marinac received a five-minute major and a game misconduct for charging the goalie with 6:48 remaining in the first period. Manhattanville scored two power-play goals during the penalty.
All three of Brockport’s goals came in the second period. Sophomore forward Jesse Facchini scored a power-play goal early in the period, while freshman defender Robbie Hall and sophomore forward Chase Nieuwendyk rounded out the scoring for Brockport.
Sophomore goalie Jared Lockhurst was pulled midway through the second period after surrendering his fifth goal of the game on 24 shots by Manhattanville.
“It seemed like Jared was fighting the puck,” Dickinson said. “He wasn’t moving well. A couple of the pucks that went in during the second period were pucks that went side-to-side and he didn’t get over fast enough. I think his groin that was tweaked a bit from the previous game was still bothering him a bit.”
Freshman goalie Andrew Winsor came in for the remainder of the game, the first action he’s seen this season. Winsor made 21 saves and allowed just two goals.
The bulk of Brockport’s penalty troubles occurred in the third period, when it took 50 total penalty minutes. Freshman forward Jake Taylor was given a ten-minute game misconduct after he was called for a charging penalty with four minutes remaining. Sophomore defenseman Chad Cummings received a 10-minute game misconduct two minutes later for cross-checking.
With 29 seconds remaining, Manhattanville’s freshman forward Nolan Marshall cross-checked senior defenseman Matt DeLuca after a play and received a game misconduct and a five-minute major. Sophomore forward Shane Cavalieri took exception to this and threw a few punches at Marshall.
Both players received game disqualifications and five-minute majors for fighting.
Fighting, while not illegal in NCAA hockey, is rare because the disqualification that comes with it gives players a suspension for the following game. If a player is disqualified again in a season, they will be suspended the number of games equal to how many disqualifications the player has received in the season. Cavalieri served his suspension the following day against Castleton University.
Manhattanville scored a late power-play goal to make the game 7-3 and send the Golden Eagles to the consolation game of the tournament the next afternoon.
In the consolation game, Castleton found the tie-breaking and game-winning goal with 1:02 remaining in regulation to beat the Golden Eagles.
Winsor, who filled in for Lockhurst the previous night, made his first NCAA start in net for Brockport.
The Golden Eagles jumped out to an early lead nine minutes into the game as sophomore forward Kody Vaisanen scored his first goal of the year. Castleton answered with a goal five minutes later to tie the game.
The Golden Eagles had their goalie to thank for the 1-1 score heading into the first intermission, as Castleton had 22 shots on net in the first frame. Winsor finished the game with 38 saves and stopped 59 of 65 shots sent his way in the two games he played.
“He played great,” Dickinson said. “He went in against Manhattanville and played really well. It wasn’t a hard decision to send him out again [against Castleton]. Andrew did a good job of pushing the puck away from the net and made the saves that he needed to. He was poised, he competed, he battled and as a coach, I was really happy for him.”
Each team scored a goal in the second period, too, with Castleton scoring three minutes into the period and Brockport senior forward Steve Sachman finding the back of the net with a few minutes remaining in the period.
This back-and-forth affair continued into the third period when Brockport jumped out to a 3-2 lead as sophomore forward Michael Zagari scored his first goal of the season three minutes into the period. Castleton tied the game exactly three minutes later with 14 minutes remaining in the game.
With the game appearing to be headed for overtime, Castleton scored the game-winner with just more than a minute left in regulation, sending Brockport home winless over the weekend.
With four straight losses, Brockport will play two critical SUNYAC road games this coming weekend at SUNY Fredonia and Buffalo State. The Golden Eagles have earned just two conference points in four SUNYAC contests and are looking to make up ground as it sits in second-to-last place in the SUNYAC.
“Fredonia and Buffalo State are two teams that we are going to compete for a spot in the playoffs with,” Dickinson said. “We need to have a good week of practice and focus in on Fredonia and then worry about Buffalo State after that. If we can get some conference points, we can head into the break feeling good about ourselves.”
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