The Brockport ice hockey (11-13-1, 7-9-0) team completed the season
sweep of No. 15 Plattsburgh Saturday afternoon, and with the 8-4 win
secured their spot in the SUNYAC playoffs. This is the first time in
program history the Golden Eagles have defeated the Cardinals in both
regular season matchups.
The two senior members of the ice hockey team, Jake Taylor and Rob Hall, were honored after the game for their contributions to the program throughout their time at Brockport.
Despite the final score, the first period of this contest was a
defensive battle, with neither team able to score until the 14:47 mark
when Plattsburgh's Jesse Neher was able to break the tie. Just a few
minutes later though, David Horan buried his first goal of the season off a beautiful wraparound pass from Doc Gentzler to even things back up, which was the way the teams would head to the first intermission.
The second stanza was when the scoring really started to open up, as the
teams combined for eight goals, five of which came from the home team. Dylan Shapiro gave Brockport their first lead of the game just 03:05 into the first when he took a feed from Jake Taylor and wristed it past the Plattsburgh goaltender.
Scoring subsided for about five minutes after that, until the 8:10 mark
when Brockport scored three goals in just 0:28 seconds to take a
commanding 5-1 lead. Aidan Verbeke had the first goal on the power play from Taylor and Connor Hutchins, before Gentzler and Tim Kielich got into the action, each burying even strength goals.
Gentzler was not finished in the period, as the freshman recorded his
third point of the night at the 15:24 mark of the second on the power
play off assists from Shapiro and Kielich. The tally put Brockport up
6-4, a lead they would carry into the final stanza.
Horan gave Brockport a bit of insurance midway through the third period
when he netted his second of the season and of the game to give the team
a 7-4 lead. Trailing by three, Plattsburgh was forced to pull their
goaltender with over four minutes remaining in regulation, which allowed
Shapiro to pad his stats with an empty net goal which was assisted by Brian Hurlimann.
This is the second straight game the ice hockey team has put up eight
goals, and the offensive explosion came at just the right time, as their
weekend sweep of Potsdam and Plattsburgh propels them into the final
conference playoff slot. They'll now await the results of the games
tonight to see who they will face in the 3 vs. 6 matchup Wednesday night
at 7 p.m.
