Saturday, January 20, 2018

The Blue Devils bedevil Brockport

The College at Brockport ice hockey team falls to conference opponent SUNY Fredonia Friday evening, losing by a final score of 3-1. The Golden Eagles drop to 9-7-1 (3-4-1) on the season, where the Blue Devils move to 8-5-3 (4-3).

Brockport trailed early in the opening period as Fredonia took a 1-0 lead three minutes into play. The Green and Gold's offense picked up the pace as they fired off six straight shots but could not find the back side of the cage. Midway through the period, the Blue Devils suffered a penalty which gave the Golden Eagles a power play opportunity.  Over the two-minute man-up advantage, Brockport rifled off eight shots but all of them were saved by the Fredonia goalie. The Blue Devils attempted to notch a late goal in the first period, but goaltender Jake Moore stopped all shots on frame to keep the score the same heading into the next period.

The deficit was doubled for Brockport early in the new period as the Blue Devils added their second goal of the game. The Golden Eagles continued to struggle as they allowed back-to-back power plays for Fredonia. The Brockport penalty kill proved why they are ranked first in the country, as they smothered all offense threats by the Blue Devils to have the score remain the same. The Green and Gold found some luck as they scored their first goal of the contest with 30 seconds left to go in the period on the power play. After a faceoff win, Aidan Verbeke hit Chris Pollini with the puck, then passed it over it Zac Sikich who ripped his shot past the keeper.

The third period was a hard-fought battle by both teams, but it was Fredonia who pulled away with the victory. Brockport fired off 14 shots on frame but could not convert any into goals. The gap was widened further for the Golden Eagles as Fredonia tallied a late goal to set the final score at 3-1.