Sunday, February 23, 2020

Brockport loses to Geneseo in regular season finale

The SUNY Brockport men's hockey team fought hard in a gritty 6-4 loss against nationally-ranked No.2 SUNY Geneseo in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday night at the Tuttle North Ice Arena.  Brockport's Ethan Solat totaled a team-high two goals and added one assist while Connor Hutchins chipped in with two helpers for the Golden Eagles.

Brockport (15-9-1, 8-7-1 SUNYAC) has clinched home ice for a first round playoff game on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. after totaling 17 league points and a third place tie with Buffalo State in the regular season conference standings.  Geneseo (20-3-2, 13-1-2 SUNYAC) has clinched the top seed and a first round bye in the SUNYAC Championships.

The Golden Eagles fell into an early 4-0 hole in the first 20 minutes of action.  Gordie Helmuth got the Knights on the board in the first period at the 6:11 marker.  Less than a minute later, Chris Perna netted his sixth of the season to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.  Tyson Gilmour then found the back of the net twice to push the Knight's lead to 4-0 at the conclusion of the first period.

Brockport's comeback bid began at the 6:49 mark of the second period when Ethan Solat netted his first of two goals off an assist from Doc Gentzler to make it a 4-1 contest.

Geneseo would add two more second period goals to take a commanding 6-1 lead at the 17:47 mark of the second period.  However, Brockport would not go down without a fight and Jeremy Solat found the back of the net for his eighth goal of the season with 31 seconds left in the second period to begin the Golden Eagles' late surge.  Ethan Solat and Connor Hutchins were each credited with an assist on the goal that made the score 6-2.  Hutchins now has 96 career points in the Green and Gold.

Brockport added two more third period goals to make it interesting.  Jake Colosanti registered his 10th goal of the year off assists from Hunter Laslo and Jordan Renaud at 13:35 of the third period to cut Brockport's deficit in half, 6-3.

Ethan Solat then netted his second of the night at 14:41 to make the score 6-4.  Hutchins' assisted on what would be Brockport's final goal of the contest.

Matt Schneider stopped 35 shots in net for the Golden Eagles as his record moved to 13-8-1 overall on the season.  He is just one win shy of tying the program record for wins in a single season.  Aaron MacKay stopped 15 shots in net for Geneseo.

The Knights outshot the Golden Eagles 41-19 on the day and they also went 2-for-8 on the power-play.