SUNYAC wrap: Dec. 12

Brockport Stuns Elmira
Brockport upset the number six team in the nation, Elmira, in thrilling fashion, 4-3, in overtime.
“We did a really good job taking away their rushes up the ice,” Brockport coach Brian Dickinson said. “Watching film of their game against Fredonia, we noticed they really like to get up the ice and then spin off and feed the trailers.”
It certainly helped to eliminate Elmira’s scoring chances, as they barely outshot Brockport, 33-30. Elmira did, however, score first very early at 1:13.
Brockport maintained its composure for the next 28 minutes, enabling them to tie it up at 9:06 of the second on a Mike Hayward power-play goal.
The score remained 1-1 heading into what turned out to be an exciting third period. The pivotal moment came at the end of the second period when Brett Jendra took a five-minute major and game misconduct for contact to the head, enabling Elmira to start the third with a major power play.
Elmira took advantage of it at 1:10 for the 2-1 lead. However, Ian Finnerty tied the game 42 seconds later with a short-hander.
“That was the key moment in the game,” Dickinson said. “Instead of them feeling good scoring early on a major penalty, we turned around and negated that goal.”
Besides that major penalty, the story in the game was the number of penalties Elmira took — 11.
“We wanted to concentrate on getting physical with them, because they have a tendency to take penalties,” Dickinson said. “The amount of power play time we got wore down their best players.”
Elmira did regain the lead during a power play of its own at 13:38.
Brockport pulled its goalie, and with seven seconds left in regulation, found the back of the net.
After Hayward fired twice at the net, Adam Shoff picked up the loose puck and fed James Cody back at the blue line. With all the action toward the net just previous to this pass, Cody found himself unchallenged. He quickly fired a hard shot that found its way through bodies and past the goaltender.
The winning goal was scored, appropriately, by Brockport breaking up an Elmira rush. Cody left the puck for Hayward, who hit Finnerty in stride. Finnerty skated the puck into the zone and then let go of a slap shot from the top of the circle, blowing it by the goalie 58 seconds into the extra period.
“Just a perfect shot,” Dickinson said. “Finnerty’s been playing really well.”
Aaron Green made 30 saves for the win. Cody hit the 100 point career mark.
In the battle of the Eagles, the Golden variety were superior to the Soaring type.
Other Highlights
– Geneseo completed the SUNYAC sweep over the best team in the ECAC West, beating Elmira, 4-2. After Elmira once again scored very quickly (this time 16 seconds in), Geneseo got the next four, with Rich Manley getting the first two, followed by two power-play goals by Zachary Vit and Clint Olson. Adrian Rubeniuk made 33 saves.
– Oswego won a defensive style 2-1 victory over Hobart. Chris Brown scored first at 6:34 of the second period. Hobart tied it up in the third before Jesse McConnery won it at 13:50 with a shot from the right point which went five-hole. Andrew Hare made 19 saves, 11 of them in the third period.
– Fredonia swept Johnson and Wales, 3-1 and 5-2. Alex Perkins scored all three goals in the first game on a natural hat trick, with one in the first and two in the third. Mark Friesen made 32 saves. In the second game, Will McLaughlin scored the first two goals to get the Blue Devils going. Friesen made 31 saves.
– Plattsburgh was unable to hang onto a two-goal lead entering the third period and had to settle for a 4-4 tie. Ryan Craig tied it at one, and Ryan Farnan tied it at two in the first period. Jared Docking scored twice in the second for the 4-2 lead.
– Geneseo was cruising over Salve Regina, taking a 4-0 lead with two in the first and two in the first 2:12 of the second period. Then, the Ice Knights got into penalty trouble, and Salve Regina scored four straight to end the second tied. Geneseo recovered, scoring three times in the third for the 7-4 win. Seven different players scored the Geneseo goals.
– Cortland won its first game against New England College, 4-3, before losing the second by the identical score. The game-winner was a short-handed score by Adam Bevilacqua. Earlier, Josh LaRose also got a short-handed goal which gave the Red Dragons a 2-1 lead. Cortland was outshot, 40-20, as Jeff Molner made 37 saves.
– Earlier in the week, Buffalo State beat Hobart, 3-1, thanks to three third period goals, the first two coming 33 seconds apart. Ryan Malinowski made 33 saves.