Lockhurst stops 37 in Brockport win

By Brandon Wood

@Brandonwood27

SUNY Potsdam outshot the College at Brockport's ice hockey team in every period and 38-28 in total during its game in Brockport Friday. However, sophomore goalie Jared Lockhurst was on his game and stopped 37 Potsdam shots as Brockport earned two crucial conference points in a 4-1 win.

The Golden Eagles (6-9-3 overall, 3-5-1 SUNYAC) were outshot 8-1 and took two penalties in the first ten minutes of the game. Brockport was being outshot 11-4 when senior forward Chris Cangro scored his third goal of the season for the Golden Eagles on the power play 13 minutes into the game.

Brockport doubled its advantage early in the second period when a shot by sophomore Chris Luker was misplayed by Potsdam goalie Shane Talarico and found the back of the net. There were no players in front of Talarico as the puck appeared to handcuff the senior goaltender and bounce off his glove into his net. It was Luker's fifth goal of the season.

Potsdam answered with a goal of its own with four minutes remaining in the second, but Brockport scored twice in the final frame to secure the win. 

Sophomore Chase Nieuwendyk scored his sixth of a season on a power-play goal and freshman Andrew Parks scored his third after a great individual play by freshman Nick Marinac. Marinac skated through two defenseman past Potsdam's net, bringing both defenseman with him behind the net before passing to Parks who was all alone in the slot.

Brockport, which entered the game ranked seventh in the nation on the power play, went 2-for-6 on the power play while holding Potsdam to 0-for-6 with the man advantage.

"I think we have great puck control," Niewendyk said about his team's power play. "Our biggest thing is that we get pucks to the net off scrambles and we're always attacking."

Lockhurst, who missed part of the season with a groin injury, appeared to re-injure his groin with about nine minutes remaining in the game but remained in the game until the end.

Following the game, Lockhurst confirmed he aggravated the injury, but said he felt good enough to stay in the game. Golden Eagles Head Coach Brian Dickinson said he was unsure who would start in net Saturday against No. 4 SUNY Plattsburgh because of the injury.

"When it happened, I looked over at [Assistant Coach Nick] Unger and said 'Can't anything go easy for us?'," Dickinson said of the injury and Brockport's predisposition for injuries this season. "The trainer went out and came back to tell us Lockhurst wanted to give it a go and Lockhurst made a couple of big saves.

"We'll see how he feels when he wakes up and make a decision on who starts tomorrow at that point."

Dickinson said his team needs to be ready for an angry Plattsburgh team which lost its first conference game at SUNY Geneseo 5-3 Friday night.

"We can expect a hungry wolf tomorrow," Dickinson said. "We've been on the wrong end of some games when Geneseo has beaten Plattsburgh or Oswego and those guys come in here ready to play. Those coaches have been in the league a long time and they know how to get the best play out of their guys."

Nieuwendyk echoed his coach's sentiment and said his team needs to be ready to play a full game Saturday.

"Plattsburgh's a team that never really loses two in a row," Nieuwendyk said. "We have to come out in the first ten minutes and take it to them."

Puck drop between Plattsburgh and Brockport is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Tuttle North Ice Arena Saturday.

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Nieuwendyk and Luker, who both tallied goals, extended their team-leading point streaks to five games apiece. Nieuwendyk (one goal, one assist), Luker (one goal, one assist), Cangro (one goal, one assist) and Marinac (two assists) all had multi-point games for the Golden Eagles.

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Brockport swept Potsdam in their season series for the first time since the 2007-08 season. In the past seven seasons, the Golden Eagles have only swept four total conference series. In addition to the two Potsdam sweeps (including this season), the Golden Eagles swept Geneseo in the 2008-09 season and SUNY Cortland last season.