Specialty teams lead the way to SUNYAC win against Morrisville

By: Brandon Wood


There were many things to take away from yesterday's College at Brockport ice hockey team’s win on the road against Morrisville State College Friday, Jan. 24. While the final score was 7-3, the Golden Eagles (5-8-3 overall, 2-4-1 SUNYAC) special teams and excellent line play gave the team two SUNYAC standings points they so desperately needed.

Specialty Teams Deliver

Morrisville’s penalty kill came into the game second-worst out of 72 NCAA Division III (D-III) teams and Brockport exploited it. Junior forward Troy Polino scored his third goal of the season just seven seconds into early first period power play. Polino also added his season’s fourth goal late in the first period at even strength. Polino had the most shots on net in the game with six.

“You know, playing here in Morrisville, there’s a large neutral zone,” Polino said after his two-goal first period. “The [power-play] goal was the first was a hell of a play by Taylor, we’ve been working on that in practice. And the second goal was a hell of a play by Robby Hall. He threw a backhand sauce hit me going full speed to the other end and I was able to finish.”

Freshman sophomore James Ryan scored the other power play goal for Brockport with three minutes remaining in the second period.

“[Morrisville] was cheating up to the point and they know sophomore defenseman Chris Luker has a great shot, so they rushed him and it opened up the seam,” Ryan said of the power play goal. “Luker made a play down to the seem and Chris Cangro made a great feed to me in front of the net.”

Brockport finished 2/2 on the power play against Morrisville, meaning the Mustangs have allowed 35 power play goals this season. Morrisville’s penalty kill percentage is an appalling 64.7 percent. The Mustangs have stopped just 62 of the 94 shorthanded situations.

Not only was the Golden Eagles power play working well tonight, but the penalty kill held the Mustangs to zero goals in four attempts. Brockport’s penalty kill ranks 50th in the penalty kill stopping 78.8 percent of attempts (67/85).

The last special teams note is that Brockport scored its first shorthanded goal of the season Friday. Jake Taylor scored his second goal of the period while Brockport was a man down and team-leading eighth goal of the season. Entering play Saturday, just nine of 72 D-III have yet to score a shorthanded goal.

Multiple Point Games

With Brockport scoring a plethora of goals tonight, many players had multi-point games for the Golden Eagles:

1.Freshman forward Jake Taylor (two goals, one assist).

2. Junior forward Polino (two goals, one assist).

3. Sophomore forward Shane Cavalieri (one goal, two assists).

4. Sophomore defenseman Chris Luker (two assists).

5. Senior forward Cangro (two assists).

6. Freshman defenseman Rob Hall (one goal, one assist).

4th Line is the Best Line?

Head Coach Dickinson put together the line of Jeremy DeFazio-Troy Polino-Shane Cavalieri prior to the Golden Eagles’ second half beginning. It’s safe to say he’s been happy with the results it has put up at even strength.

In the previous four unbeaten games, which is the program's longest undefeated streak since January 2010, this line has produced four goals, six assists and 10 points.

They are listed as the fourth line for the Brockport lineup, but the line is called on to skate more minutes than average fourth-liners would.

Morrisville plays better in second games of back-to-back games at home

With the new SUNYAC schedule this season pertaining to Morrisville, teams will either travel to Morrisville to play two nights in a row, or Morrisville travel to play two games on the road to play a back-to-back with them on the road. Teams will alternate who gets the back-to-back home games or road games against the Mustangs on an every other season basis.

While on the road, Morrisville (2-7-1 SUNYAC) came away with a measly 0-4-1 record on the road while facing SUNY Geneseo and SUNY Cortland on the road earlier this season.

At its home arena IcePlex, Morrisville is 1-7-1 in conference play this season with its lone win coming against Buffalo State Saturday, Nov. 9. Morrisville has played well in the second-half of back-to-backs at home this season, however.

The Mustangs followed up a 7-5 defeat to Buffalo State Friday, Nov. 8 with a 5-3 victory the following night. Later in the season when nationally-ranked SUNY Plattsburgh came into town, the Mustangs were drubbed 7-1 Friday, Nov. 1 and gave Plattsburgh a close game, falling 4-3 in regulation.

First year Morrisville Head Coach Kevin Krogol said he sees both positives and negatives to this new system SUNY has introduced.

“It’s definitely a little more beneficial than it has been in the past,” Krogol said. “Obviously in the past we were the odd man out without a travel partner. Before, we were always playing a rested opponent Saturday night and that isn’t fair.

“Personally, I’d still like to be in a situation where you play a team each semester. You get to play a team twice early or late in the semester and then you don’t get to play them again. But I can’t complain with the way it is now, it’s a lot better than it was in the past.”

SUNYAC Update

Along with the two points Brockport earned Friday, the final scores in SUNYAC contests helped their cause for the playoffs as the Golden Eagles moved within one point of overtaking Fredonia for the last SUNYAC playoff spot. The last time the Golden Eagles made the playoffs was the 2009-10 season. That means no players on this current roster have played a SUNYAC playoff game for Brockport in their career.

With SUNY Fredonia and SUNY Cortland falling to SUNY Oswego and Buffalo State College tonight, respectively, nobody at the bottom of the SUNYAC gained points except Brockport.

In order for the Golden Eagles to pull alone into the sixth and final SUNYAC playoff spot is by defeating Morrisville tomorrow night and Cortland defeats Fredonia on the road.

There are many scenarios that would allow the Golden Eagles to be tied for that final playoff spot depending on the scenario, but losing to Morrisville would allow the Mustangs to end up tied with Brockport again in the standings.

As a reminder, the top six teams make the SUNYAC Playoffs every season and they begin this year Wednesday, Feb. 13.

SUNYAC Standings (as of Saturday, Jan. 25.)

*2 points for a conference win, one point for a tie

1. SUNY Plattsburgh (8-0-2 SUNYAC) – 18 points

2. SUNY Geneseo (7-1) – 14 points

3. Buffalo State College (5-3-2) – 12 points

4. SUNY Oswego (5-3-1) – 11 points

5. SUNY Cortland (3-6-1) – 7 points

6. SUNY Fredonia (2-4-2) – 6 points

7. The College at Brockport (2-4-1) – 5 points

8. SUNY Morrisville (1-7-1) – 3 points

9. SUNY Potsdam (1-7) – 2 points

bwood2@u.brockport.edu

@brandonwood27