Brockport downs Buffalo State for fourth straight win to end regular season

By Brandon Wood
@Brandonwood27

Another win for the College at Brockport’s ice hockey team has it on its longest winning streak since the 2009-10 season. Coincidentally, that’s the last time the Golden Eagles made the playoffs.

Brockport (10-12-3 overall, 7-8-1 SUNYAC) defeated Buffalo State College Saturday night 3-2 to lock up the No. 5 seed in the SUNYAC playoffs and set up a rematch with the No. 4 seed Bengals in Buffalo Wednesday night. It was Brockport’s fourth win in a row.

“To quote one of my favorite movies, Bull Durham, ‘Man it’s so much better than losing,’” Brockport Head Coach Brian Dickinson said of his team’s winning streak.

The Golden Eagles played all their seniors that were healthy scratches for the entirety of the second half of the season starting in January. Sophomore Shane Cavalieri, freshman Nate Pelligra and freshman Rob Hall all sat out Saturday to make space for seniors Steve Sachman, Bobby Conner and Sean Wallace.

“They showed a little bit of rust early, but that was to be expected,” Dickinson said. “They just got better as the game went on. Their line mates and defensive partners were talking to them a lot and we (the coaches) were communicating with them.

“We were reminding them to do all the little things we need to do because we knew they’d be tired after not seeing game action in a while. I was happy with all three of them and they all contributed to the win.”

Brockport opened the scoring seven minutes into the contest while on the power play when sophomore James Ryan found the back of the net. It was Ryan’s eighth goal of the season.

The Golden Eagles doubled their advantage five minutes into the second period when senior Chris Cangro and sophomore Chase Nieuwendyk had a 2-on-1 breakaway. Cangro fed the puck across the goalmouth to Nieuwendyk and he put the puck past senior Buffalo goalie Kevin Carr for his eighth goal of the season. Carr finished the game with 29 saves.

Buffalo found a way to beat junior goalie Aaron Green twice in less than a minute to tie the game late in the second period. Green made 32 total saves in his fourth straight game in net for the Golden Eagles, with Brockport winning all four. It was 2-2 after two periods.

The Golden Eagles proceeded to take two minor penalties immediately after Buffalo State tied it. Jeremy DeFazio was sent off for interference and on the ensuing faceoff for the Bengals’ power play, freshman Andrew Parks was sent to the box for crosschecking.

Down 5-on-3 for one minute, 52 seconds, Brockport found a way to keep Buffalo State out of the back of their net until the end of the second period. With 49 seconds remaining to kill in the 5-on-3 power play entering the third period, Dickinson told his team they would win if they killed off the penalties.

“I told the team ‘If you kill of this 5-on-3, we’re going to win this game,’ and they believed in it” Dickinson said.

Brockport successfully killed off the penalty early in the third period, and finished the game a perfect 7-for-7 on the penalty kill.

The Golden Eagles earned a power play chance of their own soon after, and freshman forward Nick Marinac played the role of hero for the Golden Eagles by burying the game-winning goal.

“Definitely not the hero, I’d give that title to James Ryan on the excellent pass,” Marinac said.

Marinac was all alone to the left of the net when Ryan sent the puck his way on a nice feed from the right slot for his fifth goal of the season. Brockport’s power play, ranked No. 7 in the nation entering the night, finished 2-for-4 on the night.

Marinac said Brockport needs to outwork Buffalo State in the upcoming rematch in the first round of the playoffs.

“Buffalo State is a really good team,” Marinac said. “They worked hard and we’re just going to have to match that and go a little bit beyond like we did tonight.”

Puck drop for Brockport’s first round playoff game is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday from Ice Arena at Buffalo State College.