Brockport earns first playoff berth since 2009-10

By Brandon Wood
@Brandonwood27

For the first time in four seasons, the College at Brockport’s ice hockey team is going to the playoffs.

By defeating SUNY Fredonia 4-1 Friday night and getting some help from No. 12 SUNY Oswego defeating SUNY Potsdam, the Golden Eagles (9-12-3 overall, 6-8-1 SUNYAC) clinched a birth in this year’s SUNYAC tournament.

Brockport’s game ended about 10 minutes prior to Oswego’s win, so the team was together in the locker room waiting for official confirmation of its playoff berth.

“It was pretty amazing,” DeLuca said of his team’s locker room following the game. “When you think about it for four years straight, when you think about the amount people who said we couldn’t do it you sort of forget about all that for the past couple of weeks.

“We’ve just been in the zone for the past couple of weeks and it feels nice to have that moment to be able to say ‘Congratulations guys, you earned it,’ is something I’ll never forget.”

Similar to last week when it defeated Oswego for the first time in 11 years, this was Brockport’s first win against Fredonia since 2005.

Brockport scored three goals in two minutes, 48 seconds halfway through the first period to jump out to a 3-0 lead.

Chris Luker, the Golden Eagles’ top defenseman in points opened the scoring ten minutes into the contest when he skated through the right circle and wristed a shot into the back of the net.

Less than a minute later, Jonathan Demme scored what would be the game-winning goal. It was also Demme’s first goal of the season.

“There was a scramble right in the slot and [sophomore defenseman Chad] Cummings came up with the puck, made a nice play and got it to me,” Demme said. “I just got the shot off, luckily it didn’t get blocked next thing you know it’s in the back of the net.”

Sophomore forward Jesse Facchini scored on the power play to make it 3-0 with seven minutes remaining in the first period when he tipped a blast from the point by junior defenseman Bobby Chayka. Brockport’s power play, which entered the game ranked No. 7 nationally, finished the game 1-for-3.

Brockport made it 4-0 with five minutes remaining in the second period when senior Chris Cangro scored. This fourth goal chased Fredonia’s freshman goalie Jeff Flagler from the game, yielding four goals on 18 shots. His replacement, freshman Chris Eiserman made all nine possible saves after entering the game.

The lone goal from Fredonia came 50 seconds into the final frame after a scramble in front of the Brockport net. Junior goalie Aaron Green wasn’t tasked with the workload he had in his previous two wins against SUNY Cortland and Oswego (72-of-77 saves last weekend), but he made 16 saves in the win.

Green said it was tough at times during the game because he didn’t have to make many saves.

“It’s a hard game to play when you don’t get that many shots against you,” Green said. “You’re sitting down there, you start thinking and it’s really hard to stay focused. I would’ve liked to have that goal back, I left the rebound right there and the guy banked it in.

“Other than that, it was a good game. The guys continued to block shots and put up four tonight for me.”

The Golden Eagles moved into the No. 5 spot in the SUNYAC playoffs temporarily as they are tied with Fredonia in conference points after the win. Brockport holds the tiebreaker over Fredonia should both teams finish tied in the standings like they are now.

Brockport finishes its regular season schedule Saturday night against Buffalo State College, a team it could meet in the first round of the SUNYAC playoffs. Buffalo State will be the No. 4 seed in the SUNYAC tournament after tonight's results. If the current standings hold, Brockport will travel to Buffalo State to meet the Bengals in the first round of the playoffs Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Fredonia closes out its season against No. 11 SUNY Geneseo tomorrow night on the road. Geneseo can wrap up the SUNYAC regular season title with a win.

Just a couple weeks ago, Geneseo swept Brockport and the Golden Eagles were a point out of the playoffs with four games against teams higher in the standings than them at the time.

DeLuca said he never stopped believing in this team.

“Being here four years, I’ve seen my fair share of ups and downs,” DeLuca said. “Like I was asked yesterday, ‘What does playing at Brockport mean to me?’ It means perseverance. You keep working through it. Forget about the doubters, believe we can do it and that’s it.

“And we did it.”