Brockport falls to No. 4 Plattsburgh despite two two-goal leads

By Brandon Wood
@Brandonwood27

The College at Brockport's ice hockey team held 2-0 and 3-1 leads at different points in the game, but SUNY Plattsburgh outscored the Golden Eagles 5-2 in the last two periods of the game to beat Brockport 5-4 Saturday night. The Golden Eagles gave up the game-winning goal to Plattsburgh with just over one minute remaining on the clock.

Freshman Jake Taylor opened the scoring for the Golden Eagles (6-10-3 overall, 3-6-1 SUNYAC) 12 minutes into the game and sophomore defenseman Chris Luker followed up with a power-play goal three minutes later. Brockport’s power play was 1-for-3 in the game.

Plattsburgh’s power play put it on the board one minute into the second period, but freshman defenseman Rob Hall scored his third goal of the season two minutes later to answer for the Golden Eagles. Shortly after that, sophomore Plattsburgh goalie Spencer Finney was pulled for the Cardinals regular starter senior Mathieu Cadieux.

Cadieux allowed just one goal in his 35 minutes in net while Finney allowed three in 25 minutes.

Plattsburgh scored the next three goals unanswered throughout the next period and a half to take a 4-3 lead with slightly more than 10 minutes remaining in regulation. Brockport allowed two power-play goals to Plattsbugh in four chances, much different than when it stopped SUNY Potsdam all six times the night before.

“We were running around a little bit,” Brockport captain and penalty killer Matt DeLuca said of his team’s penalty kill. “Because they’re so quick and they like to move around we got away from staying in tight. Other than that, we probably could’ve blocked a few more shots.”

Brockport answered to tie the game with less than nine minutes remaining on the clock when sophomore Jesse Facchini tallied his third goal of the season. Facchini got the puck from Luker, broke away from everyone and backhanded the puck into the net.

The game came down to the wire, but Plattsburgh found a way to beat junior goalie Aaron Green with 1:10 remaining in the game and Brockport couldn’t score with an empty net. Green made 28-of-33 stops in net starting for an injured Jared Lockhurst, who aggravated a groin injury he had earlier in the season during Brockport's 4-1 win against SUNY Potsdam the night before. 

Despite the loss, Brockport Head Coach Brian Dickinson said he thought taking a nationally ranked team to the wire was important for his squad and was happy with his team’s effort.

“That was a great sixty minute battle against one of the best teams in the country,” Dickinson said. “We had the lead a couple times and we just have to finish things off. We played with them and put in a good effort and we let everyone know we aren’t going to roll over. They handled us pretty easy in their rink so I was proud of the effort all the way through.”

Plattsburgh defeated Brockport 6-0 when the Golden Eagles traveled there earlier this season.

By earning two conference points against Potsdam, Brockport remained in seventh place in the SUNYAC after the weekend. The Golden Eagles are just one conference point behind SUNY Cortland for the sixth and final playoff spot.

Brockport plays a home-and-home with SUNY Geneseo Friday, Feb. 7 and Saturday, Feb. 8. Friday’s game is at home and is Brockport’s annual Saves-for-a-Cure game. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Tuttle North Ice Arena.