Buff State onslaught leads to early exit for Golden Eagles

By Brandon Wood

@Brandonwood27

A 7-2 loss and an early exit from the SUNYAC playoffs was all the College at Brockport’s ice hockey team could manage in its first trip to the playoffs in four seasons against Buffalo State College Wednesday, Feb. 26.

Numerous defensive breakdowns and five goals for Buffalo State in the second period doomed the Golden Eagles (10-13-3 overall), which trailed 4-0 at one point in the game.

“This is not the way you want to end the season,” Brockport Head Coach Brian Dickinson said after seeing a season long four-game winning streak come to an end.

Buffalo State freshman Nick Berst opened the scoring 13 minutes into the game and he also scored shorthanded with just one minute remaining to double the Bengals’ advantage. Brockport finished the season with a 2-11 record when allowing the first goal in all games this season, including the playoff game.

The Golden Eagles began to unravel in the second period, allowing all of Buffalo State’s five goals in the period on odd-man rushes and backdoor goals.

“A couple times we pinched in when we shouldn’t have,” sophomore defenseman Chad Cummings said. “A couple of bad bounces hopped over our sticks and they took it the other way and capitalized on their opportunities. That was just how it was going tonight, we couldn’t get a bounce to go our way.”

Bengals junior Dan Turgeon scored twice in the first ten minutes on odd-man rushes to make it 4-0 Buffalo State.

The Golden Eagles responded with two goals in a minute to cut the lead to 4-2.

Sophomore Chris Luker scored a power-play goal for Brockport 13 minutes into the period. Despite having six chances with a man advantage, the Golden Eagles’ No. 7 nationally ranked power play only scored once in the game.

Senior Chris Cangro added a goal one minute, 11 seconds later. Cangro was wide open to the left of the Buffalo State goal and buried the puck in the back of the net after a nice pass from senior Brendon Rothfuss across the crease.

The Bengals didn’t allow Brockport to get closer than two goals and put the game out of reach with three goals in three minutes late in the third period.

Junior Aaron Green allowed seven goals on 27 shots, but Dickinson said the number of goals Green gave up was misleading due to the amount of odd-man rushes the Bengals had.

“Couldn’t fault [Green] for anything,” Dickinson said. “You see 7-2, most coaches are probably looking to make a goalie change there but Green did such a fantastic job of getting us here with the run of four games he was nothing short of excellent. When they’re just constantly passing backdoor and we’re not picking guys up and they’re putting the puck in the empty side, that’s not something you can fault the goaltender for.”

Neither team scored in the final period of the game, but Dickinson said he liked how his team played in the final frame.

“I thought we did a great job in the third period after the way the second period went for us and we had some scoring chances but we couldn’t finish,” Dickinson said. “I was proud of the way we finished [the game].”

Brockport outshot the Bengals 14-10 in the third period.

The Golden Eagles will lose six members of their team to graduation, including Cangro, alternate captain Rothfuss and captain Matt DeLuca, who were all on the ice against the Bengals. Forwards Steve Sachman and Bobby Conner, and defenseman Sean Wallace are the other seniors on the team.

“It’s probably bittersweet for them,” Dickinson said. “It’s really never easy to end your career. These guys did something that the previous three senior classes weren’t able to do and that’s make it to the playoffs and that’s something to be proud of.”