Thursday, January 30, 2014

Teams look to move up conference in SUNYAC play this weekend

By Brandon Wood
@Brandonwood27

SUNY Fredonia currently holds the sixth and final playoff spot in the SUNYAC, but SUNY Morrisville could jump them this weekend by winning both of its games against Fredonia this weekend. Morrisville plays at Fredonia tomorrow and Saturday.

The College at Brockport is another team who could occupy that sixth spot, and that's only if Fredonia and Morrisville split the weekend or a tie and Morrisville winning once. The Golden Eagles would also have to successfully earn all four standings points against SUNY Potsdam and No. 4 SUNY Plattsburgh this weekend.

With Potsdam up first this weekend tomorrow night for Brockport, Assistant Coach Greg Schwind lit into his team during a defensive drill at practice Thursday. Several goals were scored against the defensive units, and Schwind stopped practice to provide extra motivation for his team.

"Do you want to lose these two games?" Schwind said to his team on the ice. "Because if you play defense like this we'll lose both this weekend."

On the ensuing drill after Schwind called his team's defense out, the tempo picked up on the next shift. The line of sophomore Shane Cavalieri, junior Troy Polino and sophomore Jeremy DeFazio cleared the zone relatively quickly. Schwind slammed his stick on the ice in approval of a much better drill from the defensive unit.

Additionally, Brockport could jump past SUNY Cortland into a playoff spot if Cortland loses at No. 10 SUNY Oswego Saturday night and the Golden Eagles pick up all four conference points. Brockport has played at least one less conference game than everyone in the conference except Potsdam and SUNY Geneseo, which dropped out of the USCHO national rankings this week.

Geneseo hosts Plattsburgh and Potsdam this weekend as well. Geneseo looks to avenge its only conference loss which came earlier this season at Plattsburgh.

Buffalo State College does not play any games this weekend.

Here are the current SUNYAC Standings*:


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

1. No. 4 SUNY Plattsburgh (8-0-2 SUNYAC) – 18 points
2. SUNY Geneseo (7-1) – 14 points
3. Buffalo State College (6-3-2) – 14 points
4. No. 10 SUNY Oswego (5-3-1) – 11 points
5. SUNY Cortland (3-6-2) – 8 points
6. SUNY Fredonia (2-4-3) – 7 points
7. The College at Brockport (2-5-1) – 5 points
8. SUNY Morrisville (2-7-1) – 5 points
9. SUNY Potsdam (1-7) – 2 points

The SUNYAC handbook states that the tiebreakers for having the same conference points are as follows:

1. The best record of tied teams against each other based on Conference play (tournament play will not be considered).
2. Number of total Conference wins over ties if points are equal.
3. Goal differential against each other in Conference play.
4. Goal differential against all other Conference teams.
5. Coin flip by Commissioner.

**********

Here's the composite schedule for all SUNYAC teams this weekend:


Friday, Jan. 31:

Potsdam at Brockport, 7 p.m.

No. 4 Plattsburgh at Geneseo, 7 p.m.

Morrisville at Fredonia, 7 p.m.


Saturday, Feb. 1:

No. 4 Plattsburgh at Brockport, 7 p.m.

Potsdam at Geneseo, 7 p.m.

Morrisville at Fredonia, 7 p.m.

Cortland at No. 10 Oswego, 7 p.m.




No comments:

Post a Comment