Wednesday, December 8, 2010

STYLUS REPORT ON OSWEGO, CORTLAND GAMES

From the pages of this week's Stylus...

Hockey nets first win
Andy Lipari

Finally. Brockport's hockey team can take a deep breath after picking up its first victory of the season with a 4-2 home-game victory over Cortland on Saturday, Dec. 4 at home. The win came after a 4-2 loss Friday, Dec. 3 to the No. 1 team in the nation, Oswego, on Friday, Dec. 3.

As Brendon Rothfuss put in the empty net goal for Brockport with 41 seconds left, the team and its fans let out a collective deep breath. Jarrett Gold had scored for Cortland to make it 3-2 just 50 seconds before. The win means the Golden Eagles can stop hearing "when are you going to win one" and they can move forward with the rest of their season.

Brockport captain Justin Noble said the team came into the weekend with a determined attitude.

"Week after week we try to look for a way to win," Noble said. "We came into this weekend with the mentality that we were going to get a win. We had a good effort against Oswego and an even better effort against Cortland where we were on the winning side."

Goaltending was the difference in this game. Freshman Joe Reagan had 39 saves for Brockport and Brittan Kuhlamn stopped 36 shots for Cortland. He also had a crucial misplay of the puck, which led to Brockport's second goal. Tom Galiani raced down the ice and Kuhlamn fanned on the puck to try and send it back to the other end. Galiani maneuvered around two defenders and put the puck in an open net to give Brockport a 2-1 lead in the second period.

Brockport Head Coach Brian Dickinson said both of his goalies are capable of being No. 1 goaltenders, but that this is what they thought they were getting when they recruited Reagan.

"It took Reagan a little while to catch up to the speed of the game and put himself in a position to succeed," Dickinson said. "Quite frankly, an injury gave Joe a chance to play some games and he played great in the tournament (last weekend).

"They both knew by Wednesday (Oliver) Wren was going to start against Oswego and Joe was going to start against Cortland, which gave them a chance to just focus on one game this weekend. I thought they both played very well."

Dickinson said either goalie could start the only game next weekend.

The diaper dandies continued to play well for Brockport. The game was tied 1-1 after the first period following a goal by Cortland's Joey Christiano and a goal from Brockport freshman Mike Baxter.

After Galiani scored, another freshman, Pat Hayden, made the lead 3-1 for Brockport in the third period. Brockport had five power plays in the third period. The man-up opportunities could have salted the game away, but they were unable to capitalize, so the game stayed close until the end.

Brockport players said the way they played against Oswego the night before helped them gain confidence for the win over Cortland. Junior James Cody said the team lost, but took away a lot from the Oswego game.

"We played them hard and tried to take the body to them as much as we could," Cody said. "We didn't come out with a win, but we came out with enthusiasm."

Cody has a team-high seven goals and has scored a point in 10 of 12 games Brockport has played thus far.

Friday's game with Oswego looked every bit like a winless team against one of the nation's best, as Brockport fell behind 3-0 in the first period. Oswego's Paul Rodriges, Chris Mulse and Luke Moodie all scored goals for the Lakers.

Brockport came out with much more intensity in the second and third periods. Galiani found the back of the net in the second period, but Moodie answered for Oswego to make the lead 4-1. Galiani scored again in the third.

Oliver Wren stopped 26 shots for Brockport and Paul Beckwith had to make only 15 saves for Oswego.

Brockport now stands at 1-10-1, and 1-7 in the SUNYAC conference. Dickinson said with the first win out of the way they can start making a run to get into a playoff position. They are only a game behind Cortland and Potsdam.

"Now our guys can loosen up and stop hearing about when are we going to win," Dickinson said. "We can focus on the things we are good at and springboard us into a successful second semester."