Sunday, January 27, 2013

BROCKPORT BEATS CORTLAND; EAGLE NOW IN 4th PLACE

Sophomore Aaron Green (Mt. Albert, ONT/St. Michaels Buzzers) did not make the start Saturday night against Cortland but he was the difference entering the game with The College at Brockport Hockey team down 3-1 to the Red Dragons and sparking a comeback as the Golden Eagles scored twice in the third period to post a 6-4 victory in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) game at Alumni Arena in Cortland.

The key conference road win for Brockport (5-13-2 Overall, 4-7-1 SUNYAC) puts the Golden Eagles in a tie for fourth place in the conference standings with Buffalo State.

Cortland (6-12-2, 2-8-1) took the early lead and held a 3-1 advantage in the first period before starter Jared Lockhurst (Caledon, ONT/Wellington Dukes) was replaced in goal by Green. The change seemed to spark the Golden Eagles offense and Brockport came out in the second period scoring three times to knot the score at 4-4 after two periods of play.

In the third period, Brockport killed off a long powerplay opportunity for Cortland and three minutes into the period, Chris Cangro (Holbrook, NY/NY Bobcats) scored with assists from Jonathan Demme (Brampton, ONT/Orangeville Flyers) and Jesse Facchini (Mississauga, ONT/Mississauga Chargers) for the first Brockport lead of the game.

Less than five minutes later, Michael Zagari (McKees Rocks, PA/Jamestown Ironmen) scored his second goal of the game to give Brockport an important two-goal advantage at the 7:41 mark of the period. Assists on the goal were credited to Troy Polino (Limerick, PA/NY Bobcats) and Steve Sachman (Medford, NY/NY Bobcats).

Green played the final two periods making 20 saves in the second period and adding 13 in the third for a total of 33.

Brendon Rothfuss (Webster, NY/Syracuse Stars) scored Brockport's lone goal in the first period. Facchini started the rally in the second period with a powerplay goal at 5:35 of the period. At the 9:58 mark, Zagari scored to tie the game at 3-3 but the Red Dragons answered 1:33 later with its fourth goal of the game for a 4-3 lead. At the 17:08 mark of the second period, Rothfuss scored his first goal of the game to tie the score again at 4-4.

Late in the period, Chris Luker (New Hartford, NY/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) was whistled for a five-minute major for hitting from behind and was also assessed a game misconduct. The five-minute powerplay carried over to the third period.

Two minutes into the third, a series of roughing penalties erased the extra-man opportunity for Cortland and 39 seconds later Cangro scored to give Brockport the lead for good.