Thursday, November 10, 2016

STYLUS RECAP OF LAST WEEKEND'S GAMES

Here's the Stylus report on last weekend's games, as written by Alison Muarer...



Men’s Ice Hockey faced a difficult weekend, losing to both the SUNY Oswego Lakers at home 5-1, and to the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons on Saturday, 5-4.

“We kept hanging on to the pucks, we missed the net on a lot. We gotta do better than that,” Head Coach Brian Dickinson said.

He did praise Captain Aidan Verbek for his leadership after the game. “Verbeke got in there and started giving it to them before I got in there,” he said, “He’s the guy to lead this team.”

The goal against Oswego went to Ryan Kangas in the third period.

“It’s nice to get one,” Kangas said, “I just wish it came earlier.”

The team was looking to bring momentum from the goal into the end of the period, but the momentum was stopped from another goal from the Lakers, effectively ending the game then and there.

“It was pretty disappointing for us,” sophomore Connor Bass said. “We prepped pretty hard for this game, but we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted. We showed that we can beat them, but it just didn’t happen for us today. Kangas showed us that we can pot goals, we just gotta get more shots.”

The game at Cortland was more evenly matched. The first period went to the Red Dragons easily, as they scored two goals, but only 90 seconds into the second period, sophomore Trevor Simonick scored his first collegiate goal. Minutes later, Verbeke scored for the Golden Eagles, tying the score. Before the end of the period, sophomore Tim Kielich took the lead for Brockport. The Red Dragons opened the third with a pair of goals, bringing the score up to 4-3 Cortland. Freshman Brian Carville tied the score, but in the last 90 seconds, Cortland managed to take the lead, and the game along with it, leaving Brockport behind in the standings.

Jamie Lukas is not giving up hope. The sophomore forward is looking to get his first collegiate goal in the next game. “I’m definitely hungry for a goal. It’s long overdue,” Lukas said, “Our line’s been buzzing. We’re hoping to get a nice garbage goal in the next one.”

With so many players getting their first scores so early in the season, the electricity is becoming contagious.

“Not the outcomes we wanted, but we got some positives,” Rob Hall, alternate captain and said. “We have a lot to look forward to this season.”

The team has found some lines and pairs that are starting to jive, and they plan to take those into the rest of the season to make the SUNYAC playoffs.

The crowd was lively, especially at the home game, an aspect the team really appreciated. The students were loud and proud, cheering for the Eagles for the whole 60 minutes, keeping the players focused and strong, ready for the next play.

“I was very happy with the crowd,” Dickinson said. “It’s great to see the fans and students here. I thought they were great and I hope that they’ll come out again in the coming weeks.” The cheers from the crowd are appreciated by coaches and players alike.

“I was happy, it was a lot more people than last year, for sure,” Lukas said. “I hope that we can get that for the rest of the season.”

This coming weekend will bring a “home and home series” with the Morrisville State College Mustangs. The Eagles will host the Mustangs on Friday Nov. 11 at 7 p.m., then they will travel to Morrisville on Saturday Nov. 12 to play at their rink, also at 7 p.m.




Source: http://www.thestylus.net/news/view.php/1025695/Hockey-faces-down-0-2-1-record-after-fir