Sunday, November 5, 2017

Brockport remains unbeaten after Buffalo State game

The College at Brockport ice hockey team kept their unbeaten streak alive on Saturday evening with a 3-3 tie against Buffalo State. The Golden Eagles now sit at 3-0-1 on the season (1-0-1 SUNYAC), while the Bengals move to 1-1-1 (0-1-1 SUNYAC).

The first period of play was a defensive battle, as neither team was able to get on the board in the 20 minute stanza. The Golden Eagles had a pair of power play chances late in the period, but the Bengal PK unit held strong, keeping the Green and Gold off the board.

Buffalo State got the scoring started at the 03:13 mark of the second stanza, giving Brockport their first deficit of the young season. It didn't last long however, as Aidan Verbeke notched his third goal of the season less than five minutes later to knot the score at a goal apiece.

The Green and Gold took their first lead of the game a few minutes later in the period when Casey Winn, who's the defending D3hockey.com Defensive Player of the Week, scored his first goal of the season off assists from Tim Kielich and Dylan Shapiro to put the Golden Eagles on top 2-1.

After Brandon McMartin got called for hooking at the 16:50 mark, the Bengals took advantage of their power-play, tying the score up again at 2-2 after Mac Wood scored his second of the game. The second period would end with the teams knotted up.

Connor Hutchins kept up the back-and-forth scoring trend early in the third period when he scored his fourth goal in as many games, with assists coming from Zac Sikich and Aidan Verbeke. The goal appeared to be the game winner, as the Golden Eagles held onto a 3-2 lead deep into the period, but the Bengals pulled their goalie in favor of an extra skater late, and tied the game at 3-3 with just 0:24 seconds remaining in regulation, sending the game into overtime.

Brockport had a few quality chances in the overtime period, but some key stops from the Buffalo State goalie kept them off the board, and the game ended in a 3-3 tie.

Jake Moore ended the game with 32 saves in net for a .914 save percentage.