Saturday, February 3, 2018

Brockport beats Morrisville 4-0

The College at Brockport ice hockey team skates by State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) opponent Morrisville State, by a final score of 4-0. The Golden Eagles move to 10-10-1 in 2018, where the Mustangs fall to 6-13-3.

The Green and Gold came out battling in the opening period as they rifled off four straight shots, but could not convert any to keep the game scoreless. Brockport kept the offensive pressure up as they outshot Morrisville 15-3 throughout the period. The Golden Eagles were first to jump ahead 1-0, as Aidan Verbeke collected his own rebound off a shot and slotted it past the goalie.

Brockport started the second period with a man-down, after a costly penalty to end the previous period. The Golden Eagles penalty killed shut down the Mustang power play as both of their shots could not be put on the frame. Both teams battled it out back and forth for the remainder of the period, but no shots were able to hit the back of the net to keep the same score heading into the final period.

With holding a 1-0 advantage, the Brockport defense locked down to stop any offense threat by Morrisville. Goalie Matt Schneider kept the Mustangs off the scoresheet after stopping three different breakaways during the third. The lead increased to 2-0 with a few minutes to play in the last period. Connor Hutchins hit Zac Sikich with a pass on the fast break, that he shot high over the goalie's shoulder into the back of the cage. In one last attempted to get back into the game Morrisville pulled their goalie, to only have Brandon McMartin capitalize on the empty net to pull ahead 3-0. 21 seconds later, Danny Rock grinded out the final goal for the Green and Gold, as he carried the puck across the net and beat the goalie far side.

Verbeke and Sikich led the offensive charge for the Golden Eagles as they both finished with a goal and as assist. Hutchins, Luke Bennett, and Shane Visnick each dished out an assist on the night. Schneider blanked the Mustangs as he was a perfect 12 for 12 on saves.