By: Brayden Peters
BROCKPORT, N.Y. - The Brockport Golden Eagles hockey team got a bit of payback after falling to the Chatham Cougars 5-0 last night. Today, Brockport came out on top 6-3 for its first win at home this season on Alumni Night.
"Sometimes you got to be brutally honest with your guys and the message before the game was 'energy in your rink," Brockport head coach Brian Dickinson said. "'Some of you guys have gotten chance after chance after chance and we're seeing the same mistakes being made. Tonight was your last chance and if you didn't play the right way, we have seven guys that sit out every night. Some of those guys deserve an opportunity to play and if you didn't do things the right way, you would make it easy for who we were going to pull out.' It got their attention."
The last two minutes of the second period not only increased the Golden Eagles' chances of winning, but defined how the game went. Chatham was up on a five-on-three power play as they were looking to tie things up at four apiece. However, a major blocked shot from sophomore defenseman Victor Malzahn, two blocked shots from sophomore forward Schuyler Flansburg and three saves from goalie Cole Hudson helped killed off both penalties. The saves Hudson made came on one-timer slap shots.
"It was such a big turning point," Dickinson said. "Those are just the parts of the game that you got to really build off of and I thought our guys did. Right at the end of the period, so we were able to go into the third period without a lot of juice and brought that same energy back out and that was good to see."
Brockport junior forward Chase Maxwell was the only Golden Eagle to record more than a point in the contest. He posted two assists on the night and is now tied with sophomore forward Spencer Flansburg for the team lead in assists with six this season.
Hudson recorded 37 saves to give him a .925 save percentage for the evening. Chatham freshman Geno Pichora got the start in between the pipes after posting a 42-save shutout against Brockport yesterday. He recorded 22 saves while allowing five goals, the sixth being an empty netter, to give him a .815 save percentage.
Although Brockport was unable to cash in on its two power play opportunities, it killed off four of five Cougar power plays.
Unlike in their loss yesterday, the Golden Eagles were outshot by Chatham 40-to-28.
Both sides generated little scoring chances in the first half of the first period as countless turnovers were created in the neutral zone. With 10:24 left, the Cougars were outshooting Brockport five-to-three.
Under a minute later, Chatham got onto the board first thanks to freshman forward Tyler Samodral. He received a feed from junior forward Nick Cyprian and was all alone in the low slot. Two dekes were enough to get Hudson out of position and Samodral buried a wrist shot in the top left corner of the cage.
However, with 6:12 left on the clock, Brockport would tie the game up. Freshman forward Joseph Nikac buried a wrist shot into the top right corner of the net off a rebound coughed up by Pichora. Freshman forward Connor McAleer was given credit for the assist.
Not even a minute after the goal, the Cougars responded as senior defenseman Zack Conner buried a wrist shot from the high slot top shelf while uncovered. Brockport would quickly add a goal of their own to tie the game up 2-2 before the end of the period. Freshman forward Aidan Taylor rifled a wrist shot that was tipped by a Cougar and dropped into the bottom right corner of the net. Maxwell was the only Golden Eagle to get an assist on the goal.
Compared to last night, Brockport was playing fast and the energy was different from the squad.
"I think we're just playing more intense today," Nikac said. "We're competing harder, that's been the message in the room, so we're going to keep sticking to that. Hopefully it works out."
The Golden Eagles continued to stay competitive in the second period and it paid off. Despite being outshot six-to-two in the first 10 minutes of the frame, one of their shots resulted in a goal to take a 3-2 lead. With 15:34 left in the period, Schuyler Flansburg picked up a rebound and Pichora glove side on a wrist shot.
Brockport continued to ride its wave of momentum, extending the lead to two goals with under five minutes left in the period. Junior forward Josh Grund put away a wrist shot in the top right corner of the net after getting the puck off a rebound. Maxwell was given an assist on the goal.
Chatham would proceed to apply offensive pressure, thanks to their five-on-three power advantage, for the rest of the period and totaled five shots on goal that were all saved by Hudson. The Golden Eagles were going into the third period firing on all cylinders.
"We just had a lot of problems clicking together in the locker room, and a lot of just moaning and groaning [yesterday]," Flansburg said. "Guys are getting injured, guys are willing to fight for each other, so we kind of came out here and we're fighting for the alumni, fighting for everything else."
Brockport continued to ride their wave of momentum in the third period. Defenseman Jordan Rosenbaum beat Pichora glove side on a wrist shot from the point to give the Golden Eagles a three-goal cushion with 13:05 left in the game. Spencer Flansburg was credited with the assist.
The Cougars would cut the deficit to two goals on a power play with 10:15 on the clock. Conner fired a one-timer slap shot into the bottom right corner of the net as Chatham attempted to mount a comeback. However, even after pulling Pichora for an extra man advantage with almost five minutes left in the frame, they couldn't find the back of the net.
Brockport would put the nail in the coffin on an empty netter from sophomore forward Ben Saurbaugh while the team was short-handed with less than a minute in the period. It is the first short-handed goal the Golden Eagles have recorded this season.
The Golden Eagles improved to 3-9-2 with the win and remain in last in the UCHC. As for Chatham, they drop to 4-10-1 and remain in third in the conference.
Brockport will get set to host Fredonia next Tuesday. Puck drop is scheduled for 5 p.m.
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