By: Brayden Peters
BROCKPORT, N.Y. - The Brockport Golden Eagles went in against the Chatham Cougars in search of their first home victory. Not only did Brockport come up short in the game, but were shutout 5-0 by Chatham. It's the second time this season the Golden Eagles were blanked and is the third game out of all UCHC teams that resulted in a shutout.
The Golden Eagles outshot the Cougars 42-to-22 in the contest.
"Ultimately, you run into a hot goalie on nights like this where [you get] another slow start at home," Brockport head coach Brian Dickinson said. "We had some near misses and then gave them opportunities on the other end on their first two...kudos to their goalie, sometimes, it doesn't matter if we have the best 19 skaters if the best player on the ice is the other team's goalie, they have a chance to win and he was the best player on the ice tonight."
Brockport had numerous high quality scoring chances that were saved by Chatham freshman goalie Geno Pichora. Many of the saves were acrobatic.
Freshman goalie Dax Easter stood in the opposite net of Pichora for the Golden Eagles. He recorded 17 saves while allowing four goals, the fifth one being an empty netter, to give him a .810 save percentage. He had his fair share of acrobatic saves and showed promise for the future.
"He's got the full package," Dickinson said. "He's got unbelievable compete...he just competes for every loose puck, so even though you may have him down, he's got good awareness of his legs. He gets them in the right spot, he makes some great saves. He does it in practice too."
Brockport entered the game against a Chatham power play (11.9 percent) and penalty kill (65.8 percent) that was ranked last in the UCHC. The Golden Eagles went zero-for-three on the power play while they went one-for-two on the penalty kill.
It was a meaningful game for Dickinson, as he got to coach against former Golden Eagle and fourth year Chatham head coach Michael Gershon. He was inducted into the Wall of Honor last season after playing with the Golden Eagles from 2005-2009. He didn't coach the Cougars last season as he was an associate coach for the Sioux Falls Musketeers in the USHL.
"Those are the special moments," Dickinson said. "Gersh (Gershon) has done a great job with this program...he was an unbelievable player. He's a superhuman, [he] does everything the right way, works hard and I couldn't be more proud of him as an alumn and as a coach and he's got a bright future ahead of him in this game."
The Golden Eagles came out of the gates hot as they were outshooting the Cougars four-to-one with under two minutes into the first period. However, Chatham found their footing and applied offensive pressure on Brockport, resulting in the Cougars striking first with 12:10 in the frame. Sophomore forward Brendan Merriman pulled Easter out of position on a deke and beat him top right corner on a backhand shot.
Brockport continued to create scoring chances as they even went on a 1:33 stretch of five shots on goal. However, they still were unable to find the back of the net.
Merriman proceeded to add cushioning onto Chatham's lead to make it a 2-0 game. While on the Cougars' first power play with 2:55 left in the first frame, he was wide open near the right dot and buried a one-timer slap shot into the top right corner of the cage. A little over a minute later, sophomore forward Kyle Contessa received a feed from junior forward Bekk McClaine and buried a wrist shot in the top right corner of the net from the slot.
Contessa's goal would be the last of the first period as Brockport was uable to respond in the frame. Regardless of the score, the Golden Eagles outshot the Cougars 14-to-eight. Brockport wanted to focus on improving things defensively going into the second period.
"We just got to help each other out in the d-zone," graduate defenseman Mitch Haight said. "Talk as a unit of five and breakout together. We're getting a little too far apart in our d-zone and they're getting guys inside of us and they're making us pay for it."
Both sides were unable to change the scoreboard in the second frame. The Golden Eagles, though, continued to create numerous scoring chances that they couldn't cash in on. Pichora continued to make acrobatic saves and Chatham blocked multiple shots. Brockport still was able to outshoot the Cougars 17-to-seven in the period. It was a step in the right direction for the Golden Eagles offensively.
"We played to our identity," junior forward Chase Maxwell said. "We got pucks deep, got a lot of pucks to the net and we're a grinder team. So, just get a lot more pucks to the net and we'll be fine."
The third period saw the Golden Eagles contine to apply offensive pressure. They generated six shots on goals after 10 minutes of play compared to Chatham's three shots on goal. However, the theme was the same over the Cougars capitalizing on their chances while Brockport couldn't do so.
Almost nine minutes into the final frame, junior forward Nick Cyprian beat graduate forward Michael Meredith with his speed along the left wing as he drove towards the crease. Just like Merriman, Cyprian beat Easter on a deke and a backhand shot into the top right corner of the net to increase Chatham's lead to 4-0.
In the backhalf of the period, Brockport junior forward Nick Serafin got into a minor altercation with Cougars freshman defenseman Devin Nabozny. It was a sign of worse to come as under four minutes left in the frame, Haight and junior defenseman True Crowe got into a fight and both players were tossed from the game.
Not even a minute later, Contessa put the nail in the coffin for Chatham as he put away an empty netter to give the Cougars a 5-0 lead. Brockport's offensive production slowed down after the goal as they only posted two shots on goal the rest of the way.
Before the period came to a close, Golden Eagles senior defenseman Jordan Rosenbaum took a last second shot at Pichora, which Cyrpian didn't like and he went at it with Rosenbaum. Things progressed into a line brawl that was eventually broken up by the referees.
Brockport is now 2-9-2 with the loss and remain in last in the UCHC. As for Chatham, their record improved to 4-9-1 and are in third in the conference.
The Golden Eagles will look to break their two game losing streak when they host the Cougars again today for Alumni Night. Puck drop is scheduled for 4 p.m.
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