By: Victor Menendez
BROCKPORT, N.Y. - The Brockport Golden Eagles hockey team fell to 0-6-2 on the season as the No. 4 ranked Geneseo Ice Knights defeated them by a score of 3-1 on Saturday. Geneseo outshot Brockport 40-14 on the day.
"I thought that we came out and competed much harder than we did last Saturday," Brockport head coach Brian Dickinson said. "The guys wanted to prove that they could play with one of the best teams in the country; I thought we did that for the most part."
Brockport freshman forward Livio Azevedo and junior defenseman Dominic Chirico were the only Golden Eagles to record a point. Azevedo scored the lone goal of the day for the green and gold while Chirico picked up the assist.
Freshman goalie Dax Easter was in goal for the Golden Eagles in just his second start of the year. The Ontario native made 37 saves on the day and had a .925 save percentage.
"He's really done a great job at practice in terms of competing," Dickinson said. "In the goalie sessions that we do he worked extremely hard, he didn't take any days off in practice. I thought he was fantastic tonight."
The Geneseo offense put Easter to work right away, firing off 25 shots, 15 of which were on goal, in the first period alone. Easter held them off for the most part, but with just over six minutes remaining in the first period, Geneseo freshman forward Jack McDonald cashed in with a wrist shot to the bottom left corner of the net while Easter was being screened. This was following a crazy sequence including a skirmish in front of the net and three consecutive blocked shots.
That would be the only goal scored for either team in the period, as the Ice Knights held the Golden Eagles to just two shots on goal in the first frame.
Geneseo kept their foot on the gas to start the second period, adding to their lead just over two minutes in. Another freshman forward cashed in for the Ice Knights, this time it was Payne Gatewood going five-hole on Easter.
Azevedo brought the Golden Eagles right back in this one 11 minutes later. The Switzerland native was in perfect position to receive a puck that bounced off the boards behind the goal and onto his stick. From there, he got it past an out-of-position Jacob Torgner in goal for Geneseo to make the score 2-1. This was the second straight game with a goal for Azevedo, as he had scored one of the two goals for Brockport in the previous nights game against Geneseo.
"Livio did a really good job of getting to the net on the back side," Dickinson said. "He got rewarded with a puck that came right to him and scored a big goal that got us jumpstarted."
It looked like this one would remain a one-goal game heading into the final period. However, with 26 seconds remaining, senior forward Peter Morgan buried a wrist shot one-timer that beat Easter glove-side, giving Geneseo a two-goal lead once again.
"Had we got out of the second period 2-1 who knows," Dickinson said. "It would have been a different third period in terms of Geneseo playing a little bit tighter. But once they scored with 30 seconds left that kind of just gave them a little bit more breathing room."
Geneseo, who came into the game allowing the fewest goals per game of any team in the UCHC, shut the Golden Eagles down in the third period. Brockport was held to just four shots in the frame along with no goals.
The Golden Eagles pulled Easter with just over 2:30 remaining in the third period, but a tripping penalty on Brockport sophomore defenseman Jacob Gates shortly after sealed this one for the Ice Knights.
With the win, the two teams who joined the UCHC this year in Geneseo and Brockport stay as far away as possible in the standings from one another. The Ice Knights improve to 6-0 in conference play while the Golden Eagles fall to 0-6.
After four games against No. 3 Utica and No. 4 Geneseo in the past two weeks, Brockport will get next week off before they host Nazareth on Dec. 6 for Teddy Bear Toss night. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
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