CORTLAND, N.Y. - The Cortland men's hockey team opened the 2021-22 season with a 6-4 home victory versus Lebanon Valley College in non-conference action Friday night at Alumni Arena.

Five different players netted goals for the Red Dragons, led by junior defenseman Nick Grupp (Depew/Brantford 99ers) who scored twice. Senior Michael Sciore (Syracuse/Buffalo Jr. Sabres), junior Matt Jahn (Glen Allen, VA/Charlotte Rush), sophomore John Kuhl (Essex Fells, NJ/Boston Jr. Rangers) and freshman Domenic Settimo (East Meadow/PAL Junior Islanders) each picked up a goal. Graduate student Alex Storjohann (Phoenix, AZ/Kirkland Lake) collected two assists, while junior Giancarlo Romano (Yorktown/Connecticut RoughRiders), sophomores Liam Anderson (East York, ON/Pickering Panthers) and Sutter Donegan (Cicero/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) and freshman Johnny Facchini (Succasunna, NJ/PAL Junior Islanders) registered one assist apiece. Junior goalie Luca Durante (Brampton, ON/Aurora Tigers) stopped 26 shots and pickd up an assist on Cortland's final goal.

Freshman Cade Freer (Hershey, PA/New Jersey Hitmen) scored twice for the Dutchmen. Sophomore Blake Tosto (Bloomfield Hills, MI/Florida Junior Blades) recorded a goal and two assists, freshman Chris Mingus (Dallas, TX/Hampton Roads Whalers) netted a goal, and senior Alex Borowiec (Denville, NJ/New Jersey 87's) contributed two assists. Sophomore Gabriel Pigeon (Quebec/Rockets Hockey Club) started in goal and turned aside 25 shots through two periods. Junior Aidan Richardson (Pittsford/Richmond Generals) made 14 saves in the third period.

Cortland took a 2-1 lead after the first period on goals from Sciore and Settimo. The Red Dragons pushed their lead to 4-1 early in the second period as Kuhl scored just 45 seconds after the puck drop and Grupp netted a short-handed goal at the 4:15 mark. Freer's first goal cut the Dutchmen's deficit to 4-2, but Jahn's unassisted goal on his own rebound at 12:38 gave Cortland a 5-2 lead after 40 minutes.

The score remained the same until 14:46 of the third period when Freer netted his second of the game. The Red Dragons also took a five-minute major at the time, and Lebanon Valley capitalized with 1:49 remaining on Tosto's goal with an extra attacker to pull to within 5-4. After the ensuing faceoff, the Dutchmen pulled Richardson again, but Grupp was able to seal the win with an unassisted empty-net goal at the 18:53 mark for the 6-4 win.

Cortland 6, Lebanon Valley 4

Score by periods:
Lebanon Valley          1-1-2    4
Cortland                     2-3-1    6

Scoring Summary (Goals-Assists)
Lebanon Valley: Cade Freer 2-0, Blake Tosto 1-2, Chris Mingus 1-0, Alex Borowiec 0-2, Tino Alunni 0-1, Artem Mikhaylov 0-1, Darion Benchich 0-1
Cortland: Nick Grupp 2-0, Michael Sciore 1-0, Domenic Settimo 1-0, John Kuhl 1-0, Matt Jahn 1-0, Alex Storjohann 0-2, Johnny Facchini 0-1, Giancarlo Romano 0-1, Liam Anderson 0-1, Sutter Donegan 0-1, Luca Durante 0-1

Saves:Gabriel Pigeon (Lebanon Valley) 25 saves (5 GA in 40:00), Aidan Richardson (Lebanon Valley) 14 saves (0 GA in 18:17), Empty Net 1 GA in 1:43; Luca Durante (Cortland) 26 saves (4 GA in 60:00)
Shots on Goal: Cortland 45 (17-13-15), Lebanon Valley 30 (7-11-12)
Penalties: Cortland 5-13:00, Lebanon Valley 3-6:00
Power Play: Lebanon Valley 1-5, Cortland 0-1

Records after game: Lebanon Valley (Dutchmen) 0-1; Cortland (Red Dragons) 1-0