CORTLAND, NY – The Cortland men's hockey team fell behind early, and couldn't mount a comeback, in a 5-1 loss to nationally fifth-ranked Curry College on Sunday afternoon at Alumni Arena. Cortland drops to 6-3 on the year, while Curry improves to 8-2.
Conor Humphrey (Penfield/Rochester Jr. Americans) scored Cortland's lone goal.
Hunter Hein (Peoria, AZ/Texas Roadrunners) made 10 saves in 32:06 in goal, while
Ronan Mobley (Playa Del Ray, CA/New Hampshire Avalanche) made seven saves in 27:36 in goal.
Shane Soderwall stopped 32 shots in goal for the Colonels, and Eelis Laaksonen had a goal and an assist while Killian Rowlee had two assists to lead the Curry attack.
Curry struck first for a power-play goal just past the midway point of the first period, as Laaksonen sent a wrist shot past Hein from the slot for a power-play goal.
Just minutes later,
Garrett Krieger (Skaneateles/Utica Jr. Comets) was hooked down by a Curry defender as he skated in on a mini breakaway, leading to a penalty shot for the Red Dragons. However, Soderwall, made a strong save on the penalty shot to preserve the Colonels' lead.
Curry added a second goal with under four minutes remaining in the period to lead 2-0 at the intermission.
Early in the second period, the Red Dragons had a 5-on-3 power play for 50 seconds, but couldn't capitalize on the extra men.
Midway through the period, Ryan Prewitt scored a goal for Curry to extend the lead to 3-0, sneaking a shot from along the boards on the left side between the post and Hein's pads. The Colonels made it 4-0 less than two minutes later on a deflection in front of goal, and Cortland countered by making a goaltender switch to Mobley.
In the third period, Cortland broke up the shutout with a short-handed goal, as Humphrey picked up the puck from a Curry attacker behind the Cortland goal, skated the length of the ice down the right side, and fired a wrist shot into the goal to make it 4-1.
Shortly after, Cortland committed a penalty, and Curry found the back of the net for another power-play goal to complete the scoring.
