SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - The Cortland men's hockey team played to a 2-2 tie at Skidmore in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play on Friday evening. Cortland is now 4-2-1 (2-0-1 SUNYAC), while Skidmore is 1-3-1 (0-2-1 SUNYAC). 

JC Humphreys (Canonsburg, PA/Rochester Jr. Americans) and Nathan Garnier (Laval, QC/Cornwall Colts) each tallied a goal for the Red Dragons, while Shane Shelest (Pointe-Claire, QC/Wellington Dukes) made 22 saves in goal for Cortland. 

Evan Beaudry (Mississagua, ON/Kemptville 73's), Andrew Clouden (Hamburg/Seacoast Spartans), Sam Christiano (Buffalo/Buffalo Jr. Sabres), and Alex Zakrzewski (Orchard Park/Rochester Jr. Americans) each tallied an assist.

Tommy Aitken stopped 23 shots in goal for the Thoroughbreds, while Brandon Spaulding and Cooper Rice each tallied a goal for Skidmore. 

Cortland registered the first shot on goal of the game just over a minute into the contest by Conor Humphrey (Penfield/Rochester Jr. Americans), but Skidmore was then able to keep the Red Dragons from recording another shot on goal until under three minutes left in the period.  

Skidmore committed a pair of penalties in the first 10 minutes of the period, one for interference and another for tripping, but the Red Dragons were unable to capitalize on any of the extra-man opportunities. 

Just 15 seconds after the expiration of the second Skidmore penalty, the Red Dragons were sent to the penalty box for holding, but Shelest was able to make two strong saves to help Cortland kill off the penalty. 

Late in the frame, Skidmore committed another penalty that carried over into the beginning of the second period, but the Red Dragons were kept off the board again as the game remained scoreless.

Skidmore got on the board with just over 12 minutes left in the second period, as Ryan Waltman skated down the right side towards the Cortland goal, and fired a pass to the left to Rice for a quick snapshot past Shelest. 

The lead lasted less than three minutes for Skidmore, as Cortland responded to tie the score at 1-1 with 9:38 left in the period. Justin Legault (Oakville, ON/Burlington Cougars) was able to keep the puck in the Cortland offensive zone at the left point. The puck eventually cycled back around to the left point after passes from Colby Seitz (Eden/Corpus Christi IceRays) and Andrew Clouden, where Beaudry flung a pass through traffic to the right side to Humphreys. The freshman collected the pass, and deposited a shot into the top right corner of the net for his third goal of the year. 

The game stayed tied at the second intermission, with both goalies stopping 16-of-17 shots on goal heading into the third period. 

Skidmore took the lead once again just over five minutes into the third period, as Spaulding found himself alone in front of the Cortland goal after a feed from below the goal line by Shane Baker, and fired a shot high and into the top of the goal. 

Cortland netted the equalizer just past the midway point of the period with a power-play goal only 20 seconds after Skidmore committed the penalty. Zakrzewski took a shot from the blue line that went wide of the goal, but the puck ricocheted off the end wall and back to Garnier on the right side of the goal, and the sophomore tucked home the rebound for his second goal of the year. Christiano was credited with the secondary assist, his team-leading 10th point of the season.

Neither team was able to net a winning goal in the final minutes, as the game headed to overtime. 

With two minutes left in the 3-on-3 overtime period, Ryan Stratton rifled a shot off the pipe for Skidmore's best opportunity to score a winning goal. In the final minute, Cortland nearly won the game, as a pass from Christiano at the blue line found a streaking Seitz in front of goal, but Aitken made a stellar pad save to deny Seitz at the right post.

Cortland won the exhibition shootout after overtime thanks to a Christiano goal and three stops by Shelest. The exhibition shootout has no bearing on the result, which is recorded as a tie, but could have a tiebreaking implication in SUNYAC postseason scenarios.