CORTLAND, NY – The Cortland men's hockey team fell behind early, and wasn't able to mount a comeback against St. John Fisher in a 6-3 defeat on Saturday evening at Alumni Arena. Cortland drops to 2-2-0 on the year, while St. John Fisher moves to 3-1-0.
 
Stephen Kyrkostas (Selden/Johnstown Tomahawks) assisted on all three of Cortland's goals. Dino Mannetta (Wading River/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders) and Conor Humphrey (Penfield/Rochester Jr. Americans) each registered a goal and an assist. Nathan Garnier (Laval, QC/Cornwall Colts) scored the third goal for Cortland.
 
Sam Ciappa had a goal and two assists to lead St. John Fisher, and Gavin Brandon, Mitchell Ferras, and Ian Emery each contributed a goal and an assist. Dylan Grover made 33 saves in goal for the Cardinals.
 
St. John Fisher opened the scoring just 1:23 into the opening period on its first shot on goal of the game, as Michael Peluso snapped a shot from the left faceoff circle into the corner of the net after a feed from below the goal line from Ciappa.
 
After a Cortland penalty eight minutes into the frame, the Cardinals doubled their advantage just seven seconds after the start of the power play, with Ciappa taking a shot from the right side that deflected off the stick of a Cortland defenseman and past goaltender Ronan Mobley (Playa Del Ray, CA/New Hampshire Avalanche).
 
The Cardinals held the 2-0 lead into the first intermission, although Cortland held an 8-7 edge in shots on goal through the period.
 
St. John Fisher built its lead to 3-0 with a short-handed goal by Brandon on a 2-on-0 breakaway early in the second period.
 
Cortland was able to score its first goal of the game on a 5-on-3 power play after penalties by the Cardinals won hooking and playing with illegal equipment, as Mannetta fired his first goal of the season into the top left corner of the net after feeds from Kyrkostas and Humphrey.
 
St. John Fisher made it 4-1 just six minutes into the period on a 2-on-1 break capped off by Ferras.
 
The Red Dragons pulled to within two goals with another power-play goal with eight minutes left in the period, as Humphrey ripped a shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the year after Mannetta's initial block was blocked in front of goal.
 
The Cardinals quickly took advantage of another Cortland penalty late in the period, as Emery won the faceoff back to Brendan Merriman, and Merriman sniped a wrist shot into the back of the net only two seconds after the power play had begun, giving St. John Fisher a 5-2 into the second intermission.
 
Cortland pulled to within 5-3 with seven minutes left in the third period, as Garnier wristed a shot in front of goal into the back of the net, assisted by Kyrkostas and Thomas Rockey (Mullica Hill, NJ/Rochester Jr. Americans).
 
Less than a minute later, the Cardinals took a penalty for interference, but Cortland couldn't capitalize with the extra skater. In the final minutes, St. John Fisher added an empty-net goal for the 6-3 final score.