CORTLAND, NY - Five different Red Dragons scored and 12 players registered a point, as the Cortland men's hockey team wrapped up the fall semester with a 6-1 home victory over Canton in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action on Saturday evening at Alumni Arena. Cortland improves to 6-4-1 (4-1-1 SUNYAC), while Canton is 5-6-0 (1-4-0 SUNYAC).

Conor Humphrey (Penfield/Rochester Jr. Americans) tallied a pair of goals for the Red Dragons, while Nathan Garnier (Laval, QC/Cornwall Colts), Thomas Rockey (Mullica Hill, NJ/Rochester Jr. Americans), and Matthew DeSpirt (Hamburg/Northeast Generals) each provided a goal and an assist. 

Brady Hildreth (Lockport/New Jersey Titans) netted a goal, Nick Serio (Bayville/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders) registered two assists, and Shane Shelest (Pointe-Claire, QC/Wellington Dukes) stopped 23-of-24 shots in goal for his fourth win of the season. 

Logan Kelly scored Canton's lone goal, with Scott Cremen and Niko Schoner providing an assist apiece. Kelson Hooper allowed six goals and made 29 saves over 45:01 in goal, and Nate Hopkins made three saves without allowing a goal in 14:52 of relief action. 

DeSpirt tallied his first goal of the season just over six minutes into the first period to give the Red Dragons an early lead, as his shot from the left blue line took a pair of fortuitous bounces off Canton defenders and past Hooper for the goal. Morley Phillips (Raleigh, NC/Amarillo Wranglers) and Garnier were credited with the assists on the goal. 

Humphrey doubled Cortland's lead with under five minutes left in the frame. DeSpirt made an excellent play to keep the puck in the Cortland offensive zone and Serio sparked a 2-on-0 chance with a great pass to Colby Seitz (Eden/Corpus Christi IceRays) in front of the Canton goal. Seitz then slipped a pass to Humphrey at the right post for a tap-in goal, his third goal of the season. 

Cortland made it 3-0 just over a minute later on a wrist shot from the left circle by Hildreth, after solid transition play and breakout passing from Stephen Kyrkostas (Selden/Johnstown Tomahawks) and Devlin O'Kane (Chicago IL/New Jersey 87's) to earn the assists. 

After a Cortland penalty for holding the stick, Canton pulled to within two at 3-1 heading into the first intermission, as Kelly slipped a one-timer off a cross-ice feed from Schoner past Shelest for a power-play goal. 

The score remained 3-1 until under two minutes remaining in the second period when the Red Dragons tallied a power-play goal. After Hooper was able to make a save in close on Garrett Krieger (Skaneateles/Utica Jr. Comets), the puck bounced out to the blue line, where Dino Mannetta (Wading River/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders) stepped into a wrister that was also saved but not gloved by Hooper. Garnier was able to flip the puck up into the air and over the Canton goalie for his fourth goal of the weekend. 

Late in the period, a skirmish developed that resulted in four minor penalties, two for each team, with only six seconds left before the intermission. Rockey won the ensuing faceoff in the Cortland offensive zone and slid a cross-ice feed to Humphrey, where Humphrey knocked in his second goal of the game with just 3.7 seconds remaing to give Cortland a 5-1 lead into the second intermission. 

Rockey capped the scoring five minutes into the third period, taking a pass from DeSpirt at the blue line and puck-handing through multiple Canton defenders, before depositing a shot into the left side of the net for his fifth goal of the year. 

The third period featured seven penalties to bring the total for the game to 20, 11 on Canton and nine on Cortland. Shelest also made six saves in the final two minutes of the game to secure the Cortland victory.