CORTLAND, NY - The Cortland men's hockey team scored four times in the third period to earn a 4-1 home victory over Morrisville in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action on Saturday evening. Cortland improves to 8-7-1 (5-3-1 SUNYAC), while Morrisville drops to 2-12-2 (1-6-2 SUNYAC).

Thomas Rockey (Mullica Hill, NJ/Rochester Jr. Americans) netted a pair of goals for the Red Dragons, while Conor Humphrey (Penfield/Rochester Jr. Americans) contributed a goal and an assist and Nathan Garnier (Laval, QC/Cornwall Colts) netted his team-leading eighth goal of the year. Nolan Suggs (White Lake, MI/El Paso Rhinos) made 14 saves in goal for his first win as a Red Dragon. 

Chad Lowe stopped 60 shots in goal for the Mustangs, as Cortland held a significant 64-15 advantage in shots on goal for the game. Connor Santay scored the lone goal for the Mustangs.

Cortland controlled play for much of the opening minutes, but couldn't break through on Lowe in the opening period. With four minutes left in the opening frame, Suggs was called into action to make a pair of stellar saves on an odd-man rush for the Mustangs.

Morrisville got on the board first at the end of the first period after a turnover by the Red Dragons in their defensive zone, with Santay intercepting a pass at the blue line and flipping a backhand over the shoulder of Suggs and just below the crossbar to give the Mustangs a 1-0 lead at the first intermission. 

The second period was scoreless, with Cortland firing 20 more shots on goal in the period. Meanwhile, the Red Dragon defense only allowed four shots on goal for Morrisville, all of which Suggs was able to comfortably save.  

Cortland scored three times in the span of 1:52 early in the third period to flip the game and take a 3-1 advantage after just four minutes of action in the period. 

Rockey collected the puck in between the faceoff circles in the Cortland offensive zone, and slid a shot past Lowe for his sixth goal of the season, with Humphrey and Brady Hildreth (Lockport/New Jersey Titans) providing the assists on the goal to tie the game at 1-1 2:08 into the period.

Only 21 seconds later, Garnier scored from in close after a perfect feed from below the goal line by Stephen Kyrkostas (Selden/Johnstown Tomahawks). Alex Zakrzewski (Orchard Park/Rochester Jr. Americans) was credited with the secondary assist by cycling the puck down to Kyrkostas from the left side. 

Rockey netted his second goal of the game with 16 minutes remaining in the third period. Garrett Krieger (Skaneateles/Utica Jr. Comets) led a break down the middle of the ice from the Cortland defensive zone and passed to Morley Phillips (Raleigh, NC/Amarillo Wranglers) at the right circle for a shot that was saved into the corner by Lowe. Rockey then collected the puck, skated towards the goal, and slipped a shot into the corner of the goal. 

Cortland added its fourth goal of the game with seven minutes remaining to secure the victory. Nick Serio (Bayville/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders) passed the puck from the Cortland defensive zone to Dino Mannetta (Wading River/P.A.L. Jr. Islanders) down the left side. Mannetta skated into the offensive zone, and sent a pass out front of goal to Humphrey, who quickly deposited his sixth goal of the season into the top left corner of the net.

The game turned chippy in the final minutes, with a combined 52 penalty minutes and two players on each team receiving 10-minute misconducts in the game's last five minutes. However, Cortland's defense shut down the Mustangs, holding Morrisville to just two shots on goal in the final period, to secure the win.