FREDONIA, NY – The Cortland men's hockey team fell by a 3-2 scoreline at Fredonia in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) play on Friday evening. Cortland drops to 8-8-1 (5-4-1 SUNYAC), while Fredonia improves to 2-12-1 (2-7-1 SUNYAC).
Stephen Kyrkostas (Selden/Johnstown Tomahawks) and
Garrett Krieger (Skaneateles/Utica Jr. Comets) each tallied a goal for Cortland, with
Charlie Merkley (Fairport/Corpus Christi IceRays) and
Justin Legault (Oakville, ON/Burlington Cougars) contributing an assist apiece.
Nolan Suggs (White Lake, MI/El Paso Rhinos) made 20 saves in goal for the Red Dragons.
Charles-Anthony Barbeau made 41 saves in goal to earn the victory for the Blue Devils. Ethan Pitzman, Garrison Gagnon, and Cash Anderson each provided a goal apiece for Fredonia.
Cortland went on the power play five times in the first period, but the Blue Devils were able to successful kill off each of the Red Dragons' opportunities with the man advantage, and also added a short-handed goal of their own.
The Red Dragons earned their first power play just 36 seconds into the contest after a holding penalty on Fredonia. The Blue Devils held Cortland to just one shot on goal over the next two minutes, and opened the scoring at the 3:21 mark on a goal by Gagnon.
Cortland responded to tie the game at 1-1 in the final four minutes of the frame. After the expiration of a Fredonia penalty, Merkley collected the puck in the Cortland defensive zone. He dropped a pass to Kyrkostas, who skated through the neutral zone and into the attacking zone, before firing a wrist shot into the left corner of the net past Barbeau.
The Blue Devils took another penalty less than a minute after Cortland had tied the game, but Fredonia was able to re-gain the lead after Anderson scored on a breakaway down the right side on 30 seconds into the Cortland power play.
Fredonia carried the 2-1 advantage into the first intermission, although the Red Dragons held a significant 20-4 edge in shots on goal.
Fredonia added another goal on a breakaway less than five minutes into the second period, and the Blue Devils carried the 3-1 advantage on the scoreboard into the second intermission, with Barbeau adding nine more saves in the period for the hosts.
Cortland pulled to within a goal at 3-2 with just over 11 minutes remaining in the third period, as Legault made a feed down the right side in the Cortland defensive zone to Krieger. The sophomore skated through a pair of Fredonia defenders, before sniping a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle past Barbeau.
Just after the midway point in the period, Fredonia committed another tripping penalty to send the Red Dragons on the power play. The Blue Devils clamped down defensively to allow just one shot that was saved on the ensuing penalty kill to maintain their lead.
Cortland pulled Suggs with 1:02 remaining in the contest for an extra skater, but the Red Dragons were unable to find an equalizing goal in the final minute of action.
