BUFFALO, NY – Sam Christiano (Buffalo/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) scored twice, and Shane Shelest (Pointe-Claire, QC/Wellington Dukes) made 25 saves in goal, as the Cortland men's hockey team earned a 3-1 road win at Buffalo State in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action on Saturday evening.
 
Cortland improves to 9-8-1 (6-4-1 SUNYAC), while Buffalo State drops to 7-10-1 (4-6-1 SUNYAC).
 
Christiano's two goals give him eight goals on the season. Nathan Garnier (Laval, QC/Cornwall Colts) tallied his team-leading ninth goal of the season. Alex Zakrzewski (Orchard Park/Rochester Jr. Americans) contributed two assists. Shelest improved his goaltending record to 6-4-1 on the year.
 
Marcus Cumberworth stopped 23 shots for Buffalo State, while David Tolan scored the Bengals' lone goal and Austin Micale provided an assist.
 
The first period was scoreless, with Cortland firing eight shots on goal that were saved by Cumberworth, while Shelest stopped all six shots he faced in the frame. Cortland's best chance of the period came in the final seconds, with Cumberworth making a huge save at close range on Cortland's JC Humphreys (Canonsburg, PA/Rochester Jr. Americans).
 
Cortland opened the scoring just 1:37 into the second period. Zakrzewski shot wide from the right point, but Humphreys collected the rebound and slid a pass to the middle to Christiano, who flipped a shot into the right corner of the net.
 
Buffalo State tied the game 8:09 into the period, as Tolan fired a pass from the faceoff circle that deflected off a Cortland defender and past Shelest for the tying goal. However, Tolan received an unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty and a 10-minute misconduct for his celebration to put the Red Dragons on the power play.
 
Garnier capitalized on the opportunity by scoring a power-play goal with only two seconds remaining on the Buffalo State penalty to give Cortland a 2-1 lead. Garrett Krieger (Skaneateles/Utica Jr. Comets) sent a feed from the left side of the Bengals' goal to Zakrzewski at the right side. Cumberworth stopped the initial shot from Zakrzewski, but Garnier was able to flip the rebound into the back of the goal.
 
Cortland maintained its lead into the second intermission, with Shelest making 11 saves in the period.
 
The score stayed 2-1 until the final minute in the third period, when Buffalo State pulled Cumberworth for an extra skater in search of an equalizer. Christiano stole the puck just outside Buffalo State's blue line, and fired a shot into the empty net with 46 seconds remaining for the final margin.