MORRISVILLE, NY – The Cortland men's hockey team outscored Morrisville 9-0 over the final two periods to earn a 10-1 victory in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action in its final game of the regular season on Friday evening. Cortland improves to 13-11-1 (10-7-1 SUNYAC), while Morrisville ends the season with a 2-20-3 record (1-14-3 SUNYAC).
 
Cortland had already secured a home playoff game in the upcoming first round of the SUNYAC tournament on Wednesday. With one more day of conference play tomorrow, the Red Dragons will watch the result of the two other SUNYAC contests to determine their playoff matchup. Cortland would secure the third seed with a Skidmore loss or tie against Potsdam tomorrow, but would be the fourth seed with a Skidmore victory. The other contest that has playoff seeding and matchup implications for Cortland is Canton against Plattsburgh. A Plattsburgh win or tie would make Plattsburgh the fifth seed and Canton the sixth seed, but a Canton victory, in regulation or overtime, would make the Roos the fifth seed and the Cardinals the sixth seed.
 
Jack Martin (Scotia/Seacoast Spartans) and Conor Humphrey (Penfield/Rochester Jr. Americans) each had a goal and two assists for the Red Dragons, while JC Humphreys (Canonsburg, PA/Rochester Jr. Americans) scored twice. Colby Seitz (Eden/Corpus Christi IceRays) provided three assists, and Brady Hildreth (Lockport/New Jersey Titans), Nate Boak (Canton/El Paso Rhinos) and Thomas Rockey (Mullica Hill, NJ/Rochester Jr. Americans) provided two assists each.
 
Morrisville's goal was scored by Ethan Henry, with assists credited to Brayden Goncalves and Logan Robins. Grant Linville stopped 51 shots in goal for the Mustangs.
 
Nathan Garnier (Laval, QC/Cornwall Colts) opened the scoring just 1:20 into the first period with his team-leading 11th goal of the season, with assists provided by Martin and Rockey.
 
The game stayed 1-0 until just over five minutes left in the period, when Henry finished off a 3-on-1 break for the Mustangs from the right side, sending the teams to the locker room squared up at 1-apiece, despite Cortland holding a commanding 17-7 edge in shots on goal.
 
Cortland took control of the game in the second period with five goals. Humphrey scored the eventual game-winning goal three minutes into the period, tucking home a rebound in front after Hildreth's initial shot was saved.
 
Eight minutes into the period, Martin scored his first goal of the game, intercepting a breakout pass and firing a shot into the bottom right corner of the net to make it 3-1. Just minutes later, Martin added his second goal of the night from the left side of goal off a feed from Boak and a secondary assist from Rockey.
 
Cortland scored twice in the span of 22 seconds with just over five minutes left in the period to take a 6-1 lead. Humphrey snapped a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle into the roof of the net for his second goal of the game, assisted by Matthew DeSpirt (Hamburg/Northeast Generals) and Joshua Rumolo (Brooklin, ON/Wellington Dukes). Morley Phillips (Raleigh, NC/Amarillo Wranglers) tallied his sixth goal of the season shortly after, off an assist from Garrett Krieger (Skaneateles/Utica Jr. Comets).
 
Charlie Merkley (Fairport/Corpus Christi IceRays) made it 7-1 just three minutes into the third period, firing a shot into the bottom left corner of the net after assists from Humphrey and Hildreth.
 
Humphreys scored the next two goals for the Red Dragons, the first one coming on a give-and-go from Justin Legault (Oakville, ON/Burlington Cougars) and a secondary assist from Seitz. His second goal of the game came with under seven minutes left, assisted by Boak and Seitz.
 
Sam Christiano (Buffalo/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) completed the scoring for the Red Dragons with 3:05 remaining, tapping home a shot in front of goal after assists from Andrew Clouden (Hamburg/Seacoast Spartans) and Seitz for his 10th goal of the season.