Canton, NY – Sophomore Eric Witzel (Ottawa, ON) posted two goals and an assist, while Dave Schneider (Indianapolis, IN) finished with a goal and assist in a back-and-forth battle as the men's ice hockey team fell 5-4 to visiting Curry College on Saturday afternoon at the Roos House.
Special teams proved crucial as the teams combined to score five power play goals and go 5-for-11 with the skater advantage in the game.
The visitors got on the board first 4:53 into the first. Shane Tracy skated toward the top of the right faceoff circle and made a nifty move and hit Dan McGinnis on the far side who put it past a sprawled out Spencer Landry (New Hartford, NY). The Colonels added another backdoor goal two minutes later as Michael Vallescuro snapped a quick pass from the near boards across goal to Brian White who put home a one-timer to make it 2-0.
SUNY Canton (1-9-1) had a pair of back-to-back power play chances and was able to generate a shot on each opportunity but Curry goaltender Brett Sinclair turned aside the attempts. The Roos made their third power play chance of the opening period pay off at the 17:13 mark.
Brett Costello (Lombardy, ON) played the puck from left to right into the slot just inside the left faceoff circle to Schneider. He hesitated drawing the defender and pinpointed a pass to Witzel who was waiting at the right post. The sophomore one-timed it in for his second of the season on a nice display of teamwork.
Just 38 seconds later SUNY Canton knotted it at 2-2. Tyler Ralph (Middletown, NJ) won the faceoff at the right circle back to Taylor Pickering (Marine City, MI) at the point. His shot made its way through traffic top shelf into the left corner. The teams skated into the first intermission tied at two.
Curry broke through on the power play at the 5:55 mark of the second. Ryan Gay took a shot from just inside the blue line that was redirected by Sean Nelson. Landry made the initial stop but the rebound went right to the stick of Nelson who finished to make it 3-2 Colonels.
SUNY Canton responded tying the game at three apiece as Schneider netted his third of the season. Brandon McMartin (Toronto, ON) rifled a shot toward goal that found Witzel at the right post. He quickly played it right to left fooling the goalie as Schneider placed the puck into the open left side of goal.
The Colonels regained the one goal advantage 2:27 before the second intermission. Jordan Reed tallied his team-leading eight of the season off passes from Phil Kiss and Jake Heisinger. Despite SUNY Canton holding a 24-16 shots edge, the visitors took a 4-3 lead into the locker room.
After a back-and-forth first half of the final frame Reed added his second consecutive power play tally at the 11:07 mark to give Curry a 5-3 advantage. Just less than a minute later Witzel made a beautiful deke move right to left and snuck the puck through the five hole of Sinclair to bring the hosts back within one.
Shortly after SUNY Canton earned its sixth power play opportunity of the contest. The Roos skater advantage was cut short as they picked up a slashing penalty of their own just over a minute into the power play. After successfully killing the Colonel skater advantage the Roos looked for the equalizer.
With 1:24 remaining Head Coach Trevor Gilligan pulled Landry in favor of the extra skater. Josh Sova (Oswego, NY) got a shot off that was blocked by a Colonel defender and Witzel had a clean look with less than five seconds to play that was saved by Sinclair.
The Roos held a 34-23 advantage in shots in the contest. Landry stopped 18 shots, while Sinclair made 30 saves. Curry went 3-for-5 with the skater advantage, while the Roos were 2-for-6 on the power play. (Game Recap Courtesy of SUNY Canton Sports Information)
