MILTON, Mass. – The Curry College men's hockey team defeated Cortland State, 4-3, in non-conference action on Sunday evening at the Max Ulin Rink. With the win the Colonels improved to 3-7-2 overall. The Red Dragons fell to 4-6-3 with the setback.
The teams battle each other to a scoreless first period with Curry holding a slight advantage in shots at 14-13. Cortland's sophomore netminder Kollyn Jones (Cazenovia/N.Y.) and the Colonels junior goaltender Brett Sinclair (St. Catharines, Ontario) were both solid between the pipes turning away all shots they faced.
Curry was first to get on the board just 1:17 into the second frame. The Colonels won the opening faceoff sending the puck into the Red Dragons defensive zone. After receiving the puck from junior Tyler Vankleef (Dundas, Ontario), junior Adam Valadao (Ajax, Ontario) found freshman Mack Heisinger (Winnipeg, Manitoba) open in front of the net. Heisinger received the pass from Valadao one-timing it past the glove of Jones. Cortland answered back just over four minutes later tying the game at one apiece. Sophomore Darren McCormick (Buffalo/N.Y.) netted his first of three on the night after he took a slap shot that sailed over the shoulder of Sinclair off a pass from classmate Dan Broderick (White Plains/N.Y.). Three more goals were scored before the end of the period, all coming with less than two minutes showing on the clock. The Colonels tallied back-to-back scores just 28 seconds apart. Sophomore Shane Tracy (Bow, N.H.) sent one home on a power-play at 18:21. Junior James Murphy (Malden, Mass.) and Valadao were credited with the assists. Curry extended their lead to two at the 18:49 minute mark. Vankleef won the face-off at center ice sending the puck to junior Mike Apreda (Newmarket, Ontario). Apreda sent a quick pass to classmate Michael Vallescuro (Woodbridge, Ontario) who fired the puck from outside the crease past Jones. With only two seconds left to play Cortland cut the lead back down to one on a power-play of their own. McCormick got his second with help from senior Ryan Wagner (Buffalo, N.Y.) and sophomore Drew Weigman (Gaithersburg, Md.).
The Colonels took back the two goal lead 8:41 into the final period. Tracy had the puck on the right side of the crease and saw junior Sean Nelson (Brighton, Mich.) skating hard towards the net. He sent him a pass right to his stick and without having to slow his momentum down, Nelson fired it top shelf for the eventual game-winner. The Red Dragons answered back five minutes later hoping to not have another loss to the Colonels. McCormick's third came with 6:29 left to play. Freshman Mike Crowley (Buffalo, N.Y.) sent a pass to McCormick who was just over the blueline. McCormick one-timed it past Sinclair for the hat trick. Sinclair made some tough saves over the closing minutes securing the win for Curry.
Curry went 1-4 on power plays while Cortland was 1-3. Both teams finished with 38 shots.
Sinclair made an impressive 35 saves in net for the Colonels. Jones had 34 stops in net for Cortland.
Curry is back in action on January 7 when they host Plymouth State in a non-conference match-up at 6:45 p.m.
