In the consolation game of the Chase Rochester Cup, the Brockport Golden Eagles (1-1) hung onto a 2-1 lead to defeat the Geneseo Ice Knights (0-2). Brockport netminder Brian Tefft stopped 36 of the 37 shots that he faced for the win.
“Brian is going to be the backbone of our team,” said Brockport coach Brian Dickinson. “He was real strong covering the rebounds tonight, and those that he didn’t cover he steered to the corners.”
The game was a penalty-filled affair, particularly in the third period when 11 were called, leading to the special teams of both sides getting a lot of ice time. But the battles were won by the penalty killers, as both teams went 0-fer with the man advantages.
“Our penalty kill was one of our goals tonight,” said Geneseo coach Brian Hills. “And we achieved that goal as much as I had hoped for.” Geneseo held Brockport scoreless on 10 power plays.
“For our power play, we are changing so much defensively, and have a lot of new guys on the power play, it just never came together,” said Dickinson. “It is something that we need to spend a lot more time on in practice before it will work in games.”
Geneseo didn’t fare any better with the man advantage, as they were held scoreless on seven chances.
Brockport got on the board first 14:33 into the period. The Golden Eagles were buzzing around the Geneseo zone, when Kenny Daleo slid a backhand from behind the net out into the crease. Adam Prescott collected it there and forced it under goaltender Scott Blackman for the goal.
Geneseo evened the score before the period was out, using a strong penalty killing unit to knot the game 1-1. The Ice Knights streaked into the Brockport zone 2-on-2 with the puck. Peter Boudette skated around the Brockport defenders an slapped the puck past Tefft for the shorthanded goal at the 18:00 mark.
Brockport retook the lead for good just 1:52 into the second period. Nick Smyth stole the puck at the Geneseo blue line and wristed it past Blackman for the game winning goal.
The physical play escalated as the game went on, but neither team was able to get anything past either of the goaltenders.
