UPDATE: Geneseo held off a Potsdam third-period rally on Sunday for a 4-3 victory in a game postponed Saturday by a pipe burst in the Maxcy Hall Arena.
The game was continued at Clarkson’s Cheel Arena, with play starting at the beginning of the second period and Geneseo holding a 3-1 lead.
Jonathan Redlick gave Geneseo a 4-1 lead with a second-period, power-play goal before Kevin MacLellan and Mike Arnold answered for Potsdam in the third.
FROM SATURDAY: The Geneseo at Potsdam game was suspended after one period with Geneseo leading 3-1. A pipe burst in the Maxcy Hall Arena under one of the goalpost’s moorings, causing glycol to spew out onto the ice. The conditions and repair needed prevented the game from continuing tonight. The fix is expected to take over a day to complete.
“Certainly it’s a very difficult situation for everyone involved,” Potsdam coach Chris Bernard said. “You have a SUNYAC game. There’s always momentum and ebbs and flows to the game and there is certainly a disturbance to that. I really appreciate Geneseo’s professionalism and approach to it. There’s nothing within anyone’s control here. I think the way they handled themselves is first class, and I’m grateful for that.”
“It doesn’t surprise me with the fire alarm going off last night [at Plattsburgh],” Geneseo coach Chris Schultz said last night. “I’ve never seen someone drill too deep in a cement floor. It is what it is. You’re going to run into stuff like this. You just got to make the best of it.”
While Geneseo was finding hotel rooms at the last minute to house the team and support staff, Potsdam officials scrambled to find a place to play tomorrow. Cheel Arena at Clarkson University was able to clear ice time to accommodate the situation. The game will resume on Sunday at 2:00 P.M.
The other problem Potsdam has is to find ice time for the women’s game against Cortland, originally schedule for 2:00 p.m. on Sunday at Maxcy Hall. At this time, the Pine Street Arena in Potsdam and a rink in Massena are being pursued.
[photoshelter-gallery g_id=’G0000JJBIInp6jFw’ g_name=’20101022-Geneseo-Potsdam-Angelo-Lisuzzo’ f_show_caption=’t’ f_show_slidenum=’t’ img_title=’casc’ pho_credit=’iptc’ f_link=’t’ f_bbar=’t’ fsvis=’f’ width=’500′ height=’375′ bgcolor=’#AAAAAA’ bgtrans=’t’ btype=’old’ bcolor=’#CCCCCC’ crop=’f’ trans=’xfade’ tbs=’4000′ f_ap=’t’ linkdest=’c’ f_fullscreen=’f’ f_constrain=’f’ twoup=’f’ f_topbar=’f’ f_bbarbig=” f_htmllinks=’f’ f_enable_embed_btn=’f’ f_show_watermark=’f’ f_send_to_friend_btn=’f’ f_smooth=’f’ f_mtrx=’f’ f_up=’f’ target=’_self’ wmds=’llQ6QNgpeC.p1Ucz7U.Y4BlaVA4f4.6hwyfXQHm2aoFHAW.Ni.RJ3yrS5spAHnMEXUexJw–‘ ]For the 20 minutes that was played, Geneseo scored early, controlling the period, outshooting Potsdam, 13-4.
“Obviously, it is a bad time for this to happen,” Schultz said. “It wasn’t our best period of play, but we do have three pucks in the net and that’s huge. We’re a pretty good team playing with the lead. We’re going to have to find a way regardless of what happens here to close it out.”
“It was a tough start for us,” Bernard said. “They’re a first period team. We knew it coming in. We’ve got to turn the table. We’ve got to start putting some pressure on them offensively.”
It took just 36 seconds for Geneseo to turn on the red light. From in close, Stefan Decosse picked up a loose puck and sent it over O’Neill’s stick side shoulder.
A few minutes later at 4:04, Brandon Angotti made it 2-0. From the left circle, he somehow found a space between O’Neill’s pads and the post on the near side.
Potsdam momentarily stemmed the tide at 7:52 on its first power play. The Bears did a good job controlling the puck in Geneseo’s zone, finally finding Mike Arnold open on the right side who beat Rubeniuk.
The Ice Knights started rolling again at 11:02 on the power play, regaining the two-goal lead. Jake Yard’s shot from the point was stopped by O’Neill, but he was able to find the rebound. Ryan Bulach was there in the slot to slam it through the five-hole as O’Neill was diving for the puck.
Now, the teams get approximately an 18-hour intermission before resuming the game at Clarkson’s Cheel Arena.
