GENESEO, N.Y.— Brett Hope (Blenheim, ON/Blenheim) led an explosive Buffalo State offense with four points off one goal and three assists on Friday night as the Bengals raced past Geneseo 7-4 in a conference matchup.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Buffalo State 7, Geneseo 4
LOCATION: Geneseo, N.Y.
RECORDS: Buffalo State (3-2-2/1-2-1 SUNYAC), Geneseo (3-1-2, 1-0-2 SUNYAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bengals took advantage of an early power play and got on the scoreboard off a goal from Nick Berst (Depew/Lancaster) with assists from Marcus Michalski (Woodstock, ON/St. Mary’s Catholic) and Zach Nieminen (Ajax, ON/Notre Dame CSS) at 8:41.
Seven minutes later, Buffalo State struck again as Mac Wood found the back of the net off a pass from Hope, putting the Bengals up 2-0.
Geneseo managed to cut Buffalo State’s lead in half with under four minute to play in the first period.
In the second period, the Bengals came out firing. Jason Zaleski (Scranton, PA/Scranton) wasted little time finding the back of the net for Buffalo State’s third goal at 2:31.
Midway through the second period, Ryan Salkeld (Virginia Beach, VA/Churchland) scored his first of two goals on a power play opportunity.
The Knights were not ready to back down and tallied a short-handed goal in the closing minutes of the period.
Once again, the Bengals came out firing at the start of the third period. Nieminen scored just 1:09 into play.
Salkeld pushed Buffalo State’s lead out to four, 6-2, with his second goal of the game at 8:30.
Geneseo scored two quick power play goals in the second half of the third period, but the Bengals sealed the game, scoring a seventh goal with 44 seconds left to play.
10 different players for Buffalo State tallied points in the win and the Bengals finished 2 for 5 on the power play.
Mike DeLaVergne (Pawling, NY/Pawling) earned the win and recorded 31 saves.
FOR THE FOES
Stephen Collins led the Knights offense with one goal and seven shots.
Matt Leon started in net for Geneseo and made eight saves in 28:55. Bradley Hawayek came in and made nine saves in 29:47.
The Knights outshot the Bengals 35-24.
UP NEXT
Buffalo State will return home on Saturday night to take on Brockport for a 7 p.m. SUNYAC matchup.
