POTSDAM, N.Y.-The SUNY Potsdam men’s hockey team (6-8) dominated Skidmore College (6-6-4) for two periods and held off a late charge for a 3-2 win on Saturday night. Three different Bears scored for Potsdam and senior goalie Shane Talarico(Greensburg, Pa./Elmira College) earned his fifth victory of the season to improve to 5-1.
The Bears exploded out of the gate. They made the most of their first power play opportunity just 3:45 into the contest. Senior captain Mike Arnold (Didsbury, Alberta/Kingston Voyageur) tapped home a rebound at the right side of net and Potsdam never trailed. Senior assistant captain Nick Avgerinos (Bolton, Ontario/Georgetown Raiders) and junior forward Trevor Cope(Swartz Creek, Mich./Atlanta, Jr. Knights) assisted on the goal. The Bears outshot the Thoroughbreds 18-4 in the opening period, but led just 1-0 heading into the break.
It was more of the same in the second period. Freshman forwardAlex Goodhue (Traverse City, Mich./Atlanta Jr. Knights) scored his first career goal 3:12 into the middle stanza to make it 2-0. Freshman forward Tommy Telesca (Selden, N.Y./New York Bobcats) and senior assistant captain Ryan Miller (Didsbury, Alberta/Arizona State) notched the assists. The Bears moved the puck very well and never took their foot off the gas to build an 18-6 shot advantage for the second period.
At the 4:45 mark of the second period, junior forward Zach Blake(Campbellford, Ontario/Plattsburgh State) finished a perfect tic-tac-toe passing play from junior forward Ken Simon (Norwell, Mass./Philadelphia Revolution) and Cope for a 3-0 advantage. Late penalties hurt Potsdam with time running out. The Bears were whistled for three penalties in the final two and a half minutes of the contest and Skidmore took advantage. Senior forward Tony Giacin (St. Louis, Mo./Culver Academy) scored a five-on-three power-play goal with just 1:06 remaining. After the goal, Thoroughbred senior goalie Ben Freiberg (Weston, Mass./Avon Old Farms) was pulled for an extra attacker as the team began another five-on-three man advantage. Senior forward Brad Schuler (Delran, N.J./Hamilton Red Wings) buried Skidmore’s second goal with 19.8 seconds left to cut the lead to just 3-2. Potsdam called timeout after the goal and then ran out the clock for the victory.
The Bears outshot the Thoroughbreds 48-20 on the night and half of Skidmore’s shots came in the final period. Potsdam was 1-9 on the power play and the Thoroughbreds were 2-9.
Talarico finished with 18 saves for the win. Freshman goalie Jack McDonald (King City, Ontario/St. Andrews School) made the start for Skidmore and allowed two goals on 29 shots in the first 29:54. Freiberg was tagged with the loss despite allowing just one goal on the last 19 shots.
The Bears wrap up their five-game homestand next Friday as they meet Johnson & Wales at 7 p.m. It’s the first ever meeting between the two programs.
