POTSDAM, N.Y.-Three different Bears scored as the SUNY Potsdam women’s hockey team (3-0, 1-0 ECAC West) defeated SUNY Cortland (0-1, 0-1) 3-1 in the teams’ ECAC West opener. Junior forwards Anna-Rose Bertin (Marathon, Ontario/Canadian International Hockey Academy) and Brenna Wilson (Kanata, Ontario/Ottawa Senators) and senior forward Jordan Ott (Hilton, N.Y./Rochester Edge) each scored for the Bears. Freshman goaltender Alexa Pfeiffer (Sylvania, Ohio/Little Caesar’s) stopped 18 shots for her second collegiate win.
Potsdam pressured the Red Dragons from the outset, but both goalies were tested in the first period. The Bears finally got on the board at the 10:33 mark. A Cortland defender’s clearing attempt was picked off by Bertin and she went in all alone and stuck the puck in the top right corner. The Bears finished with a 13-6 advantage in shots and took the one-goal lead into the break.
The second period was more closely contested and more physical. Potsdam killed off two Red Dragon power plays and Cortland killed off the Bears’ first two. With about 12 minutes gone in the period, Potsdam had a goal waved off as an official blew the whistle for an injured Red Dragon. Minutes later, Cortland was called for holding and Potsdam capitalized. The Bears won the ensuing draw back to sophomore defenseman Nicole Watson (Highlands Range, Colo/Colorado Selects) at the right point. She fired wide of the goal, but sophomore forward Jenna Patterson (Boissevain, Manitoba/Westman Wildcats) picked up the puck at the right post. Patterson was stuffed by Red Dragons sophomore goalie Victoria Gibson (Essex Junction, Vt./Vermont Shamrocks), but Wilson knocked in the rebound. The Bears led 2-0 after 40 minutes of play.
Cortland went on the power play just 1:28 into the final stanza and made the most of the opportunity. Senior forward Sydney Carlucci (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Rochester Edge) fed senior defenseman Richelle Skarbowski (Orchard Park, N.Y./University of New England) at the left point and she fired the shot past a screened Pfeiffer to make it 2-1 just 13 seconds later. The marker ended Pfeiffer’s scoreless streak to begin her collegiate career at 101:41. The remainder of the game saw back and forth action and more big saves at both ends of the ice. Cortland pulled Gibson with 1:14 remaining, but couldn’t find the equalizer. Instead, Ott scored an empty-better after a scrum on the left boards.
Gibson finished with 32 saves. The Red Dragons were 1-for-4 on the power play and the Bears went 1-for-7.
The two teams go back at it tomorrow afternoon in Cortland at 2 p.m.
