POTSDAM, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men’s hockey team (7-4-2) and Nazareth College (6-5-2) battled to a 2-2 tie on Friday night at Maxcy Ice Arena. Freshman forward Brett Horn (Cary, N.C./Humboldt Broncos) and sophomore forward Vinny Guimond (Sorel-Tracy, Quebec/Gloucester Rangers) each scored for the Bears. Junior goalie Nate Skidmore(Syracuse, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres) matched a career-high with 37 saves.
Potsdam jumped out in front at the 8:34 mark of the first period. Senior forward Jake Martin (Montreal, Quebec/Concordia) started the breakout in a scuffle along the boards. He knocked it forward to sophomore forward Nate Zweig (Binghamton, N.Y./Syracuse Stars), who carried up the right wing and fed Horn in the slot. Horn tipped perfectly out of the air to make it 1-0. The Bears then killed off two penalties in the remainder of the period. Skidmore stopped all 12 shots he faced in the opening period to preserve the lead.
The Bears went down a man again just 4:27 into the second and the Golden Flyers tied the game eight seconds later. Senior forward John Power (Vernon Hills, Ill./Brockville Braves) buried the equalizer at 4:35. Potsdam answered with a power-play-goal of its own less than four minutes later. Senior assistant captain Sean Kacerosky (Kendall Park, N.J./New York Bobcats) ripped a shot off Nazareth sophomore goalie Michael Tilford (Traverse City, Mich./Connecticut Oilers) from the left point. The rebound came out to freshman defenseman Joseph Richardson (Palm Beach, Fla./PAL Islanders) and he fired it back toward the net. Guimond was in front of the goal and tipped the puck into the upper left corner for a 2-1 lead at 8:04. The teams traded penalties throughout the middle period, but the score remained the same. Skidmore turned aside another 17 attempts from the Golden Flyers.
Five total penalties were called in the third period and Nazareth struck again. At 5:57, senior defenseman Matt Manzella (Hopkinton, Mass./Boston Jr. Bruins) beat Skidmore on a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle for a power-play marker. The Bears outshot the Golden Flyers 11-7 to close regulation, but were unable to regain the lead.
Potsdam fired five more shots on Tilford in overtime to Nazareth’s two, but were forced to settle with the tie.
Tilford made 29 saves in the contest. The Golden Flyers outshot the Bears 39-31 overall and were 2-for-7 on the power play. Potsdam was 1-for-4.
Potsdam is now 2-0-1 in the all-time series, which began a year ago in Rochester.
The Bears and Nazareth go at it again tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m.
