By Warren Kozireski —
BROCKPORT
The Golden Eagles lost their final three regular season to fall out of a playoff spot breaking a four-year streak of making the conference postseason.
Senior forward Aidan Verbeke was named All-SUNYAC Third Team after he led the team with 15 goals and 35 points.
Six other seniors depart including Dylan Shapiro (Rochester), who finished with 53 points in 103 career games, Brian Hurlimann (Hilton), 18 points in 75 games and Matt Merideth (Fredonia) eight points in 65 games. East Aurora’s Tim Kielich will also graduate with one year of eligibility remaining after scoring 76 points in 77 career contests.
BUFFALO STATE
Their third place regular season ended in the semi-finals of the SUNYAC playoffs at Geneseo.
Six seniors will depart with the key goaltender Ian Sylves (Sloan), who was named SUNYAC Goaltender of the Year. He ended his collegiate career with 606 saves and a save percentage of .928.
Sylves and sophomore defenseman Michael Guerrera were named All-SUNYAC First Team while sophomore forward Anthony Passero was a Third Team selection.
Youngstown’s Ryan Stayner completed his collegiate career with a career-best seven points this season and five of his six career goals.
CANISIUS
The Golden Griffins secured a spot in the Atlantic Hockey final four for the fifth time in six years with a three-game series win over American International in the quarterfinals.
Juniors Cameron Heath and Dylan McLaughlin (Lancaster) were Atlantic Hockey first-team selections while senior Ryan Schmelzer (Buffalo) was a third-team pick. The selection of Heath and McLaughlin to the first team also serves as the first time in program history that Canisius has had multiple players garner All-AHC First-Team distinction in the same season.
Heath ranked seventh in the league in scoring among defensemen, compiling 17 points on six goals and 11 assists and placed third among conference blueliners in plus/minus rating (+11). McLaughlin led Atlantic Hockey in points (38) and assists (25) as he found his way onto the scoresheet in 21 of 28 league games played. Schmelzer ranked among the top-11 players in the league in both goals (12/T-8th) and points (25/T-11th), was tied for third in the league with a plus/minus rating of +12 and was fourth among his conference counterparts with 312 faceoffs victories. He moved into a tie with Paul Graziani (1980-84) for third place on Canisius’ chart for career goals scored by a defenseman Feb. 17.
Freshman forward Grant Meyer was named to the 2017-18 Atlantic Hockey Conference All-Rookie Team after he recorded six goals and eight assists for 14 points in 27 games. He ranked fourth in the league in goals and fifth in scoring among first-year players.
Freshmen Logan Gestro netted his first collegiate tally Feb. 3 against Holy Cross.
FREDONIA
Head coach Jeff Meredith was named SUNYAC Coach of the Year for the 2017-2018 season in his 30th season behind the Blue Devils bench. It is his third time winning the award.
Meredith led his squad to an overall record of 13-11-4, and a fifth place SUNYAC seeding entering playoffs with a conference record of 7-8-1. The team had a triumphant SUNYAC playoff run, upsetting No. 5 seeded Plattsburgh in the quarterfinals, 4-3, then upsetting No. 1 seeded Oswego in the semifinals, 3-1, to advance to the SUNYAC championship game.
Four seniors completed the careers including leading scorer Sam Wilbur and goaltender Nick Harper, who made 37 saves in six career games while earning one victory.
GENESEO
The Knights won their first-round NCAA playoff game at Hobart after winning their fifth SUNYAC Championship and second in three years. They host Colby College in the NCAA quarterfinals in an attempt to reach their third semi-finals in five seasons.
In the process they earned their 20th victory of the season for the seventh 20-win campaign in the 43-year history of the program as well as their third in the last five seasons.
Five Knights were named to All-SUNYAC teams. Senior defenseman Pat Condon and sophomore forward Conlan Keenan landed first-team honors, sophomore forward Tyson Empey was voted to the second team while junior defenseman Duggie Lagrone and junior goalie Devin McDonald were recognized as third-team honorees.
Condon is tied for sixth among SUNYAC defenseman with 14 points including eight assists that are tied for ninth. Keenan led the SUNYAC and is tied for 17th nationally with 36 points, including 17 goals that are tied for second in the conference and 14th in the country. Empey led the SUNYAC and is tied for seventh nationally with 19 goals, including 10 power-play tallies that are tied for the second-highest mark in Division III.
Lugrone is tied for 10th among the nation’s defensemen with 23 points, including 17 assists that is tied for eighth among blue-liners. McDonald ranks fifth in the nation with a 1.80 goals against average and sits 24th with a .925 save percentage. Tied for fourth in victories, he tied the program’s career win mark (44) while also establishing a new standard for shutouts (6) in team history.
NAZARETH
The Golden Flyers managed just two wins over the final five weeks of the regular season and failed to make the playoffs in the first year of the United Collegiate Hockey Conference.
The team will lose four seniors including the program’s all-time scoring (80) and assists (47) leader in Oliver Janzen.
NIAGARA
The Purple Eagles season ended in the first round of the Atlantic conference playoffs at American International.
Nine of the team’s 11 wins during the season came prior to Dec. 3.
Senior forward Derian Plouffe was named to the Atlantic Hockey All-Conference Third Team after her set career-high totals in goals (17), assists (18), and in points (35) while leading the Purple Eagles in goals and points.
Grand Island native Larry Smith was among five seniors who completed their eligibility along with James Roll (West Seneca). Smith finished with 21 points in 98 career contests while Roll had seven points in 27 games in this his only season after transferring from Lake Superior State.
The team losses three senior defensemen and their leading scorer this season in Derian Plouffe.
R.I.T.
Junior forward Erik Brown and senior defenseman Chase Norrish earned 2017-18 Atlantic Hockey All-Conference honors with Brown was a first team selection and Norrish a third team pick.
Brown set a Division I program record with 29 goals, while adding 13 assists for a team-best 42 points in 37 games. He was tied for the national lead with 29 goals and scored at least one goal in 21 games, which leads the country. Brown is third all-time in RIT’s Division I era with 52 career goals with 34 assists and 86 points in 111 career games.
Norrish, the 2016 Atlantic Hockey Defenseman of the Year and first team selection, bounced back from injury to tally 20 points on three goals and 17 assists in 32 games. He set an RIT Division I team record with an 11-game assist streak and 12-game point-scoring streak. ng that stretch.
Brown was also named the Atlantic Hockey Player of the Month for February after leading all of Division I with 12 goals and finishing tied for second with 16 points in nine games. He netted his first and second collegiate hat tricks back-to-back during the period.
Senior Myles Powell became the 10th player in RIT’s Division I history to reach 100 career points.
Max Mikowski (Cheektowaga) was among six seniors who completed their collegiate careers. He finished with four goals and 12 points in 99 games. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet honestly, my brain is still going through the game,” Mikowski said minutes after the season-ending first round playoff loss to Sacred Heart. “I took my jersey off just now and I kind of realized that it’s the last time that I’m ever going to take it off, so kind of shocked.”
OTHER AREA NOTES:
- Holy Cross senior goaltender Paull Berrafato was named First Team All-Conference in Atlantic Hockey after a phenomenal second half of the season and ending the regular season with a .922% save percentage and five shutouts, both tops in the league.
