BUFFALO, N.Y. — Mike DeLaVergne (Pawling/Pawling) made 20 saves and the Buffalo State offense scored four goals, including two from Roberts Smits (Riga, Latvia/South Kent School (CT)) as the Bengals bounced the visiting SUNY Canton Kangaroos, 4-0 tonight at the Buffalo State College Ice Arena,
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Buffalo State – 4, SUNY Canton – 0
LOCATION: BSC Ice Arena – Buffalo, N.Y.
RECORDS: Buffalo State (3-1-1), SUNY Canton (1-3-1)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Buffalo State got on the board first 12:18 into the first period.
The play started when Hugo Petit (Chelsea, QC/CIH Academy) won a battle along the boards to keep the puck in the Canton zone. Petit knocked it to Taylor Pryce (Newmarket, ON/Columbus North) who took the pass and flipped it back in front of the net to Smits who tipped the puck into the upper corner of the net to give the Bengals a 1-0 lead.
Buffalo State added another goal a little more than two minutes later. The Bengals again won a battle by the boards. After the scrum, the puke found itself on the stick of Anthony Passero (Fort Erie, ON/Lakeshore) who flicked it to Garrett Chardon (Old Field/Ward Melville) at the point. Chardon flipped it across to Michael Anthony Guerrera (Montreal, QC/Ontario Hockey Academy), whose seeing-eye shot found its way through traffic and into the net to make it 2-0, Buffalo State.
The Bengals would add another goal with less than three minutes left in the opening period. Buffalo State found itself on the power play and was cycling the puke throughout the offensive zone. After a battle in front of the net, Smits was Johnny-on-the-spot, as he found the loose puck in front and buried it into the back of the net to give Buffalo State a 3-0 lead after one.
The two sides played a scoreless second, with Buffalo State holding a 19-14 edge in shots after two periods of play.
With just five minutes left in the game, Buffalo State stuck again. SUNY Canton got an icing against them and off the ensuing faceoff, Passero won the draw and pushed it to Butcher who ripped a shot from the slot that beat the Canton goalie to make it 4-0.
Smits finished the game with two goals scored. Passero (three) and Zach Remers (Clarence/Canisius, two) each recorded a multi-assist night.
DeLaVergne made 20 stops to record his first shutout of the season. The blank sheet moved him into a tie for second place all-time in Buffalo State history for career shutouts.
FOR THE FOES
Michael Cerasuolo made 16 saves through two periods and Austin Washkurak finished the game in the third with five stops in the losing effort.
UP NEXT
Buffalo State hosts SUNY Canton again at 7 p.m. tomorrow at the BSC Ice Arena.
