BUFFALO, N.Y.—Freshman Vadim Vasjonkin (Tallinn, Estonia) tallied two goals and an assist to lead nationally-No. 15 ranked and third-seeded Buffalo State to a 4-3 victory over visiting sixth-seeded Potsdam tonight in a SUNYAC quarterfinal matchup.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: #15 Buffalo State – 4, Potsdam – 3
LOCATION: Ice Arena – Buffalo, N.Y.
RECORDS: Buffalo State (17-6-3), Potsdam (10-11-5)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Zach Nieminen (Ajax, ON/Notre Dame CSS) opened the scoring for the Bengals with his 10th of the season on the power-play with assists from Reid Bibb (Gaithersburg, MD/Gaithersburg) and Vasjonkin late in the opening period.
Potsdam evened the score with a power-play tally of its own five minutes into the second period.
Vasjonkin answered for the Bengals just 47 seconds later however, ripping a shot from a sharp angle on the left wing to the back of the net for his eighth of his rookie campaign. Michael Anthony Guerrera (Montreal, QC/OHA) and Ben Butcher (Bellingham, WA/Langley) were credited with the assists.
Buffalo State extended the lead to 3-1 before the second intermission. Skating 4-on-4, Mac Wood (Simcoe, ON/SCS) pushed a neutral zone faceoff forward and raced past the Bears’ defenders before feeding a streaking Zach Remers (Clarence, NY/Canisius) who made no mistake for his eight goal of the season.
Buffalo State extended its lead when Vasjonkin potted his second of the game and ninth of the season from Guerrera and Ben Butcher (Bellingham, WA/Langley) with eight minutes into the third period.
Potsdam responded with a second power-play goal of the game just over a minute later and then cut margin to just one with 1:50 remaining.
The Bengals and goalie Ian Sylves (Sloan, NY/JFK) closed the door from there to seal the victory.
Sylves finished with 28 saves as Potsdam finished with a 31-30 edge in shots on goal.
Potsdam was 2 for 5 on the power play, while Buffalo State finished 1 for 4
FOR THE FOES
Senior Dylan Vander Esch led Potsdam with two goals and an assist, closing his career with 101 career points.
Kyle Thacker also scored, and Brendan McMenimen finished with 26 saves.
UP NEXT
Buffalo State will next travel to face No. 2 Geneseo on Saturday at 7 p.m. for its seventh-consecutive SUNYAC semifinal appearance.
