By Warren Kozireski —
Buffalo state forward Zach Remers improved his offensive numbers from his freshman to sophomore seasons, and at the start of his junior campaign was sitting atop the Bengals scoring chart as they entered their second weekend of conference play.
The 6’1”, 185 lb. wing scored six points over his first five games this season with four goals while seeing time on the penalty kill and power play.
He registered a two-goal, three-point night in a 4-4 tie against SUNYAC rival Geneseo as the team rebounded from a 5-1 loss to Brockport in the conference opener one night earlier.
“When he skates, he is really good and he can play with anybody in the country,” Buffalo State head coach Steve Murphy said. “(With only one senior on the roster) we’re leaning on a lot of our older guys and the guys know our expectations and our team standards. We challenged our leaders and they stepped up.”
After playing for Canisius High, Remers left home at 16-years old and played four seasons with the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Knights junior program where he also increased his numbers as he rose to each level.
“It’s always a nice confidence booster when you can get some offense going early in the season,” Remers said after the Geneseo game. “The SUNY(AC) is so competitive that any team can beat anybody any night.”
With just one senior teammate, Remers is one of six juniors on the young roster and that comes with responsibility he didn’t have over his first two seasons in a Bengals uniform.
“You have to help out the underclassmen and kind of show them the winning culture here. Even if you don’t have a letter on your jersey it’s important to be a voice in the locker room and help them out and guide them.”
Against Geneseo, Remers and a few other Buffalo State forwards were beating the defensemen wide to create scoring chances, a style that suits him just fine.
“He (coach) pushes speed a lot in practice, so it becomes second nature in games. That’s what we try to do in games; we have a lot of speed on our team so if we can get the puck in deep and beat their “D” and generate some offense, it usually works pretty well for us.”
He enters a key stretch of six conference games with a two-game goal-scoring streak.
