POTSDAM, N.Y.—The SUNY Potsdam men’s hockey team (3-0-1) never trailed and scored twice in the last 36 seconds to defeat SUNY Canton (1-2) 5-2 on Saturday night. Freshman forward Brett Horn (Cary, N.C./Humbolt Broncos) scored twice and senior forward Joey Gilhooly(Brooklyn, N.Y./New York Bobcats), senior assistant captain Dylan Vander Esch (San Jose, Calif./Hartford Wolfpack) and junior forward Ben Mariano (Harrisburg, Pa./Hartford Wolfpack) also scored for the Bears.
Potsdam jumped on the Kangaroos just 41 seconds into the game. Gilhooly stopped a Canton break out attempt and moved the puck to sophomore forward Tyler Young (Massena, N.Y./Kanata Lasers). Young fired a shot from the point that hit screened Kangaroos sophomore goalie Michael Cerasuolo (Montreal, Quebec/Brockville Braves) and Gilhooly was waiting at the right post to knock the rebound home (Watch). The Bears outshot Canton 10-8 in the opening stanza but spent the end of the period and the start of the second killing a major penalty.
The physical second period saw 18 more minutes of penalties, but no power-play opportunities. The Kangaroos tied the score at 11:58. Junior forward Joe Deveny (Stouffville, Ontario/Stouffville Spirit) picked off a breakout pass at the blue line. He fed it to senior captain Josh Sova (Oswego, N.Y./Syracuse Stampede) at the left side of the net and he ripped it past Bears junior goalie Nate Skidmore (Syracuse, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres). Potsdam answered with a goal at 18:14. Senior forward Jake Martin (Montreal, Quebec/Concordia) carried the puck into the zone and hit Horn in the slot for his first collegiate goal (Watch). Freshman forward Paul Michura (Chester, N.J./New Jersey Rockets) recorded the second assist on the play for his first career point.
Just 42 seconds into the into the third, Vander Esch jammed home a rebound at the right side of the net to make it 3-1 (Watch). Mariano and senior captain Kyle Thacker (Mississauga, Ontario/North York Rangers) each assisted on the goal. While killing a penalty at 11:05, Canton junior forward Joey Vocino (Pickering, Ontario/Lindsay Muskies) picked up the puck in his own end skated the length of the ice and beat Skidmore, who was screened by his own defenseman. With about two minutes to go Cerasuolo started looking to his bench to come off for an extra attacker. The call was slow in coming so he started banging his stick on the ice. The call finally came with about 40 seconds remaining and he got to the bench, just as Mariano skated into the zone all by himself for an empty-net goal (Watch). Cerasuolo returned for the remainder of the game and with 2.6 seconds left, Horn tipped a shot from sophomore defenseman Sean Winikates (Phoenix, Ariz./Philadelphia Jr. Flyer) past him (Watch).
Skidmore made 22 stops on the night to improve to 2-0 on the season. Cerasuolo finished with 30 saves. Canton was 0-for-2 on the power play and Potsdam went 0-for-5.
With the sweep, the Bears are now 7-1-1 against Canton since the Roos moved to Division III.
Potsdam opens up SUNYAC play next Friday at No. 6 SUNY Geneseo at 7 p.m.
