AIDAN POLLARD
Staff Writer
That was a long 60 minutes.
Fredonia hockey suffered a 7-1 loss to the Geneseo Ice Knights on Saturday night. Fredonia’s loss cost them both the SUNYAC title and the NCAA tournament bid that comes with winning the championship.
The Blue Devils let up four goals in the first 12 minutes of play at Geneseo’s Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena.
Geneseo’s first goal was on a power play during which Fredonia looked, and acted, helpless. Fredonia spent about one minute of play passing in the offensive zone without any interruption and, as soon, as Geneseo had a good line of sight, they shot and scored.
The first goal of the game was scored by defenseman Mitch Ferguson of Geneseo. Geneseo had their foot on Fredonia’s throat for the entirety of that power play, foreshadowing how the rest of the game would play out.
It wasn’t until three Ice Knights’ goals, and a Fredonia goalie change later on, that Fredonia scored their only response.
Fredonia senior Sam Wilbur scored 15 minutes into the first period during a four-on-four play after penalties were drawn by both the Blue Devils and the Ice Knights.
Fredonia’s only goal was scored during one of 26 minutes worth of penalties given throughout the game. Fredonia suffered seven two-minute minor penalties.
Tanner Salsbury of Geneseo alone served six penalty minutes during the game.
The high number of penalties proved beneficial to Geneseo far more than it did to the Blue Devils. Four of the Ice Knights’ goals were scored during penalty minutes, with two of those goals on the power play.
There was a significant slowdown after the first period bombardment by Geneseo. The Ice Knights’ shot count went from 16 to eight in the first and second periods, respectively.
In the 48 minutes that Fredonia’s Eric Bogart was in net, he saw 27 shots and let up three goals. In the first 11 minutes of the game where Anton Rosen was goaltending, he let up four of 14 shots.
Even after Geneseo slowed their offense after the first period, Fredonia had no room to respond in any way. Geneseo played aggressive and dominant hockey. Geneseo was able to dominate whenever they were on the power play, as well as shut Fredonia down during any and every man advantage that they were given.
Geneseo closed out the contest with a goal early in the third period scored by captain Pat Condon, his second of the game.
After that, the game started to move fairly smoothly and mercifully. It was unlikely that Fredonia, or any team for that matter, would be able to come back from a six-goal deficit. Geneseo spent the third period focusing on strong defensive hockey and keeping their SUNYAC title secure.
Barring this loss, Fredonia played a very strong season of hockey. The Blue Devils rallied hard to make it into the SUNYAC tournament and ended up upsetting one of the best teams in the nation for a shot at the title.
Fredonia hockey, as well as the whole Fredonia campus, should be extremely proud.