KEVIN SIRACUSE
Special to The Leader
The Fredonia Blue Devils’ comeback came up short Saturday night.
Fredonia fell to the Plattsburgh Cardinals 3-2 after scoring a goal in the third period.
The Blue Devils found themselves down 2-0 late in the second period before senior forward Jimmy Morgan scored a short-handed goal with just under three minutes left in the period. However, the Cardinals answered right back, scoring on the power-play a minute later.
Morgan scored Fredonia’s second goal at 6:31 of the third period, as he received a long pass from freshman forward Ethan Kirbis that resulted in a breakaway goal.
The Blue Devils were unable to score again, and the Cardinals hung on to the victory. Senior goaltender Eric Bogart made 47 saves in a losing effort.
Saturday night was also the annual Pink the Rink game. Started as a class project back in 2007, this event raises money each year for cancer awareness.
“It’s such a unique event in our community,” Head Coach Jeff Meredith said. “It brings an incredible emotion to Steele Hall ice arena that is untouched all season long.”
Sophomore Allison Price agreed with Meredith.
“I feel like the Pink the Rink game is more exciting than the rest of them just because there are so many more community members and college students that come out,” Price said. “I love the energy of being in the stands.”
Senior defenseman, Jon Carlson, gave a player’s perspective of the event.
“It’s a tremendous honor to play in something that means so much more than the game of hockey,” Carlson said.
Each year, every Blue Devils player wears a pink jersey with a name on the back that honors someone who has fought cancer or someone who is currently fighting cancer.
Meredith said that he is in charge of figuring out who wears what jersey.
“When somebody expresses interest in a jersey, I send them a full sheet of information [that says] how to pick the jersey number that they want [and which numbers we have remaining],” Meredith said.
This year, Fredonia’s Associate Vice President of Enrollment Services Dan Tramuta and his wife Laurie had a jersey bought in honor of Laurie’s younger brother Jon-Michael Lasher, who is currently battling brain cancer.
Laurie said that Fredonia’s Athletic Director, Jerry Fisk, bought the jersey in honor of her brother.
“Jerry knows through Dan that my brother has a brain tumor,” Laurie said. “[He wanted to buy a jersey] in honor of Jon.”
She went on to say how much it meant to her.
“What a beautiful gesture,” Laurie said. “I was so touched, and so was my brother.”
Carlson had the privilege of wearing Lasher’s jersey.
“It was a great honor to wear Mr. Lasher’s jersey,” Carlson said. “I’m happy I got to play my heart out for someone who has battled so much.”
In the 13 years of hosting this event, the Blue Devils have now raised over $90,000.
“The community and the campus are tremendously supportive,” Meredith said. “It’s a great event, and it’s become a tradition of Fredonia hockey. We look forward to, maybe a few years from now, getting over that $100,000 mark.”
*Note: Fredonia clinched a SUNYAC playoff berth with Friday’s 4-3 victory over Potsdam. The Blue Devils will travel to Morrisville this weekend for two games versus the Mustangs that will determine playoff seeding.