Brockport Athletics
Ben Saurbaugh after his made goal. Photo Credit: Brockport Athletics Flickr
The Golden Eagles came into this game looking to avenge their heartbreaking loss to conference rival Fredonia in overtime and gain a spot in the SUNYAC standings. They did just that as seven different players scored for Brockport in their 8-2 blowout win over the Morrisville Mustangs.
The Mustangs got off to a fast start. Just 54 seconds into the game, defensemen Matteo DiBlasio netted a goal to give Morrisville the early 1-0. This was Diblasio’s first goal of the season.
The Golden Eagles responded with a goal of their own a few minutes later. At the 18:33 mark in the first period, forward Michael Meredith scored his third goal of the season after the puck deflected off the pad of Morrisville goaltender Ryan Creenan to tie the game at one apiece.
Brockport would take a 2-1 lead in the game after forward Connor Roach scored a goal that deflected off the stick of defensemen Jacob Rodrigue and into the net. They would not hold the lead for long.
With 10:43 left to play in the first period, Diblasio netted his second goal of the game to knot the game at two. Both teams exchanged scoring chances but to no avail as the game was tied at two heading into the second period.
The Golden Eagles would score four unanswered goals in the second period. The first of which came just 22 seconds into the second period when forward Matt Anastasio scored his third goal of the season to put Brockport up 3-2.
Four minutes later, at the 15:17 mark in the second period, forward Ben Saurbaugh netted a goal after a cross ice pass from Manny Sanchez, to put Brockport up 4-2. This was Saurbaugh’s second goal of the season. One minute later, Saurbaugh scored his second goal of the game on a bouncing puck that he tapped into the net to make it a 5-2 game.
“On my first one, Meredith made a great pass in the middle, and I had a break lane and capitalized,” Saurbaugh said. “On the second one, it was Meredith again with a nice shot and I just got the rebound.”
With 4:09 left in the second period, forward Andrew Harley joined in on the scoring parade, netting his first goal of the season to give the Golden Eagles the 6-2 lead heading into the third period.
“It’s a huge relief when you finally get one after going through a little bit of a slump,” Harley said. “There was an opportunity for a two-on-one going up the ice and Gates made a great play, and I just caught it and tried to take my time and find the open shot in the net and thankfully, finally one went.”
The Golden Eagles would add two more goals to their total in the third period. Just 1:07 into the third period, forward Manny Sanchez scored a short-handed goal, which was his third goal of the season. This was followed by a Josh Grund goal, his third goal of the season, 1:19 later to make it an 8-2 game. This is how the game would end.
“I thought we were really good in the second and third period,” Brockport head coach Brian Dickinson said. “We did a lot of really good things in all facets of the game. Wiemer made some really big saves when we needed him to, and guys were opportunistic on both the power play and penalty kill and five-on-five.”
With the win, Brockport improves to 5-7-1 overall and 3-5 in the conference. The Golden Eagles will be back in action when they host the #6 Elmira Soaring Eagles on Saturday. Puck drop is set for 4 p.m. at the Wegmans Ice Arena.