The ball keeps rolling for the Golden Eagles hockey team as they beat Buffalo State 5-3 on Friday on Teddy Bear Toss Night. Brockport has now won three in a row including two over ranked opponents.
The first period brought a lot of excitement to the Brockport faithful as Brockport forward Connor Galloway got the puck past Buffalo State goalie Marcus Cumberworth’s left side. Teddy bears, big and small, rained down onto the ice after the goal was scored. The experience was surreal for Galloway.
“It seemed like every single person is throwing teddy bears,” Galloway said. “Right when it happened, you kind of just black out…and you are skating to the line and bears are hitting you, it’s a pretty cool feeling.”
Brockport kept pushing the puck into the offensive zone with little resistance, which allowed them to score another goal thanks to forward Matt Anastasio tipping in a shot from defenseman Jordan Rosenbaum. On the defensive side, Brockport was to simply put it: lights out. Buffalo State was only able to muster four shots in the period as the Golden Eagles’ defense forced several turnovers.
The second period was a complete turnaround for the Bengals. They started to put Brockport’s defense on their heels, playing with speed and physicality. With that, forward Joe Glamos managed to tip one in to make it a 2-1 game. Brockport responded, with forward Scott Ramaekers scoring on a one-timer.
Even though Brockport seemed to be at a comfortable lead, they struggled to clear the puck out of their defensive zone and took three penalties during the second period. This forced Brockport to defend for much of the second period. They successfully killed off all three powerplays, but the Bengals built momentum off of them. Before the second came to a close forwards Anthony Morin and Tyler Penree each notched a goal to tie the game at three heading into the third period.
Brockport’s offense still applied pressure on Buffalo State’s defense, which did better compared to the first period. However, the Golden Eagles looked off. Ramaekers felt throughout the whole team during the second period and knew work needed to be done in the third.
“We got to sell out,” Ramaekers said. “I mean we kind of eased up a little bit that period. They came with energy after we took it to them.”
In other games that we have seen from Brockport, they have struggled to bounce back to win games when they lost a great deal of momentum. However, they changed this narrative with their performance in the third period.
The Golden Eagles came out of the period swinging and reverted to how they played in the first. Buffalo State looked exactly like how they played in the first as well, struggling to get more than one shot on goal off the entire period. Due to Brockport’s play, Galloway went end-to-end and scored to put Brockport up 4-3.
Brockport wasn’t done yet, as forward Josh Grund scored to make it a 5-3 game. Although the Bengals were able to tie the game earlier trailing by two, it looked like the game was out of reach as they looked demoralized, and their tempers began to flare.
After scoring, Grund was knocked to the ground by Penree, leading Brockport defenseman Jacob Rodrigue to push him hard into the boards. A skirmish ensued from the incident and led to Rodrigue being thrown out of the game.
Although the loss of one of their top defensemen was critical, Brockport didn’t waver and secured the victory with a 5-3 win. Brockport Head Coach Brian Dickinson was happy with the win, even though he felt like he wasn’t watching the same game.
“That was a tale of like two different games or almost three different games,” Dickinson said. “It was a total team win.”
With the win, Brockport improves to 4-6-1 on the season and 2-4 in conference play. As for Buffalo State, the loss puts them at 4-7 for the season and 2-4 in conference play. Brockport will take on Fredonia Saturday night for Alumni Night, which Dickinson knows will not be an easy game.
“We’re going to play a team that plays heavy,” Dickinson said. “We got to be able to outplay them and outcompete them. If we can play like we have, two points are there for us to take.”
More alumni will have their names added to the Wall of Honor pregame and Brockport will be wearing their retro-styled uniforms that were recently released to mark the 50-year celebration. The puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
