CORTLAND, NY – Aidan LaValley (Champlain, NY/Vermont Lumberjacks) scored 17 seconds into the opening period, giving the Buffalo State men's hockey team the lead for good, and the Bengals hung on for a 3-2 victory over Cortland in the SUNYAC First Round. Buffalo State heads to top-seeded Oswego for the SUNYAC Semifinals against the Lakers at 7 pm on Saturday.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Buffalo State – 3, Cortland – 2
LOCATION: Alumni Arena – Cortland, NY
RECORDS: Buffalo State (14-12-0), Cortland (16-9-1)
INSIDE THE BENGAL BOX SCORE
- Nikita Kozyrev (Tallinn, Estonia/Springfield Jr. Blues) and Jared Figueroa (Scotch Plains, NJ/Florida Eels) each netted a goal for Buffalo State.
- Joe Glamos (Baldwinsville, NY/New Jersey Titans) recorded a pair of assists.
- LaValley netted his fourth goal of the season, recording a point for the third consecutive game.
- Emil Norrman (Kungsbacka, Sweden/Dells Ducks) turned aside 39 shots for his 14th victory, tied for the third-most victories in a single season in program history.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Parker Allison's (Dallas, TX/Neepawa Natives) shot went wide, ricocheted off the boards out front to LaValley, who tapped the puck home for the goal with 19:43 remaining in the opening period.
- Figueroa doubled the Buffalo State lead with under four minutes remaining, scoring on a breakaway after a Cortland defenseman slipped on the ice.
- Norrman stopped 14 shots in the period as the Bengals held a 2-0 edge into intermission.
- Buffalo State continued its dominance with the man advantage, scoring a power-play goal on its only opportunity of the game.
- Tyler Vanuden (Fort Frances, ON/Finlandia University) passed behind the net to Glamos, who sent a quick pass out front for a wrist shot by Kozyrev into the top corner of the net.
- Buffalo State held the 3-0 lead into the second intermission.
- Norrman was finally beaten with 7:58 remaining in the third on a breakaway goal by Colby Seitz on the Red Dragons' 33 shot of the night, giving Cortland life.
- Cortland pulled within one with 4:12 remaining in the game, sneaking a rebound past Norrman.
- Over the final minutes, Andrew Logar (Niagara Falls, NY/Corpus Christi Ice Rays) blocked multiple shot attempts by Cortland, and the Bengals hung on despite a barrage of shots from the Red Dragons after pulling their goalie.
FOR THE FOES
- Anthony Bernardo and Seitz scored the Cortland goals.
