BOXSCORE
FREDONIA, N.Y. – Geoff Matzel scored two goals and Caylin Relkoff made 33 saves to lead Morrisville State to a 2-1 SUNYAC victory over Fredonia State.
The two goals gave Matzel have four on the weekend – he had two in a 3-3 tie Friday at Buffalo State – and seven this season. Relkoff, meanwhile, made a series of big saves to post his fourth win of the season.
Steve Rizer scored for the Blue Devils, who fell to 3-8 overall and 3-5 in the SUNYAC. Morrisville State improved to 5-3-1 overall and 5-2-1 in the conference.
Matzel's game-winning goal came at 19:21 of the second period with the teams tied 1-1. Following a change of puck possession, the junior from Chittenango, N.Y., snuck behind the Blue Devil defense and raced up the right side. His shot from close range beat Fredonia State's
Mark Friesen on the glove side.
The Blue Devils' tries at the equalizer in the third period included a short wrist shot by
Chris de Bruyn, an odd-man rush leading to a back-hander by
Ben Waldman, and a point-blank range shot by
Mitch Kulikoski. Relkoff smothered the first shot, made a kick save on the second, and deflected the third into the corner with his stick.
The Blue Devils also had a final power-play opportunity starting at the 17:21 mark of the final period. The best scoring chances early were by the short-handed Mustangs, resulting in two more saves by Friesen. He finished with 31 saves.
With a face-off coming in their defensive end, the Blue Devils took a time-out to regroup. They eventually cleared the zone and pulled Friesen for the extra skater, but did not manage to get a shot through to Relkoff. The closest they came was on a slapshot from the point by
Alex Morton, which deflected off a skate in front of the net and redirected into the corner.
A scoreless first period was followed by a wide open second period. The Blue Devils killed off two straight penalties, but could not keep Morrisville off the board while skating even-handed. Matzel put his team on the board when he converted a rebound following an odd-man rush and an initial save by Friesen.
The Blue Devils countered with a power-play goal by Rizer following a scramble in front of the Morrisville goal.
Jordan Oye and
Mat Hehr earned assists on the goal, which came at 16:35, with Hehr planted in front of the net as a screen.
The Blue Devils nearly scored another goal on a shot from the right wing by Hehr, only to have Relkoff deflect the puck away with his glove. That save opened the door for Matzel to put his team in the lead for good.
The Blue Devils had a territorial advantage in the first period, and eventually a 14-8 advantage in shots, but Relkoff was equal to the task.
Fredonia State had a power-play chance five minutes into the first period, and turned into into three shots-on-goal and a slap shot off the right post by
Ben Waldman, but no goal.
Waldman was again involved in a scoring chance when he passed from behind to
Will McLaughlin, who raced into the offensive zone and whistled a low one-timer from just inside the blue line. Relkoff made a kick save with his left pad.
Relkoff was called on again twice more to make big saves before the first period was over. He stopped a low, hard shot from
Chris Jung and later a slap shot by Rizer with the Blue Devils on their second power play of the period.
Friesen had a similar flurry of saves during a Morrisville power play starting at 8:06 of the third period. He first made a blocker save of a slap shot by Tom Longland, followed by a second save when Rob Sgarbossa tried to score on the rebound. The Mustangs kept the pressure up but Friesen stopped hard shots by James Jarvis and Daniel Morello.
One of the shots struck a pane of glass in the Zamboni door. Play was halted to make temporary repairs to a crack and when play resumed, the Blue Devils killed off the remaining seven seconds on the penalty.
