SUMMARY
FREDONIA, N.Y. -- Buffalo State nailed third place heading into the SUNYAC playoffs with a 3-2 SUNYAC men's hockey victory over Fredonia State at the Steele Hall Ice Arena.
The loss droppped the Blue Devils into the No. 5 seed and cost them home ice in the first round of the SUNYAC Tournament.
Instead, Fredonia State will travel to Geneseo. Faceoff is 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Buffalo State, on the other hand, earned a first-round home game. Nick Melligan took an innocent looking shot from the right faceoff circle and the puck eluded Fredonia State goaltender
Mark Friesen (Calgary, Alberta) with 4:53 remaining to break a 2-2 tie.
The Bengals improved to 12-11-2 overall and 8-7-1 overall while the Blue Devils dropped to 11-10-3 overall and 6-7-3 in SUNYAC.
The Blue Devils scored both its goal early in periods, one in the first period and one in the third.
Brett Mueller (Queensbury) opened the scoring with his seventh goal of the season at 1:59 of the first period with a shot from just over the blue line following a cross-rink pass.
Buffalo State's Trevor McKinney evened the score at 1-1 with his 16th goal of the season off a scramble in front of the net later in the first period during a Bengal power play.
The Bengals took their first lead of the night, 2-1, when Drew Klin scored on a power play at 13:58 of the second period into the short side. It was Klin's 11th goal.
Mike Muhs (Rochester) forged a 2-2 tie at 1:28 of the third period. It was his eighth goal of the year. Senior forward
Bryan Ross (Livonia, Mich.) was credited with an assist on the goal. It was Ross's 132th career point and tied him with Neal Sheehan for fifth place on the Fredonia State career points list.
Friesen finished with 27 saves while Buffalo State's Kevin Carr made 28 stops.
The Blue Devils were 0 of 7 with the man-advantage.
