FREDONIA, N.Y. -- It's that time of year again, when followers of SUNYAC men's hockey begin looking at potential playoff matchups.
In the case of the Fredonia State Blue Devils, that talk has become something like a broken record. It keeps skipping ahead to a familiar first-round opponent.
With two weekends remaining, a lot can still happen -- yet the needle for the Blue Devils seems to be pointing toward another playoff meeting with the Buffalo State Bengals. When the Western New York rivals meet last season in Buffalo, it marked the fourth time in seven seasons they had faced each other in the first round of the SUNYAC Tournament.
Yet first, the foes will face off Friday night in the Steele Hall Ice Arena. Game time is 7 o'clock. Doors open one hour prior to faceoff.
"With one game this weekend, the season is winding down," Blue Devil head coach
Jeff Meredith said. "Buffalo State presents a pretty big challenge."
The Bengals come to Friday's game in fourth place -- three points ahead of the fifth-place Blue Devils. Each team has three conference games remaining. The top six teams make the SUNYAC tournament with the usual format: seeds 1 and 2 draw byes, while 6 visits 3, and 5 visits 4.
The Blue Devils are coming off a one-point weekend in the north country. They lost at nationally ranked Plattsburgh before trying Potsdam in a game in which they rallied from 2-0 down to start the third period, took a 4-2 lead, and gave up two late goals.
Meredith is looking for a more complete effort tonight vs. Buffalo State.
"Our No. 1 goal of this game," he said, "is to stay with our team identity for 60 minutes or however long it takes. Against Plattsburgh, we strayed a bit and it didn't work for us. I think we got closer to it against Potsdam and it really paid dividend in the third period for us ...  However, at the end, we didn't manage the game very well and paid for it by taking a few penalties and then giving up two goals. Losing that one point from a tie to a win might end up being a big point next week."
The Blue Devils close out their regular season on the road next weekend -- Friday at Brockport, Saturday at Geneseo. They will then find out if another first-round meeting with Buffalo State is in the cards.
"We still have the chance to get home ice for the play-in round of the playoffs," Meredith said. "Looking at the standings, it would not surprise me to be playing the Bengals in the first round ...again."
