FREDONIA, N.Y. -- With work to do to qualify for the SUNYAC playoffs, the Fredonia Blue Devils have an important date Friday with the Buffalo State Bengals.
The Blue Devils enter the weekend in seventh place -- one point behind the Bengals, who have two games in hand. The top six teams qualify for the conference tournament.
Friday's game -- faceoff is 7 p.m. in the Steele Hall Ice Arena -- is a rematch of the season opener, which ended in a 1-1 tie on Oct. 30 in Buffalo. It was the third tie in the last five meetings between the teams; Buffalo State has won the other two games.
"It's always a battle," said Fredonia Head Coach
Jeff Meredith, whose team leads the all-time series, 41-15, with seven ties. "We are two teams that just seem to bring out the battle in each other and as we kick off the second half of the SUNYAC season, this game is a big one."
The Blue Devils are starting a healthy stretch of home games -- six in a row and eight of nine to close out the regular season. So far, they own a 4-3 home record and are 5-8-3 overall.
"This game starts a pretty good run at home for us and we need to get off to a good start in this stretch," Meredith said. "We also need to get off to a good start in this game, getting pucks in deep, pressuring their defensemen and then taking pucks to the net."
The 2015-16 season has been a story of roster overhaul. Sixteen players are newcomers -- 15 freshmen and one sophomore. The first-timers-- who have combined for 28 of Fredonia's 56 goals -- have gained valuable experience.
"At this point in the year," Meredith said, "we no longer have freshmen, we have hockey players and we need our hockey players to bring their 'A' game down this playoff stretch."
Friday's game is also the latest installment of the
"Battle By The Lake." Fredonia leads the season-long, multi-sport series with Buffalo State, 8-6.
