Men's Ice Hockey | 11/1/2018 2:07:00 PM

FREDONIA, N.Y. -- Fredonia opens the SUNYAC portion of its season Friday vs. Geneseo at Steele Hall. Game time is 7 o'clock.

The last time these teams met, they were playing for the conference championship. The Blue Devils, the 5-seed, were trying to win three straight playoff games on the road against higher-ranked teams. They defeated 4-seed Plattsburgh, then 1-seed Oswego, before falling to Geneseo, the 2-seed, last March 3 at Geneseo's Ira Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena.

"How fitting is it," Fredonia Head Coach Jeff Meredith said, "that our conference home opener is against the defending SUNYAC champions and the team that beat us in that title game last March. As they say, in order to be the best, you have to beat the best, and we couldn't be more excited for this opener."

Geneseo comes into Friday's game ranked No. 3 in both USCHO.com and D3Hockey polls. The Knights won both games on opening weekend, 8-0 over King's (Pa.) and 10-0 over Neumann. Tyson Empey had four goals, Arthur Gordon three goals, and Devin McDonald two shutouts while making 25 saves total.

Fredonia won its lone game so far, 7-3, over Chatham last Friday at Steele Hall. Jacob Haynes (Whitby, Ont.) had his first collegiate hat trick and Luke Rivera (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) had two goals in his return to the lineup after missing 2017-18 with an injury. Eric Bogart (London, Ont.) stopped 44 shots on goal.

"I feel pretty good about where we are as a team," Meredith said. "We know our game and now our challenge is to put that on our opponent for a full 60 minutes. There should be no problem getting ready to play Geneseo on Friday night."

Fredonia has won the last two home games in the series, 4-3 last season and 5-1 the year before. Jimmy Morgan (Highlands Ranch, Col.) has three goals the past two years vs. Geneseo at Steele, including the game-winner to break a 3-3 tie last year Haynes and Mike Freeman (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) also had goals in last year's game, while Ryan Dunn (Rockland, Mass.) and Todd Schauss (Terryville, Conn.) each had a goal two years ago.

Bogart was the winner in goal two years ago with 31 saves. Anton Rosen (Orsa, Sweden) relieved Bogart and earned the win last year with 23 saves. McDonald was in net for Geneseo for both those games.

"It's a new year and we have new things to prove," Meredith said. "We feel there is a perception out there in the hockey world that we got lucky last year in the playoffs. So at this point, I guess it is our hands to either prove that right or prove that wrong."

For the record -- Geneseo was picked for first and Fredonia for fourth in the SUNYAC pre-season poll of conference coaches … Fredonia is back in action Saturday night at Brockport ... last Saturday's game at Chatham, postponed in the aftermath of the shooting near the Pittsburgh, Pa. campus, is close to being rescheduled. The schools are looking at a date in early January.