Koras scores three points as Eagles tie Buffalo State

By Jared Smith
STAFF WRITER

Photo by Nick Serrata, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Chris Koras scored a goal and had two assists in the Golden Eagles' 4-4 tie against Buffalo State Saturday, Nov. 3.

If Tony Marinello’s game-tying celebration gave any forecast of how exciting the 2007-08 SUNY Brockport hockey season could be, then Golden Eagle fans are in for one interesting ride.

Brockport finished their opening weekend of SUNYAC play with a 4-4 tie against Buffalo State College Saturday night at the Tuttle North Ice Arena.

Leaping high in the air after his rebound goal, Marinello tallied his fifth goal of his four-year collegiate career helping Brockport (1-3-1) to salvage a point in the SUNYAC standings.

“It was Tony Marinello with the goal and Mike Foligno with the celebration,” Brockport head coach Brian Dickinson said. “(He’s) such a great kid, it’s nice to see his hard work get rewarded.”

Marinello answered a go-ahead goal by the Bengals’ Joe Curry who beat goaltender Greg Van’t Hof on his short-side three minutes into the third period.

Buffalo State (2-3-1) held a 2-1 lead after the first 20 minutes of play, but Brockport answered to take the lead with back-to-back power-play goals by seniors Chris Koras and Gordon Pritchard.

Koras tallied his second goal of the season by snipping a wrister just inside the top-right corner. Sophomore goaltender Kyle Gun-Taylor could do nothing on the perfectly located shot which helped a struggling Brockport power-play find the net for only the second time in 23 attempts.

Pritchard increased Brockport’s percentage on the power-play by taking advantage of a nice feed from Koras and toying with Gun-Taylor in front of the goal. After swiveling back-and-forth Pritchard finally back-handed his 50th career point into the net.

At the 17 minute mark freshmen Nick Petriello tallied his fifth goal in only his sixth game to tie the game up for the second time at 3-3.

The Bengals relied on frustrating Brockport with a dump and chance style of play. “It was almost like a rope-a-dope,” said Dickinson after his team committed 15 penalties for 38 minutes. “They just wanted to flip it out and frustrate you.”

Despite being frustrated the Golden Eagles outplayed a SUNYAC opponent but fell short of a win.

The night before the Golden Eagles out-hit, out-shot and out-hustled SUNY Fredonia in a 3-2 loss.

The Blue Devils’ Neal Sheehan was the story of the night scoring go ahead goals in the second and third periods.

With amazing quickness and skill, Sheehan found nylon with a wrist-shot which beat sophomore Todd Sheridan short-sided midway through the second period. Nine minutes into the third, the senior notched the game-winner by blowing past the defensemen and finding a seam in the five-hole of Sheridan.

“It’s never satisfying to get one out of four (points) at home,” said Dickinson after Saturday night’s loss. “But we played the defending (SUNYAC) champs and a team that hosted a playoff game last year. We did a great job of battling back and will take a point in these circumstances.”

After one weekend of SUNYAC play Brockport sits in the seventh spot in the standings. Before taking on the defending D-III National Champion SUNY Oswego (1-2-1, 1-1-0 SUNYAC) this Saturday (Nov. 10th), Brockport hosts SUNY Cortland (1-4, 0-2 SUNYAC) on Friday night (Not. 9th). Puck drops at 7:00.