Golden Eagles complete season with catastrophic loss to Plattsburgh
By Jared Smith
STAFF WRITER

No other team could have gone from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows this week like the SUNY Brockport men’s ice hockey team. Three days after defeating SUNY Geneseo in a thrilling 2-1 victory, Brockport traveled to the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena at SUNY Plattsburgh Tuesday, Feb. 20 for the program’s first playoff game in seven years, only to be disappointed in a 9-2 season ending blowout.

By Nicholas Serrata, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Senior defenseman Anthony Leccese finished his collegiate career with a 9-2 loss to Plattsburgh in the quarter-finals of the SUNYAC Playoffs. Leccese completed the season with four goals and 13 assists for the Golden Eagles.

In an electric playoff atmosphere, Plattsburgh used their postseason experience and efficient special teams (22.3 percent heading into the game) to their advantage. The Cardinals scored two power-play goals and two short-handed to advance to the second round of the State University of New York Athletic Conference semifinals.

Brockport (7-12-7, 3-6-5 SUNYAC) could not sustain any offensive pressure until midway through the third period when they were trailing by seven goals.

Golden Eagle senior defenseman Anthony Leccese scored a goal in his final game at the collegiate level. Leccese finished his career with nine goals and 43 assists playing three years at SUNY Plattsburgh and one season in a Brockport uniform.

Junior forward Jason Dolgy netted Brockport’s final goal a minute after Leccese to cut the lead to 7-2. However, any hope of a dramatic comeback was squashed when Riley Hill and Joey Wilson netted their second goals of the game to take back a seven-goal lead.

“I think we came out a little timid,” Brockport head coach Brian Dickinson said. “Once it got to 2-0, I was hoping we could settle down but we got running around a little bit and they got a couple easy goals.

“It was kind of disappointing,” Dickinson said. “We were coming off such a great finish over Geneseo, I thought we would handle the excitement of being in the playoffs a little bit better.”

Plattsburgh (14-7-6, 6-4-4) had not lost a game in four tries heading into Tuesday’s match-up. After starting the conference season 0-4-1, the Cardinals turned their season around winning five of their last six SUNYAC games.

“We caught a very good team coming into their own,” said Dickinson about an opponent who he has not beaten in his nine seasons. “I think Plattsburgh is peaking at the right time, we didn’t have our best effort and that’s not a good combination.”

Senior A.J. Maio was also disappointed with the outcome of the game. “We didn’t match Platty’s intensity,” said Maio. “Before we knew it, we were in a hole we couldn’t get out of.”

Three days earlier Maio expressed his gratitude towards his teammates’ effort in what he called the biggest victory in his career. After reflecting on last Tuesday night’s loss, Maio expressed even more gratitude to what he called a successful senior campaign.

“We went from losing every game and losing badly to being in almost every game and winning or tying a lot of them,” he said. “It was a big success for the program.”

Maio finished his four-year career netting 18 goals and tallying 16 assists.