The Geneseo men's hockey team played in the Babson Tournament over Thanksgiving weekend, winning their first game against Southern Maine but losing in the championship round against the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. The loss snapped Geneseo's five game winning streak, leaving them 8-3-0 on the season.
On Friday, the Ice Knights opened the tournament against the Southern Maine Huskies of the Eastern College Athletic Conference. The Huskies set the tone early with a power-play goal past sophomore goaltender Jeff Pasemko six minutes into the game. The Ice Knights fell behind another goal at the beginning of the second period, but they stormed back to score three goals in the next eight minutes. Southern Maine answered back though, tying it at three after two periods.
Led by a goal and an assist each by freshman Dan Brown and junior Mathieu Cyr, Geneseo scored three times in the span of one minute to put the game out of reach. "Cyr has been outstanding all year," said head coach Chris Schultz. "He has some of the quickest feet in the league. Speed will always be threatening to an opponent."
Junior Trent Cassan added the third and final goal with the assists coming from sophomore Chris Kestell and senior Mitch Stephens. The final score was 6-3 with Pasemko picking up the win with 17 saves on 20 shots.
On Saturday afternoon, Geneseo played the UMass-Dartmouth Corsairs in a rematch of last year's first round NCAA Tournament game. After the Corsairs scored first, Cyr netted his sixth goal of the season on the power play to tie the game at one after the first period.
The second period featured five goals, including three on the power play and one shorthanded, for Dartmouth as they outshot Geneseo 24-7 in the period. Freshman Phil Rose scored once early in the third period, making the score 6-2, but the damage was already done. Junior goaltender Derek Jokic had 40 saves in 46 chances on the night, but Geneseo was plagued by 17 penalties and 77 total penalty minutes.
In action on Nov. 17, Geneseo defeated rival Brockport at home 4-2 with senior Mike MacDonald leading the way with two goals. The next night, the Ice Knights beat non-conference foe Wentworth 6-4. Geneseo overcame an early two-goal deficit with five power play goals in the second period to seal the victory.
The Ice Knights will continue SUNYAC play this weekend when they travel to Buffalo State and Fredonia. Schultz added "Fredonia is a tough team to beat at home, but we are certainly planning on taking two points from them at their own rink. We are the better team; we just have to validate it on the ice."