Geneseo's Ice Knights headed into last weekend with an 0-2 record and a lot to prove. After losing their opening two games to the Neumann Knights, the Ice Knights bounced back with two exciting victories over the Mustangs of SUNY Morrisville.
The Ice Knights won by a combined margin of 8-4 in the home-and-home, evening their season record to 2-2.
In Friday's match-up at Morrisville, the game was closely contested throughout, but ended with a 3-2 Geneseo victory. Senior forward Mathieu Cyr scored in the first period to put the Knights ahead, but the Mustangs lit the lamp a mere 21 seconds later to even the score. The Ice Knights again tried to pull away on a power play early in the second period, netting a goal from junior forward Kevin Galan on assists from sophomores Sebastian Panetta and Dan Brown. The Mustangs answered again, however, tying the game five minutes later on a shorthanded goal. The game seemed to be heading to overtime until freshman Dan Sullivan scored with 1:57 left in the third, assisted by Panetta and junior Chris Kestell.
Sophomore goalie Greg Richardson shut down the Mustangs to preserve the win, and finished with 16 saves.
On Saturday the Ice Knights returned to Geneseo for their home opener. Charged up by a packed crowd at the Ira S. Wilson Arena and inspired play from Cyr, the Ice Knights dominated throughout their 5-2 victory. Freshman Michael Forgione opened the scoring six minutes in, netting his first collegiate goal on assists from Brown and junior Denis Desjardins. Fellow freshman Andrew Rygiel followed suit in the second period, scoring a power-play goal on assists from Cyr and senior Trent Cassan.
A Morrisville goal cut the lead to 2-1, but the Ice Knights continued to pour it on, netting their third goal on a scintillating shorthanded goal by sophomore Phil Rose. Rose's goal put the momentum firmly in the Ice Knights' favor, taking away a great opportunity for the Mustangs to get back into the game and extending the Geneseo lead.
The third period was all about Cyr, who put the game away for the Ice Knights. With the score close at 3-2 and only six minutes left, Cyr was awarded a penalty shot, to the exhilaration of the Geneseo crowd. He didn't disappoint, beating Morrisville goalie Caylin Relkoff five-hole to pad Geneseo's lead. Cyr tacked on a power-play goal three-and-a-half minutes later to secure the Geneseo victory. Cassan and Kestell assisted on the insurance goal. Senior netminder Derek Jokic made 29 saves for Geneseo, who held a 43-31 shot advantage when all was said and done.
Cyr's stellar weekend performance earned him SUNYAC Ice Hockey player of the week, but more importantly earned the Ice Knights a 2-0 record in SUNYAC play and brought them back to .500 overall. The Ice Knights look to improve on their record this weekend, staying home to face the 1-3 Buffalo State Bengals on Friday before taking on arch-rival SUNY Fredonia (2-1-1) on Saturday night.