After the Thanksgiving break, Geneseo's hockey team went on the road and endured a frustrating weekend, losing to the Potsdam Bears on Friday night by a score of 4-3 and losing the following night in overtime to the unbeaten Plattsburgh Cardinals by a score of 5-4.
It was more missed opportunities for Geneseo on the power play as they went 0-5, and the penalty-kill allowed two goals in six opportunities. The Knights were unable to find the passing seams and the usually stellar penalty-kill had a performance that was below expectations.
A pair of late goals gave Potsdam the advantage after two periods, as they scored with 1:46 to go in the first and with less than a second left in the second period. The second period goal was a result of a turnover in the Ice Knights' defensive zone after a face-off.
Senior goalie Derek Jokic had to again fend off a barrage of shots as he was peppered early and often in the first period. He stopped 15 of 16 in the period, and 29 for the game. A Geneseo goal by sophomore Dan Brown at 5:46 in the third period tied the game, 3-3, but just 38 seconds later Potsdam senior Greg Lee scored what proved to be the game-winner. "We had 13 minutes remaining to tie the game after that goal," Coach Chris Schultz stated, "but we were just unable to execute."
Frustrated from the night before, the Ice Knights traveled Saturday to face the SUNYAC-leading Plattsburgh Cardinals. After being outshot 27-15 in the previous two games, the Ice Knights outshot the Cardinals at the start, but were unable to gain an advantage as the score was tied 1-1 after the first period.
The second period saw the Cardinals take an early 2-1 advantage, but it was the Knights' power play that came on strong towards the end of the period. Senior Mathieu Cyr scored two goals on the power play at the 15:38 and 17:22 marks. Junior Kevin Galan added another 1:36 later, giving the Knights a 4-2 lead at the end of the second.
At the start of the third period, the Knights were without three key defensemen, and it proved to be devastating. Geneseo was unable to hold their two-goal lead, getting outshot 20-5 in the third period as Plattsburgh pushed the game to overtime.
"I'm not sure if it was a matter of experience, but we need to start doing the little things better if we want to win," said coach Chris Schultz. "Plattsburgh matched our tempo that we came out in the beginning of the game, and played a desperate third period as the Cardinals were playing to remain undefeated on the season, and we could not match their play."
At just under four minutes into overtime the Cardinals picked up a short-handed goal for the game-winner. This capped off an 0-2 road trip and a frustrating weekend as a whole for the Geneseo Ice Knights.