Cross country clenches home field win

Another week meant another outstanding performance by the men’s and women’s cross country teams. Hosting the Mike Woods Invitational at Letchworth State Park on Saturday Oct. 1, both teams once again claimed victory for Geneseo, and did so dominantly in front of a home crowd. The Geneseo men finished with 17 points, putting them well ahead of SUNY Oswego, who finished second with 108. Junior Isaac Garcia-Cassani crossed the line first for the third time this year with a time of 24:39.5, leading his team to their fourth first place finish of the year.

“Isaac [Garcia-Cassani] is a fantastic athlete and he’s definitely one of the top guys in the country. In my opinion, there are only a couple of guys in the country that can run with him,” assistant coach Ben Wach said.

The men’s squad were able to put up eight of the 10 top runners from the invitational—only thwarted by Geneseo alumni and outdoor-track 5k record holder Lee Berube ’12—from obtaining a perfect score for the event. Wach also lends an immense amount of praise for the team.

“To put three people ahead of [Lee Berube] and two shortly behind was a great accomplishment for us, considering his athletic ability,” Wach said. “One person to highlight is [senior] Matt Jorgensen, who ran his first all-out 8k since his freshmen year and performed spectacularly with his sixth place finish.”

The women’s squad also found themselves with an equal amount of success, claiming their third win of the season. Leading the charge for Geneseo was senior Sara Rosenzweig, whose second place overall finish with a time of 21:50.6 was the forefront of Geneseo’s top five finishers, as she placed in the top 10 once again. The Knights finished with 22 points, beating out second place Elizabethtown College who had 55.

Both squads hope to keep their number one national rankings after the dual first place finishes and are already looking ahead to the post-season.

“Ultimately, we’re not too concerned with the rankings,” Wach said. “The main thing we look toward is our finish at nationals. We’re more pleased with the performance of the teams than the rankings themselves.”

The Knights show no signs of budging from their number one ranking; they have even adopted an interesting strategy for the last regular season meet of the year.

“We’ll be splitting our squads at the Pre-Atlantic Regionals,” Wach said. “Some are going to compete against Division I squads at Conesus Lake to show off their fitness, and others who we feel will benefit more from running the Regional Course at Rowen [Glassboro, N.J.] will compete at the regional … We pride ourselves in being able to run our best at the end of the season—our main concern is setting ourselves up to compete at nationals.”

Team USA delivers disappointment at Hockey World Cup

A part of a two-article series, read the second piece here. The stage was set. The United States had a spectacular all-star roster, with big names rivaling that of favorites Team Canada and Team Sweden. Even more so, they were placed in a division that had Canada and themselves absolutely screaming for the two to move on. Team Czech looked to be extremely weak and Team Europe seemed to be a random assortment of European players. Easy, right?

When the pre-tournament started, Team USA looked as good on the ice as they did on paper. Going 1-1 in games against Canada, the heavy favorites to win the entire tournament, they even took an exhibition game 3-2 against Finland.

A semi-final berth seemed easy to grasp—it was so close. Then the puck dropped and everything went through the glass. The U.S. lost to Europe 3-0, Canada 4-2 and the Czech Republic 4-3 to become the only team in the entire tournament to not win a game.

The U.S. seemed flawed from the beginning, chasing the ghosts of 20 years ago. With general manager Dean Lombardi and coach John Tortorella at the forefront of player-selecting and decision making, this year’s team may have won years ago.

Hockey has evolved, however, and the same things that guarantee a win in the past don’t necessarily predict a win in the future. The U.S. needs to take a step back, re-tie the laces and move forward with a new mindset. Choosing a new core and coach for the team has to be at the forefront of the mind if changes are to happen.

If this tournament has brought any consolation to U.S. fans, it’s that the young talent that made up Team North America—comprised of Canadian and U.S. players under 23—is the real deal and looks promising.

Cross country takes first place against tough competition

The Knights saw another phenomenal performance of the men’s and women’s cross country teams on Saturday Sept. 24 when both squads crossed the finish line first at the Purple Valley Classic hosted by Williams College. This marks the second time this season that the Knights have taken first place in both races. What makes this double first-place more incredible, however, is the field that both Geneseo teams went up against.

“This was a big test for both the teams,” head coach Dan Moore said. “Entering the land of the [New England Small College Athletic Conference] schools to face out of region competition provided both teams an extremely competitive field.”

At the time, the second place nationally ranked men’s squad found themselves up against the third ranked host Williams College, sixth place Massachusetts Institute of Technology, tenth place Amherst College and number 19 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Geneseo blew by some of the top teams in the nation, putting up four of the top 10 runners and scoring 48 points, outpacing runner-up Williams who had 64.

Leading the eight-kilometer charge and grasping first place for the second time of the year was junior Isaac Garcia-Cassani with a time of 25:24.9. Garcia-Cassani’s dominance in recent weeks also landed him the honor of Division III Men’s Cross Country National Athlete of the Week.

The women’s squad also came into the meet ranked second in the nation and had an even more impressive field to face off against: defending national champions Williams, fifth place MIT, sixth place Tufts University, number 10 Wisconsin-La Crosse, number 11 RPI and number 14 Ithaca College.

The women won their race with less of a cushion than their male counterparts, putting up 65 to outpace MIT’s 71 and Williams’ 100, but would succeed in placing their five finishers in the top 20. It was senior Sara Rosenzweig who crossed the line sixth place with a time of 22:19.4 with senior teammate Marissa Cossaro six seconds behind.

Heading into the match, Moore explained that the strategy was a simple, yet effective one. “The NESCAC schools know this course very well,” Moore said. “The plan was to pack it up with the teams who knew the course the best and hang with them until our aerobic fitness endured over the others.”

Both squads also kept together for much of the race in order to support each other. “Pack running is extremely important on multiple fronts; the tighter the pack, the more difficult it is for other teams to break apart the runners,” Moore said. “The pack also provides motivation, as teammates are in close proximity to each other and they are great about encouraging one another as they compete.”

By claiming first in both races, one or both teams may find themselves claiming the title of first in the nation by the end of the week.

“Overall, the plan played out in our favor,” Moore said. “It was a great win for both programs and gives the team momentum and confidence moving forward.”

Both squads run next on their home turf at Letchworth State Park for the Mike Woods Invitational on Saturday Oct. 1.

Cross country displays young talent

The cross country teams took a breather at the Rochester Invitational hosted by the University of Rochester on Saturday Sept. 17. Competing on a partial squad for both teams, the men ran to a 13/29 finish while the women placed 18/29. Head coach Dan Moore said that this invitational “gave an opportunity for younger members of the team to be the front runners” as well as “giving them the valuable experience in scoring points.” Moore also said that the team is looking to build upon their fitness.

“My philosophy is to race less and train more to give them the edge when it comes down to the end of the season,” Moore said.

The Knights had just come off of a blowout at the Oswego Invitational on Sept. 10—where Geneseo took first in both men’s and women’s—when they went into the Rochester Invitational.

“We didn’t use our full strength in Oswego; we saw it more as a workout. We wanted to showcase our fitness, but not reveal everything we have,” Moore said. “Knowing that and how high they placed, it puts an exclamation point on how fit we truly are and shows that our number two ranking in both programs is truly legitimate.”

The Knights will see one of the highest hills they will have to jog on this season on Saturday Sept. 24. There, the Knights will compete at the Purple Valley Classic, hosted by Williams College in Massachusetts.

“Williams is the number one [team] in the country on the women’s side and number three on the men’s,” Moore said. “It’s really a sneak preview of what nationals is going to look like and who’s going to push us this early in the season. We purposely scheduled this meet to test how we fare right now in a highly competitive setting.”

The Knights are no strangers at being near the top of the standings, regularly clashing during the post-season. Being able to test their mettle against one of the strongest contenders in the nation is certainly something Geneseo looks forward to, as it can be used both as a marker to determine where they currently stand as well as a way to gain more experience against teams they’ll see later in the season on the national stage.

“This year, the Williams meet is stacked; it’ll be one of our greatest challenges of the year, but certainly a way to showcase what we have,” Moore said. “Cross country athletes come to Geneseo for that reason. In reality, there are not a lot of programs that can proudly say, ‘If you come here, you have an opportunity to win a national championship’ like we can.”

Nevertheless, the meet on Saturday Sept. 24 will prove to be an exciting match for both squads, as the energy and implications are high. Geneseo will look to take double first again, which could propel both squads into the national first seed conversation, given the close gaps at the top.

Hockey World Cup captivates international fans

With the upcoming National Hockey League season looming in the distance, fans have an exciting distraction to hold their cravings until then: the 2016 Hockey World Cup. Consisting of eight international teams, the cup promises to deliver exciting competition featuring the best players that the NHL has to offer. The tournament officially begins this Saturday Sept. 17 and ends on Oct. 1. The tournament will use a traditional “two groups of four, round robin” bracket for the group stages, where the top two from each group move to the semifinals. Though the round robin does not officially begin until Saturday, several exhibition games have been played leading up to the start, including two Team Canada versus Team USA games and two Team North America versus Europe games.

The Cup offers a different twist on the participating teams this year. With the exception of some of the best teams in the world—Canada, United States, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the Czech Republic—Teams North America and Europe are new additions to the rivalry.

Team Europe brings in European players who normally wouldn’t get the chance to participate due to their native country being unselected for the field. The team includes players such as defenseman and captain Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins, forward Marian Hossa of the Chicago Blackhawks and goaltender Jaroslav Halak from the New York Islanders.

Team North America also brings an interesting perspective, as all members are from Canada and the U.S., but are also under the age of 23. Some big names include forward Jack Eichel from the Buffalo Sabres, forward Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and goaltender Matt Murray of the 2016 Stanley Cup winning team Pittsburgh Penguins.

The groups are somewhat easy to predict in terms of who will move onto the semifinals. Some people envision semifinalists will include Canada, U.S., Europe and the Czech Republic, while others predict Finland, Sweden, North America and Russia.

The former will most likely see Canada moving on with a potential 3-0, as they are the favorites this year in the Cup. Team USA is likely to take second, but do have a chance to pull the upset against their longtime rivals, Team Canada. These two teams have played each other twice, coming out with a 1-1 record. USA took the first game 4-2, while Canada bounced back for game two and took it 5-2 in what were fast paced, heavy-hitting games that lead to a fair amount of penalties and brawls.

The latter took a different viewpoint coming into the tournament, with all four predicted teams in contention, but the exhibition games have shown a clear separation between the young Team North America and the rest of the field. Beating out Team Europe twice—the first time 4-0 and the second 7-4—they ultimately fell to the Czech Republic 3-2 on Wednesday Sept. 14.

Although their inexperience does show later into their game with a noticeable drop in activity from period to period, strong starts like Sunday Sept. 11’s 5-1 first period against Europe may be all that’s needed to keep them advancing through the tournament. Behind Team North America, it’s a toss-up between the other three as for who will take second, as Russia, Finland and Sweden are all capable teams.

No matter what, this year’s World Cup promises some thrilling games and rivalries that will hold over die-hard hockey fans for the last month until the NHL season kicks up again. Though it’s very early to tell—having only seen preliminary exhibitions—a favorite opinion among fans has a finals match between Team Canada and Team North America, as long as they continue to skate on all cylinders.

Cross country continues leading the pack

The Knights saw another successful run for the men’s and women’s cross country teams on Saturday Sept. 10 at the Oswego Invitational. The invitational marked the second meet of the season, with the first fielding some of the top runners from last year’s teams. The men’s team put on a dominating performance, snagging 15 of the top 20 spots. Leading the charge for the Knights was junior Isaac Garcia-Cassani, who ran an eight-kilometer track in 26:50. Close on his heels was senior Alfredo Mazzuca taking second, crossing the line three seconds behind his teammate.

Rounding out the top five Geneseo scorers were freshman Sean McAneny and seniors Alex Kramer and Matt Jorgensen, who all placed fourth, fifth and sixth overall, respectively. Geneseo grabbed an 18-point score-line—as points are given on positions of placement to the first five runners of that team—putting the Knights well above St. John Fisher who is in second place with 60 points.

At this point in the season, the men’s squad shows a tremendous amount of depth in its lineup, having just as many underclassmen as upperclassmen place in the top 10 overall with four apiece. Even more impressive is that the top eight overall finishers displayed mile paces of 5:31 or lower. Given the amount of time until the postseason arrives in late October, there is the potential for a large improvement from both groups alike.

The women’s squad displayed an even stronger performance, taking nine of the top 10 overall spots with a clean sweep from first to seventh. Sophomore Elise Ramirez led the pack with a time of 19:46 on the five-kilometer track, and senior teammate Sara Rosenzweig followed, finishing seven seconds behind. Seniors Ashley Peppriell, Marissa Cossaro and Marissa Bellusci rounded out the top five, giving Geneseo a perfect 15-point score-line for the invitational. The women outscored second place St. John Fisher with 77.

This early dominance at the start of the season is an indicator that the women’s squad will once again look to compete on the national level, as they hope to repeat their second-place overall finish or improve upon it. With over nine runners already putting up 6:35 mile paces or better this early in the season, the squad will look to put up more perfect score-lines as the season continues.

“I am really pleased with the team’s fitness at this point in the season,” head coach Dan Moore said. “We came in with a strategy for the whole team to run as a pack for a majority of the race. Watching them accelerate and close hard was fun and impressive.”

Both teams look to continue their early season success on Saturday Sept. 17 at the Rochester Invitational.

Lochte swimming in hot water

Despite taking gold in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay this past summer in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, American swimmer Ryan Lotche has found himself taking home more than just the medal, but also the baggage of an international controversy and embarrassment. As quickly as social media spread the news that the American swimming hero was robbed at gun-point during a night out in Rio, it was just as quickly debunked in what became a game of international cat and mouse. The morning of Aug. 14 found the world waking up to claims by Lochte and his three relay teammates—Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen—that they were robbed the night before while returning to the Olympic village from a party. Red lights immediately went off by both Brazilian authorities and the Olympic committee when the stories began to diverge.

The situation escalated quickly, when just three days after the initial claim, a Brazilian judge ordered the seizure of the four athletes’ passports to ensure they would need to give their testimonies on the events that occurred before leaving the country. While Lochte and Feigen were already back in the United States, Bentz and Conger were not as lucky and were pulled off their plane before takeoff. Authorities detained the two for questioning and attempted to bring Lochte and Feigen back to Brazil via court order.

As time went on, it soon became clear that the whole account was a hoax created by the swimmers to cover up the fact that they were inebriated and vandalized a gas station at the time of the incident. The International Olympic Committee, along with the U.S. Swimming Organization, has issued discipline for the athletes on the account that the case is still in its end phases. It seems to be the case, however, that the athletes will face suspensions.

Even before talks of possible suspension, Lochte already found himself losing sponsors left and right. The 12-time Olympic medalist lost over $6.2 million in endorsements from companies such as Speedo, Airweave, Ralph Lauren and Syneron Candela in under a month.

Had Lochte come out with the truth immediately after the incident, the weeks of investigation that only continued to hurt his career and image could have been quelled in an instant with a reimbursement for damages and an apology. By trying to avoid the situation completely, he only made the already embarrassing international incident even worse.

Though Lochte seems to be on the backend of his career at this point—having only qualified for two events at Rio on top of his recent embarrassment—there is still an opportunity for him to bounce back. One only has to look as far as 23-time Olympic gold medalist Micheal Phelps to see hope for Lochte’s career.

Phelps, now the most decorated Olympian in history, found himself in a spot of trouble with multiple DUI arrests back in 2004 and 2014. After losing sponsors, Phelps went through rehab and showed that he was ready to compete again in time for Rio.

Lochte needs to take a leaf out of his fellow teammate’s book and show that he is indeed worthy of being kept on the team and able to compete at the international level by taking responsibility for his actions.

Cross country refuses to slow down

Coming off a second and third place national finish respectively, the Geneseo women’s and men’s cross country teams both bound into the fall 2016 season ranked as number two in the nation. Led by head coach Dan Moore ’06, the teams look to go even farther this year. “They worked incredibly hard during the indoor and outdoor season to continue to elevate their fitness,” Moore said. “Another strong summer of training in the books, and both teams are showing they are deserving of the number two ranked teams in the country.”

Geneseo ranks high in the preseason polls, mainly due to the amount of returning runners to each of the two squads. This year will include the return of many of the top runners for the men’s team, including junior Isaac Garcia-Cassani, who lead the men’s team to their highest finish in program history with an eighth-place run at the NCAA Championships, landing him an All-American honors. Garcia-Cassani’s success in cross country also led to many achievements during the subsequent track season.

“[Garcia-Cassani] earned two All-American honors with his third place finish in the mile and third place finish in the DMR,” Moore said. “He also finished third place at the outdoor NCAA Championships in the 1500m.”

If anything, this only indicates that Garcia-Cassani has no intention of letting up. This year also brings an impressive group of freshman, including Sean McAneny.

“[McAneny] has shown his fitness early on, and the anticipation for what he will do this season is nail biting,” Moore said.

The women’s team also shows a large return, fielding six of the top seven runners from last year. Leading the charge is senior Sara Rosenzweig, who finished 37th in the nation last season. She also earned All-American honors last spring in the steeplechase event.

Also in the mix is senior Kelly Flanagan and sophomore Anna Galbraith, who have gotten off to a quick start this season, snagging second and fourth place respectively on Friday Sept. 2 at the Cardinal Early Season Invitational, hosted by St. John Fisher College.

The invitational saw the two teams not only take their first laps for this season, but also resulted in a first place run for the men’s and second place for the women’s overall with some strong individual performances.

The men’s squad put up an impressive fight, finishing score-line with freshman Lucas Sutton leading the charge in fifth place. He would be followed immediately by several of his teammates, including junior Nick Termine in sixth place and freshmen Stephen Loce and Kevin Seitz in seventh and eighth place, respectively. Junior Kyle Chesterman rounded out the top five scorers with his 11th place finish, allowing the men to narrowly slip by Rochester Institute of Technology for their first win of the season.

Flanagan and Galbrath also met the women’s squad with promising performances, both finishing with top five placements. Following them were junior Marisa Gingello in ninth, sophomore Audrey Button in 16th and junior Julianna Lauricella in 21st, assisting the team to their overall second place finish.

Both teams will surely seek to improve their times with the addition of last year’s experienced runners and the improvement of an unexpected number of underclassmen—an opportunity available through meets such as Friday Sept. 2’s invitational. Either way, both programs have shown that they are off to a great start and have even more potential, according to Moore.

“A national championship on both sides is not out of the question at all. It will take them being a little sharper, a little more on point than they were last year to achieve their goals,” Moore said. “They can do it. They believe. I believe.”

Ice Knights return to SUNYAC Championship for second time in three years

For the second time in three years, the Ice Knights will return to the SUNYAC Championship, seeking a bid for the NCAA Tournament. This was brought about starting with the Feb. 24 4-1 quarterfinal victory over the SUNY Potsdam Bears and the 6-1 semifinal blowout of the Buffalo State College Bengals.

Barely missing out on capturing the second seed in the SUNYAC Tournament—which came with a quarterfinal round bye—the Knights fell into third with a respectable 9-2-5 in-conference record. Although this meant they had to play an extra game, the Knights were able to play at the Ira S. Wilson Ice Arena to host six seed Potsdam.

Four Ice Knights each scored a goal during the heated contest, starting with junior forward RJ Burns 11:38 into the first period. Two minutes later, senior defenseman Matt Solomon tallied one of his own to put the Knights up 2-0 heading into the second. Sophomore defenseman Pat Condon made it a 3-0 lead 32 seconds into the period while senior forward David Ripple brought it up to 4-0 lead with 10:57 left. Potsdam would find their first and only tally when junior forward Logan Brown got the Bears on the board with 7:10 remaining in regulation.

The Bears out-shot the Knights 45-38 in the contest, but first-year goaltender Devin McDonald was credited with a career-high 44 saves to put the Ice Knights into the semifinals. After two losses to Buffalo State earlier in the year, the Knights came ready to play against the only SUNYAC team to put notches in their loss column.

The game started a bit rough for Geneseo. Buffalo State managed to take the lead first with senior forward Cory Gurski putting the Bengals up 1-0 in the first period. Ripple tied things up halfway through the second period on a power play goal to leave the third period as the decider.

As the puck dropped in the third period, it was all Ice Knights for the rest of the contest, starting with point leader junior forward Stephen Collins scoring on the first shift just 40 seconds in.  Five minutes later, disaster would strike the Bengals as point leader junior forward Taylor Pryce was thrown out of the game for a contact to the head hit on Condon. The Ice Knights took full advantage of a five-minute major power play that saw two goals from the sticks of Ripple and junior forward Trevor Hills—Hills now has 11 power play goals on the season.

Facing a 4-1 deficit, the Bengals sensed their season slipping through their grasp and pulled junior goaltender Mike DeLaVergne with 8:55 remaining to try for a miracle. Senior forward AJ Sgaraglio and first-year forward Arthur Gordon had a different plan in mind. Each scored on the empty net to seal the deal for the Ice Knights, sending them to the finals with a remarkable 6-1 victory. McDonald had 24 saves on the night and continues to put up strong performances in net.

Geneseo now looks forward to Saturday March 5, when the SUNY Plattsburgh Cardinals will host the SUNYAC Championship. Plattsburgh made the finals by defeating their long-time rival SUNY Oswego in overtime for the third time this year.

With Plattsburgh taking an energizing thriller win over Oswego and Geneseo blowing out a team that has beaten them twice, both teams are heading into the weekend with huge momentum. The Knights have gone 1-0-1 against the Cardinals this season, but with a NCAA spot on the line, both teams will come onto the ice flying.

The puck drops at 7 p.m. on Saturday March 5 at Plattsburgh.

Ice Knights advance to SUNYAC semifinals

With a 2-0 win over SUNY Potsdam and a 3-3 tie against SUNY Plattsburgh on Friday Feb. 19 and Saturday Feb. 20 respectively, the Ice Knights have procured a third place standing in the SUNYAC in the regular season. The team will host their first playoff game on Wednesday Feb. 24 against the sixth seeded Potsdam Bears.

The first game of the weekend against Potsdam was an absolute thriller. After one period of play, both teams clocked 10 shots on goal, 11 faceoff wins apiece and had the same number of power play opportunities. The second period saw the Bears take the lead in terms of shots on goal and scoring opportunities. Each team was presented with two power plays apiece and the Bears started the third and final period a man up due to a penalty seconds before the end of the second. 

The Bears outshot the Ice Knights in the third period, but senior forward AJ Sgaraglio lifted the Ice Knights into the lead on a top-shelf backhand shot with only 3:05 left to play in regulation. The Ice Knights would score again with just 1:54 left on a dynamic shot from junior defenseman Derek Stahl which was deflected on target by first-year forward Anthony Marra.

First-year goaltender Devin McDonald was the star of the night, however, tallying his second career shutout as an Ice Knight. McDonald faced and stopped all 36 shots that came his way to keep the Ice Knights in the game.

The following night found Geneseo playing against the third ranked team in the nation and first seed in the SUNYAC: the Plattsburgh Cardinals. Senior defenseman Matt Solomon put the Ice Knights on the board first with a power play goal 11:10 into first period. The score was tied just 18 seconds later as Plattsburgh found their first tally of the night. Junior forward and points leader Stephen Collins put Geneseo back on top with 6:31 remaining, but the Cardinals answered again at 3:15 to close out the first period with the score tied at 2-2.

The second period was full of fast-paced action, but the Cardinals secured the lead going into the final period off of a goal just 27 seconds before the buzzer. The Ice Knights struck early into the third period, however, with sophomore defenseman Pat Condon netting his third goal of the season 36 seconds into the final period to force an overtime that resulted in a tie.

The Ice Knights kept pace with the Cardinals for the majority of the contest, but found themselves heavily outshot in the third period—14-7—for a total game tally of 36-25 in favor of Plattsburgh. McDonald showed up huge with 33 saves.

With the three points gained over the weekend, the Ice Knights didn’t hold onto their second seed position going into playoffs. They will, however, get a home game against a team that they have beaten twice with season: Potsdam.

With junior forward Trevor Hills not playing on Friday Feb. 19 against the Bears, Geneseo can expect his return this Wednesday Feb. 24 to make things go more smoothly.

If the Ice Knights defeat the Bears, the team will look forward to playing the Buffalo State College Bengals on Saturday Feb. 27. The Bengals are the only team to have beaten the Ice Knights in conference this season. The puck drops at 7 p.m. for all SUNYAC playoff contests.

Ice Knights surpass expectations, ranked in top 10

The Ice Knights’ last season left a lot to be desired. Finding limited success from the Frozen Four run the previous year, the Ice Knights hung up their skates after the first round SUNYAC Tournament loss to the SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles.

In addition, the graduation of several key players including defensive captain Jack Caradonna ‘15, forward points leader Tyler Brickler ’15 and record breaking goaltender Nick Horrigan ‘15, would point to the Ice Knights undergoing a rebuilding year. According to assistant coach Kris Heeres, even several pre-season polls put the Ice Knights toward the bottom of the SUNYAC standings.

Despite all the uncertainty that surfaced before the season began, it’s more than fair to say that the Ice Knights performance in the first half of the 2015-2016 season has surpassed everyone’s expectations. Right out of the gate, the Ice Knights started with a tie against the then sixth ranked team in the nation: the SUNY Oswego Lakers.

The first weekend not only saw the Ice Knights start with a 0-0-2 record, but it also gave them many ideas and indications of what needed to be worked on for the rest of the season. Since that pair of ties, the Ice Knights have gone 7-1. They dropped their only game to Buffalo State while beating several nationally-ranked teams such as 14th ranked Williams College and the huge upset Saturday Dec. 5 over the top team in the nation: the SUNY Plattsburgh Cardinals.

It would be senior forward David Ripple to put the Ice Knights ahead of the Cardinals 5-4 with only 2:06 left to play, a testament of how several Ice Knights have risen to fill the skates left by last year’s seniors. Ripple has 13 points to his name this season and is one of four players that are already in double-digit points—the other three being the offensive line of first year Anthony Marra with 14, junior Stephen Collins with 16 and junior Trevor Hills with 14. This line in particular has had the most success, combining for 23 goals and nearly averaging two per game. Marra is especially deserving of credit, winning 81 of his 148 face-offs this season, putting him at a 55 percent win-rate.

Perhaps the biggest skates to fill were those of Horrigan, who after 40 games in an Ice Knights’ jersey averaged a .931 save percentage and had a 2.13 goals allowed per game average. While it may be too early to tell if Horrigan’s record will be broken, first year goalie Devin McDonald is certainly giving him a run for his money. Having only played eight games so far this season, McDonald has averaged a .928 save percentage, 1.98 goals allowed average and remains undefeated—a great start.

Looking ahead, the Ice Knights are currently ranked fourth in the SUNYAC, having played fewer games than several other teams above them. They certainly have the potential to clinch one of the top two seeds in the SUNYAC, which would allow them to have a bye in the first round as well as home ice advantage in the playoffs. The Ice Knights were ranked in the top 10 in the nation and look to climb higher as the season progresses.

The last game of the Ice Knights’ first half of the season occurs Friday Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. when they host the Nazareth College Golden Flyers in the Ira S. Wilson arena. The Ice Knights then go on a month break and the second half of their season will start on Jan. 8 against Hobart College.

Ice Knights nationally ranked with 5-1 record

The Ice Knights skated to a 3-0 victory on Saturday Nov. 28 over 15th-ranked Williams College to secure their fifth win and first shutout of the season. This improves the Ice Knights’ record to 5-1-2 on the season, all while handing Williams its first loss and dropping them to 3-1.

The game started slow as both the Ice Knights and Williams College had difficulty rallying their offenses for the first two periods. The tally of the shots on goal after two periods had Geneseo ahead, but only by a margin of 14 -13. Both teams had several chances to net the first puck, but strong defense kept the offenses at bay.

Geneseo, however, would surge ahead once again in the third period, putting up three unanswered goals. Senior forward David Ripple would be the one to break the long stalemate just 1:13 into the third period to accumulate his third goal of the year on a hard shot from the blue line.

Junior forward Stephen Collins would follow at the halfway point of the period with a power play goal to put the Ice Knights ahead 2-0. Junior forward RJ Burns drove the final nail into the coffin with an empty netted goal with just 27 seconds left on the clock to secure the Ice Knight’s first shut-out.

First-year goalkeeper Devin McDonald remains undefeated this season in net, improving to 5-0-1 while earning his first career shutout as an Ice Knight. Stopping all 23 shots sent his way, McDonald improved to a .939 save percentage and a 1.61 goals allowed average, putting him at 14th in the nation for the lowest GAA.

Although this game was not a conference game for the Ice Knights, it held an equal amount of importance—Geneseo came into the weekend looking to obtain a spot in the national rankings. The shutout win over Williams certainly spoke volumes—Geneseo took Williams’ spot at 12th in the nation, marking the first time Geneseo has held a ranking since the beginning of last season.

The week ahead may give pause to the Ice Knights’ advance, however, as they play the current first and second seeds in the SUNYAC. Friday Dec. 4 sees Geneseo hosting the SUNY Potsdam Bears, currently first in the SUNYAC. Geneseo went 0-2 against the Bears last season, but with the absence of star goaltender Jon Hall for the Bears, the Ice Knights may find an edge with the resurgence of a reliable offense and goaltending.

  The following night, Saturday Dec. 5, the Ice Knights host the current number two seed: SUNY Plattsburgh. While Geneseo split their series last year going 1-1 against the Cardinals, Plattsburgh has shown no signs of weakness this year with their 8-0-0 overall record and scoring over five goals per game, good enough for second in the nation.

This weekend at the Ira S. Wilson Arena also marks the fifth annual Teddy Bear Toss. Attendees to the Friday Dec. 4 game against Potsdam are encouraged to bring stuffed animals to donate to charity by tossing them onto the ice after the Ice Knights’ first goal of the night. The puck drops for both contests this weekend at 7 p.m.