Johan Zollner
The Fredonia State men's hockey team fell to Cortland, 3-1, in the regular-season finale on Feb. 19. The Devils clinched a playoff spot last week, and their First Round opponent? The same Cortland Red Dragons, this time, in Cortland.
The first period was a deadlock, as neither team was able to score. Both teams were able to kill off their singular penalties within the period. The Blue Devils were outshot 13-10.
In the second period, Cortland was able to get on the scoreboard first. The Red Dragons threw the puck to the front of the net, where Andrew Clifford was there to jam home the rebound.
Cortland increased its lead to 2-0. Fredonia State goaltender Logan Dyck was unable to handle the shot from the point, where Dorian Overland found the rebound and scored. Dyck would finish the night with 38 saves while allowing two goals. His counterpart, Luca Durante had 37 saves and surrendered one goal.
The Blue Devils were finally able to find the back of the net with 8:49 left in the third period. The goal of the game came off of an odd-man rush where Johnny Malandruccolo found the top left corner with a impressive shot. The goal was assisted by Antonio Demacopoulos and Johan Zollner and made it a 2-1 game.
With 2:48 left to play, Fredonia State was awarded a powerplay. The Blue Devils pulled their goaltender to give them a six on four advantage for the entire length of the powerplay, but could not score.
Late in the period, Cortland scored on an empty netter with two seconds left to give the 3-1 final.
Cortland improves to 14-9-2 overall and 9-5-2 in the SUNYAC.
Fredonia State finishes off the season with record of 10-10-1 overall and 8-8 in the SUNYAC.
As the No. 5 seed, the Blue Devils travel to Cortland, the No. 4 seed, in the first round of the SUNYAC Tournament on Saturday.
