Ryan Dunn (Rockland, Mass.) had a hat trick and Anton Rosen (Orsa, Sweden) made 40 saves as Fredonia defeated Cortland, 5-1, in SUNYAC men's hockey Friday at Steele Hall.
The Blue Devils improved to 9-8-3 overall and 5-6-0 in the SUNYAC to move into fourth place alone, one point ahead of Brockport and Potsdam, and two points ahead of Plattsburgh. The top six teams make the conference tournament.
Fredonia took a 1-0 lead at 2:12 of the first period when Dunn converted a neutral zone turnover into his sixth goal of the season, a shot from just above the right faceoff circle. His second goal of the night, and seventh of the season, put the Blue Devils up 2-0 later in the first period. It came on a chip into the right corner following a give-and-go with Tyler Riter (Orchard Park).
A goal by Jacob Haynes (Whitby, Ont.), his fifth, came at 2:46 of the second period from just outside the crease when his shot trickled through the pads of Cortland goaltender Drew Weigman. Dunn completed his hat trick – Fredonia's first of the season and his first as a collegian – during a 5-on-3 power play at 11:12 of the second period.
Each team scored a goal in the third period. Cortland's Conor Tierney ruined Rosen's shutout bid when he deflected a shot from the point at the 5:21 mark. Fredonia's Sam Wilbur (Saginaw, Mich.) completed the scoring with an empty-net goal at 17:35. It was Wilbur's team-leading 10th goal of the season.
Fredonia now turns its attention to Saturday night and its annual Pink The Rink game against the No. 4 ranked Oswego Lakers, who were 4-1 winners Friday over Buffalo State. The Lakers improved to 10-0-1 in the conference and 15-3-2 overall. They were 5-3 winners over Fredonia when the teams met Nov. 18 at Oswego.
