Fredonia fell to Geneseo 7-1 in the SUNYAC Men's Hockey championship game at the Ira Wilson Ice Arena.
The loss ended Fredonia's Cinderella run through the conference tournament. Seeded No. 5 at the start of play, the Blue Devils (13-11-4) had road wins at Plattsburgh and Oswego before falling on Geneseo ice for the seventh straight time.
The win earned Geneseo its third conference title in the last five seasons -- all in even years -- and a spot in the NCAA Division III tournament. The Knights will learn their opponent during the NCAA selection show Monday morning.
Senior center Sam Wilbur (Saginaw, Mich.) had the lone Fredonia goal while senior defenseman Oskar Gerhardson (Hassleholm, Sweden) and junior winger Jacob Haynes (Whitby, Ont.) were named to the all-tournament team. Junior goaltender Eric Bogart (London, Ont.) made 24 saves in relief.
The No. 2 seed Knights (19-5-3) dominated the first period with four goals -- two by defensemen -- and a 20-11 advantage in shots-on-goal. In the process, they chased starting Fredonia sophomore goaltender Anton Rosen (Orsa, Sweden), who let in all four first-period goals. The Knights then put aside any thoughts of a Fredonia comeback with two goals in a span of eight seconds late in the second period. A goal with 3:08 left in the game was icing on the cake.
Geneseo was led in scoring by senior defenseman Pat Condon with two goals while three players had three-point games: junior defenseman Mitch Ferguson and sophomore winger David Szmyd with one goal and two assists each, and junior center Anthony Marra with three assists. All three made the all-tournament team -- Szmyd was chosen most valuable player. They were joined by Geneseo goaltender Devin McDonald, who stopped 27 of 28 shots in goal.
Wilbur scored Fredonia's goal at 15:14 of the first period. With the teams skating 4-on-4, he won the draw and crashed the net where he tipped in a rebound following a shot from the left point. It was Wilbur's 12th goal of the season and his 80th career point in 77 career games. He was playing in his final collegiate game.
Also taking the ice for the final time for Fredonia were defensemen Gerhardson and Jamie Young (Russell, Ohio) and reserve goaltender Nick Harper (Baldwinsville).
