POTSDAM -- Buffalo State (4-2-1, 4-2-1 SUNYAC) jumped out a 3-0 lead Saturday and went on to a 4-2 victory over the SUNY Potsdam men’s hockey team.

Senior forward Nicholas Petriello (St. Catherines, Ontario/St. Catherines Falcons) scored the game-winning goal and added an assist, while freshman goaltender Kevin Carr (Unionville, Ontario/Atlanta Jr. Knights) stopped 57 shots for the Bengals.

Junior defenseman Matt Rhymer (Kingston, Ontario/Yarmouth Mariners) and senior forward Colin MacLennan (Whitby, Ontario/Ajax Attack) each scored power-play goals for the Bears.

Sophomore forward Justin Knee (Centralia, Ontario/Waterloo Siskins) got Buffalo State on the board at the 7:42 mark of the first period. Freshman forward Mike Connolly (Shoreham, N.Y./Hartford Jr. Wolfpack) made it 2-0 less than two minutes later, beating Potsdam junior goaltender Trevor O’Neill (Bobcaygeon, Ontario/Stouffville Spirit) on a breakaway.

Petriello gave the Bengals the last goal they would need at the 12:57 mark and they carried the lead into the intermission.

The Bears stepped on to the ice in the second period with new energy and shifted the momentum. Capitalizing on the man-advantage at 7:39, junior forward Todd Hosmer (Toronto, Ontario/Newmarket Hurricanes) set up Rhymer to cut the gap to 3-1. Potsdam kept up the pressure, creating several opportunities in the minutes after the goal, but weren’t able to get within one.

Almost four minutes later, freshman forward Shane Avery (Fort Covington, N.Y./Cornwall Colts) gave Buffalo State it’s three-goal lead back with a marker at 10:22. Aided by a late five-on-three opportunity, the Bears peppered Carr with more shots, but didn’t score again as the second period ended.

Potsdam outshot the Bengals 28-5 in the second period. Potsdam struck again on the power play at 4:44 of the third period as sophomore defenseman Matt Miller (Pickering, Ontario/Bowmanville Eagles) and junior forward Sy Nutkevitch (Montreal, Quebec/Cornwall Colts) set up MacLennan close to 4-2.

The Bears continued to outshoot the Bengals in the third period and pulled O’Neill with 1:10 left, but couldn’t solve Carr again. Potsdam outshot Buffalo State 59-27. O’Neill finished with 23 saves.

Bears Head Coach Chris Bernard was disappointed with the results.

“When you have an opportunity to get points at home and you fall short of that objective it’s tremendously frustrating and I feel like that we are just not playing with a sense of urgency for 60 minutes,” said Bernard.

“When we do that, we’re a very good team. When we don’t, we’re going to struggle like everybody else in this league to get points.”

Potsdam (2-5, 2-5) is back in action on Nov. 23, at 7 p.m. when the Skidmore Thoroughbreds come to town.

link to boxscore--http://www.collegehockeystats.net/boxes/mbfspot1.n20