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Cortland spoils Bears men's hockey regular season finale, 4-1

Posted 2/18/18

CORTLAND, N.Y.—SUNY Cortland (10-13-2, 5-9-2 SUNYAC) played the spoiler on Saturday night, denying the SUNY Potsdam men's hockey team's (10-10-5, 6-8-2) bid for a home playoff game with a 4-1 …

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Cortland spoils Bears men's hockey regular season finale, 4-1

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CORTLAND, N.Y.—SUNY Cortland (10-13-2, 5-9-2 SUNYAC) played the spoiler on Saturday night, denying the SUNY Potsdam men's hockey team's (10-10-5, 6-8-2) bid for a home playoff game with a 4-1 victory. The Red Dragons scored two in the first period and two in the third despite being outshot 40-27. Sophomore defenseman Sean Winikates (Phoenix, Ariz./Philadelphia Jr. Flyers) scored for the Bears.

Louis DiMatteo opened the scoring with a deflection on the power play at the 15:15 mark of the first period. Alex Storjohann doubled the lead on another deflection with 1:03 left in the first and Cortland took a 2-0 lead into the intermission.

The Red Dragons fired 15 shots on Potsdam senior goalie Brendan McMenimen (Merrimack, Mass./Islanders Hockey Club) in the second period, but McMenimen kept the deficit to two. Cortland goalie Drew Weigman also handled all 12 shots in his direction and the score was unchanged after 40 minutes.

At 10:08 of the third period, Tommy Nolan made the most of another power play to extend the lead to 3-0. Just 54 seconds later, the Red Dragons took a holding penalty and Potsdam went to work. Winikates struck at 11:41 with assists from sophomore forward Vinny Guimond (Sorel-Tracy, Quebec/Gloucester Rangers) and senior assistant captain Dylan Vander Esch (San Jose, Calif./Harford Wolfpack). The assist was the 98th point of Vander Esch's career (60-38-98). The Bears earned another power play at the 14:35 mark and while they were able to generate pressure, they weren't able to beat Weigman again. Potsdam called timeout with 1:52 left and pulled McMenimen for an extra attacker. Thirty-nine seconds later, the Bears went on the power play again. However, Stefano Alonzo put the game away with a long, shorthanded, empty-net goal with 1:02 remaining.

McMenimen finished with 23 saves. Weigman stole the show with 39 stops. Cortland was 2-for-4 on the power play and Potsdam went 1-for-7.

The Bears are now seeded sixth in for the upcoming SUNYAC Playoffs. They will head to third-seeded Buffalo State for a first round matchup on Wednesday. The teams have split their two meetings this season. The Bengals won 5-0 in Buffalo on Dec. 5 and the Potsdam captured a dramatic 3-2 win in Maxcy Ice Arena a week ago. The Bears and Bengals have met twice in the conference playoffs, in 2012 and 2015, with Buffalo State winning both contests.