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Geneseo Ice Knights down Bears, 4-1 in men's ice hockey

Posted 10/31/10

Geneseo, N.Y.—The Geneseo Ice Knights jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held off the SUNY Potsdam men’s hockey team 4-1. Zachary Vit scored twice to lead Geneseo past the Bears. Junior defenseman Matt …

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Geneseo Ice Knights down Bears, 4-1 in men's ice hockey

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Geneseo, N.Y.—The Geneseo Ice Knights jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held off the SUNY Potsdam men’s hockey team 4-1. Zachary Vit scored twice to lead Geneseo past the Bears. Junior defenseman Matt Rhymer (Kingston, Ontario/Yarmouth Mariners) scored for Potsdam.

The Bears put pressure on the Geneseo defense early and nearly grabbed the lead as Rhymer clanged a shot off the post. The Ice Knights withstood the early charge and capitalized on the first power play of the game. At the 9:41 mark, Rich Manley scored on the man advantage to give Geneseo a 1-0 lead. Less than two minutes later, the Ice Knights struck again as Blake O’Connor buried a shot off his own rebound. The play evened out after the second goal and the score remained the same heading into the first intermission.

Potsdam junior forward Todd Hosmer (Toronto, Ontario/Newmarket Hurricanes) hit another post just over five minutes into the second period. The Bearsbuilt their momentum as the period ticked down, but were unable to close the gap. With 14:41 gone, Geneseo’s Zachary Vit scored off a deflection to give the Ice Knights a 3-0 lead. The Bears responded 1:28 later as Rhymer finally solved Geneseo goaltender Adrian Rubeniuk. Sophomore forward Matt Viola (Toronto, Ontario/Vaughan Vipers) and senior forward Kevin MacLellan (Kensington, Prince Edward Island/Summerside Capitals) each recorded an assist. Potsdam picked up its play after the goal, but trailed 3-1 as the second period expired.

Vit restored the Ice Knights’ three-goal advantage 39 seconds into the third period, scoring his second of the contest on the power play. Geneseo controlled the play for much of the remainder of the game, firing 19 shots on Bears’ junior goaltender Trevor O’Neill (Bobcaygeon, Ontario/Stouffville Spirit) in the final 20 minutes.

O’Neill made 35 saves for the Bears, while Rubeniuk stopped 31 shots for the Ice Knights (3-0-1, 2-0 SUNYAC). Geneseo was 2-6 on the power play and Potsdam was 0-3.

Bears Head Coach Chris Bernard recognized the solid play of the Ice Knights, but wasn’t unhappy with his team’s performance.

“It was closer than a 4-1 game. They’re a good team, but we had a great deal of chances that just didn’t find the back of the net. We hit two posts and two crossbars and those could have made it a completely different game,” said Bernard. “I felt the effort was there to win.”

Bernard also complemented his goaltender and team leaders.

“O’Neill was solid all weekend. He gave us a chance to win both games and that’s all you can ask,” Bernard said. “Our veterans really stepped up this weekend and set an example for the rest of the guys.”

The Bears (1-1, 1-1) are back in action on Nov. 5, when they take on Oswego at 7 p.m. Potsdam follows that on Nov. 6, with a 7 p.m. contest at Cortland.