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Roos fall to Assumption in hockey home opener

Posted 10/27/12

(Canton, N.Y.)- The SUNY Canton men’s ice hockey team dropped their home opener against Division II Assumption College Friday night as they fell 4-3 before a spirited crowd at Roos House. SUNY …

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Roos fall to Assumption in hockey home opener

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(Canton, N.Y.)- The SUNY Canton men’s ice hockey team dropped their home opener against Division II Assumption College Friday night as they fell 4-3 before a spirited crowd at Roos House.

SUNY Canton saw their record dip to 0-2 while the Greyhounds improved to 1-0 in their season-opener. The two teams square off again on Saturday at 3 p.m.

“I thought the team worked very hard tonight,” said first-year head coach Carl Michaelson. “I was very happy with our work ethic and we have some guys that were not in the lineup tonight with fresh legs that we’ll need tomorrow. We also need to work on staying out of the penalty box.”

Assumption quickly went ahead 1-0 scoring on their first shift of the game. Ross White stuffed in a rebound off a shot from Joe Fimiani that was initially saved by SUNY Canton goalie Morgan Barr (Almonte, Ontario).

The Roos responded four minutes later with a pretty goal by freshman George Curry (Shaumburg, Ill.) to even the game at 1-1. After a failed clear, senior Brad Wilson (Orleans, N.Y.) carried the puck inside the blue line on the left side and flicked a quick shot on goal that was deflected to Curry in the right circle, and the freshman buried a wrist shot into an open net catching Assumption goalie Bobby Bowden out of position. Senior John Payne (Port Moody, B.C.) was credited with the second assist.

Assumption then pumped in two goals in less than a minute to go ahead 3-1 at the 9:19 and 9:56 marks. The Roos had several good opportunities later in the period with a couple of good looks out in the slot but Bowden stood strong between the pipes ending the first period with 10 saves. The Roos did get one by Bowden and trimmed the Greyhounds lead to a single goal when Payne scored his first goal of the season from sophomore Sean Gallagher (Cape Cod, Mass.) with 2:36 left in the opening period. The first stanza would end with Assumption leading 3-2.

Special teams came up big in the second period for SUNY Canton and the play of freshman goalie Luis Puig (Chicago, Ill.) who replaced Barr after the first period. Early in the stanza the Roos killed off a second 5-on-3 Assumption power play and as the first penalty ended of that two-man advantage, sophomore Bill Ousey (Fairless Hills, Pa.) scored a tremendous short-handed goal that seemed to energize the team. The Roos had cleared the puck down ice and Ousey outraced several Greyhound players to the puck deep in the corner of the offensive zone, skated out to the middle and stuffed a shot past Bowden for his first goal of the year.

The Roos kept up the pressure and generated several breakaway chances including one from senior Chris Giczewksi (Fountain Valley, Calif.), who lifted a shot high with 11:55 remaining and from sophomore J.R. Lafferty (Williamstown, N.J.) whose wrister from the right circle on a 2-on-1 break was blocked by Bowden.

One of Puig’s 14 saves in the second period came when he stopped a breakaway attempt by the Greyhounds with just over four minutes left.

Assumption then netted the game-winning goal with 3:41 on the clock in the second period when Mike Heyde threw a shot on goal from the bottom of the right circle that snuck past Puig for a 4-3 lead heading into the final period.

The Roos kept pushing in the final 20 minutes, and again after working the puck down low in the offensive zone numerous times, they generated several great chances out in front of the net but couldn’t get one past Bowden who had 12 saves in the third period and 25 for the game. Puig stopped all nine shots he faced in the final period, including a beautiful glove save on an Assumption breakaway with 3:53 left, and he ended the night with 23 saves.

White finished with a goal and an assist for Assumption.