Bengals spoil Brockport's Home Opener

By: Joey Campbell

The (1-1) SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles welcomed in the (1-1) Buffalo State Bengals for the Golden Eagles home opener. After the Eagles tied it up early in the third, the Bengals ran away with it in a 5-2 loss for Brockport.

Fans packing Wegmans Ice Arena. Photo Credits (Brockport Athletics Flickr) on Dec. 7 2024.

"I thought it was a very good tight checking hockey game," Assistant Head Coach Brendan Miller said. "Our group is very young and so we are still trying to learn how to bring the consistency both mentally and physically that you need to play with for a full sixty minutes to win a game in college."

Between the pipes for tonights contest starred David Filak in net for the Golden Eagles who has the lone win for Brockport goaltenders holding a .929 save percentage. Across the ice for the Bengals was freshman Ben Dardis in net who came in with a shutout victory.

"We feel pretty consistent for our goaltending." Miller said. "Its about playing well in front of them to make their job a little easier every night."

For the Golden Eagles, Defenseman Victor Malzahn had a goal along with Defenseman Jackson Faughnan who picked up his first career goal. Forwards Manny Sanchez and Schuyler Flansburg each picked up an assist along with Defenseman Andrew Haugh picking up an assist as well. Goaltender David Filak finished with 34 saves on 37 shots for a .919 save percentage. For the Bengals, Forward Aaron Andrade picked up two goals, and Austin Micale, Jake Meure, and Andrew Langlois each had a goal. Lucas Signoretti picked up two assists followed by Jason Kwestel, Andrey Manov, and Sutton Murray who

each had an assist. Ben Dardis in net faced 27 shots letting in two goals to keep a .926 save percentage.

Defenseman Victor Malzahn (4) protecting his goalie on the penalty kill. (Photo Credits Brockport Athletics) Flickr on Dec 7. 2024.

Just under ten minutes into the hockey game the Bengals got things started. On the power-play Austin Micale held the puck at the point and fired a wrist shot that just got past the glove of Filak to give the Bengals an early lead.

"Special teams can be the difference," Miller said. "We were not very good on both sides of it especially the power-play, we need to get back to playing more together I thought we were trying to do too much individual work out there."

Brockport struck right back with only a minute and 24 seconds remaining. Schuyler Flansburg won a face-off back to Haugh who sent it to the other side of the point for Faughnan who sent a snap-shot through some traffic to give him his first career goal. Brockport tied it up 1-1 going into the second.

Aaron Andrade scored the lone goal in the second period. Right after a Bengals power-play ended Signoretti was able to come up with a takeaway to find Andrade right on the doorstep of Filak. He sent a shot that went throught the five-hole of Filak to retake the lead.

It only took the Golden Eagles 58 seconds to respond with a goal of their own. Victor Malzahn from a wicked angle fired a shot that he was trying to create a rebound for. The puck ended up going bar-down and in to tie the game up at 2's.

They only kept it tied for six minutes when the Bengals pounced back. Langlois found a tough angle from the top of the point that found its way through some traffic to give the Bengals a one goal lead.

Andrade and Meure would add some empty net goal insurance to keep the Golden Eagles from coming back. Making the last ten games between the programs at 5-5.

The Golden Eagles fall to 1-2 as they now travel to take on Oswego State tomorrow night at 7, Brockport hasn't beat Oswego since 2014. The Buffalo State Bandits look to win their third straight game at SUNY Geneseo tomorrow night.