by Warren Kozireski
Brockport netted three goals over a 1:10 span in the first period and went on to defeat the Greece Thunder 5-2 in high school hockey at the Tuttle North Ice Arena.
Senior and leading point producer Tyler Hill began the scoring at 8:52 of the first period when he banged home the rebound from a Michael Walton shot that ended up in the slot.
Defenseman Zach Coughlin followed 25 seconds later when he lazered a slapshot from the point into the top right corner for his eighth goal of the season after the Greece goaltender tried to clear a loose puck.
The Blue Devils scored their third goal of the rally at 10:02 on a Michael Knapp wrister with assists from Carlos Ross and Coughlin.
The Thunder scored early in the second period to close to 3-1 converting a two-on-one, but Brockport retook their three goal advantage when Philip Sipp picked up a loose puck at center ice, skated in on the Greece net and scored on a wrist shot over the goaltenders glove hand at 8:16.
The Thunder scored again later in the second, but sophomore Brandon Henshaw created an offensive zone turnover and scored into the lower right corner of the net 1:37 into the third period for the final tally of the game.
“We let down a little bit after the three goal sequence,” said Brockport head coach Greg Stahl. “But once they got their first goal I thought we settled down.”
“I never felt comfortable since they are a good offensive team. But when we got our forecheck going I thought we controlled play. It wasn’t our normal forecheck system, but it worked today.”
Justin Keene stopped 16 shots in net for Brockport as they improved their record to 13-1-1 and 7-0-1 in conference—good enough for first place in Class B West. The team was ranked third among New York State Division II schools as of mid-January.
