by Warren Kozireski
Junior Matt Corey and Dominic Gruttadauria registered four and three-point games, respectively, as Spencerport continued to rebound from a bad season start with a 6-1 victory over Victor at the MCC SportsCentre.
Gruttadauria banged home a rebound off an Aidan Conolly shot from the right point just 41 seconds into the contest. Corey was credited with the second assist.
At 3:31 of the first with the Rangers on the penalty kill, Corey forced a turnover and fed Anthony DePetres on the break to make it 2-0.
After Victor scored what would prove to be their only goal of the game, Spencerport capitalized just after they killed off another Victor power play. Frankie Lattuca kept the puck in the zone while in the sitting position and Matt Simoncelli converted at 11:24 to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead.
Brandon Corey then pounced on a misplayed dump-in by the Victor goaltender with assists by Simoncelli and Conolly making it 4-1 at the end of the first period.
The Rangers scored their second shorthanded goal at 6:08 of the second when Corey fed a cross ice pass to Gruttadauria on a two-on-one break to put the Rangers up by four.
And the two combined for the final tally at 5:27 of the third this time with Gruttadauria carrying the puck into the offense zone and shooting with Corey putting in the rebound making the final 6-1.
“We just had the full team play their first game together last Thursday,” said Rangers head coach Grady Monks who had several players out of the lineup this season with major and minor injuries.
“We’ve concentrated on taking care of our own end of the ice; that and we’re channeling our energy better and not getting frustrated and taking penalties like we did early in the season.”
Senior goaltender Tyler Fess made 24 saves in net. After opening the campaign with nine straight losses, this win and a 5-0 shutout over Batavia that followed gives the Rangers a 5-10-1 overall record and a three-game winning streak.
