Senior defenseman Chad Cummings picked an opportune time to score just the fourth goal of his collegiate career. With visiting Fredonia and Brockport tied 2-2, Cummings took a pass from freshman Tim Kielich and put his shot though a screen into the lower right corner of the net on the power play with only 87 seconds remaining to seal a 3-2 win.
“We were just playing catch up there trying to open up the lane shot that they were blocking all night,” Cummings said. “So finally we worked it side to side so they drifted over and I finally got a shot off that got through to the net and (Chase) Nieuwendyk had a great screen in front. It went in the net thank God.”
Brockport jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at 15:55 of the first period when Dylan Shapiro banged in a rebound from a Chris Luker shot. Freshman defenseman Nick Palumbo also was credited with an assist on the play.
Fredonia tied the contest at 9:03 of the second when the Golden Eagles got caught on a long shift, but the Golden Eagles retook the lead just 1:24 later as Kielich put a hard wrist shot over the right shoulder of the goaltender after a pass from Jeremy DeFazio.
The Blue Devils again tied the game 2-2 with a power play goal at 12:36 of the second, but the Golden Eagles made it 3-2 just 55 seconds into the third as Zac Sikich knocked in the rebound from a Nieuwendyk shot.
Once more Fredonia tied it midway through the third after a cross ice pass, but Cummings finally sealed the win.
Freshman goaltender Cole Burack made 29 saves in earning his first win in his first collegiate start.
“The last three years we’ve come out struggling (to start the season), so this was a big win for us,” Cummings said. “We needed this as a team to come together and working as a unit and playing good hockey before we come down to crunch time.”
“Tim and Chad were patient with the puck and finally, finally got one to go through from the point, because they are so good at blocking shots,” head coach Brian Dickinson said. “Nice to get one there because I did not want to go to overtime.”
The team has two more SUNYAC conference games in the first half of the season – December 4-5 vs. Plattsburgh and Potsdam – before the holiday break. They resume at the Codfish Bowl tournament at UMass-Boston January 2-3.
