Cory Gurski is in the final stretch of his four year college hockey playing career at forward for the Buffalo State Bengals and he is going out in style.
Not known for scoring a lot of points, but instead playing a solid checking role and using his speed on the penalty killing unit, Gurski all of a sudden has found his scoring touch.
He entered this season with four goals over the first three seasons and 61 games with the Bengals. This year he had five in 20 games with most coming in the second half in helping the Bengals rise to one point out of second place with one weekend remaining in the regular season.
“It’s been nice that it’s finally been coming around – I’ve waited a couple of years for this, but I couldn’t do it without my teammates,” Gurski said. “My line is rolling and all of us are going, so I can’t really complain.
“(The penalty kill) is one thing I’ve been able to bring to the team; it’s always been my forte. The penalty kill is phenomenal right now at the top of the SUNY’s (stats) and we’re going to keep rolling.”
“It was funny because (former Hilton head coach) John Farnham and I had Cory and Corey Sherman on the penalty kill as eighth-graders because they were shifty and how quick they were and how smart they were with the puck,” former Hilton assistant and now head coach Chris Monfiletto said.
“There are very few guys who played for this program who had the skill level of Cory Gurski and the biggest thing is that he can do things at top speed that not many guys can do – and he has a laser beam for a shot. More importantly, he’s a tough kid that works hard and he’s earned everything he’s gotten.”
Gurski played four seasons for Hilton, which included scoring the double-overtime game winning goal in a playoff game against Penfield and earning First Team All-League West Division honors. He decided to spend his senior season with the Rochester Junior Americans splitting time between their Eastern Junior League team and the Empire League squad where he scored 20 goals with 18 assists in 31 games. The next season was in a Buffalo Junior Sabres uniform and he netted 15 goals with nine assists over 39 games.
“Jerimiah Crowe was the assistant coach for the Junior Sabres when I was there and he went to Buffalo State so I was able to join him here.”
Gurski’s Bengals had won seven of their last eight games with their only blemish a 1-0 loss to then-#2 in the nation Plattsburgh. The recent streak had them a solid third in the SUNYAC conference just one point behind second place Geneseo with two games remaining in the regular season.
“His biggest asset is his speed,” Buffalo State interim head coach Steve Murphy said. “When he uses his speed, he is really, really good and he’s picking it up (offensively) at the right time.”
“He’s playing well right now. Our top guys are always going to be our top guys and if we can get a guy who plays on our so-called third line of fire, I kind of like our chances moving forward.”
