Senior goaltender Tucker Johnson stopped 34 of 35 shots on goal and classmate Mathew Gemerek scored 1:57 into overtime as Brockport won their first game of the season 2-1 over host Aquinas at Lakeshore Rinks.
“It feels amazing; it was a great team effort and the boys really got it done out there,” Johnson said outside a jubilant Blue Devils locker room.
After a scoreless first period, the Blue Devils got on the board as senior forward Tucker Trask, who missed all of last year due to an injury, netted his second varsity goal with assists from senior Evan Bovee, who kept the puck in the offensive zone at the blueline, and Michael Holding.
Aquinas tied the game 1-1 just seconds after Brockport had killed off a penalty as defenseman Anthony Terrana found the back of the net from the left point at 13:12 of the second period.
Brockport penalty killers Jonathan Lomonaco (sophomore), Damian Gamble (senior), and Tyler Henshaw (junior) were called to kill almost four consecutive minutes of an Aquinas power play, including two minutes of five-on-three in the third period, and Johnson made several key saves during the sequence.
“When you’re in a game like that, whether you are a player or coach, you have some doubt that sinks in (whether you can score another goal), but you have to make sure it doesn’t show up in your play,” second year Brockport head coach Greg Schwind said. “Last year when we played these guys it was very similar and I could tell between the second and third we were defeated and let that doubt overcome us and we didn’t do that today.”
“It was five-on-three for a long time and, when we called the timeout, I told him (Johnson) that he had to be our best penalty killer and he was. He did a nice job today of tracking pucks…and he also was coming out a bit more today which shows he was playing with some confidence.”
In overtime, after a second straight icing call on the Little Irish, a Brockport shot from the right point was knocked down by an Aquinas defenseman in the slot, but Gemerek was in the right spot to bang the loose puck into the net for the game-winner.
“Our defense has picked it up so much better and we’re able to break it out a lot quicker than we have before,” Johnson said. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but it was definitely our best today.”
