Cortland Sweeps the Weekend
This past weekend in Grove City, Pennsylvania was certainly a successful one for the Cortland Red Dragons Roller Hockey Club. They arrived with 4 games on the schedule against Penn State, Niagara, SUNY Brockport, and SUNY Oswego. When all was said and done, the team walked away with 4 wins, going undefeated for the weekend.
Their first game took place early Saturday morning against the Penn State Nittany Lions and it was the teams’ first matchup of the year. Cortland started out hot with a 6-0 lead, which stretched into the first 3 minutes of the 2nd period. Penn State then tallied 2 goals of their own, but Cortland proved to be too much. Led by 4 point performances from Tom Hughes and Brian Danziger, as well as a strong game in net from Nick Marrone, the team pulled away and defeated Penn State 11-4. Another interesting note was that Cortland’s powerplay, which had struggled in the first half of the season, got off to a hot start by going 3-for-5 in the game. Defensman Brian Danziger recorded one of these goals, while forward Justin Carpenzano had the other two.
The Dragons built off of their victory vs. Penn State with another win later in the day against Niagara University. C-State picked up the 8-2 win with another strong game from forward Tom Hughes (3G, 1A) and defenseman Brian Danziger (1G, 2A). Cortland’s powerplay tallied another goal, improving their weekend efficiency to 4-for-7. Also, the combined effort of senior Nick Marrone and freshman Tom Corcoran in net held Niagara to just 2 goals.
After missing 2 defensemen in Tyler Ballantyne and Dan Nelson for the first 2 games, both returned to the lineup for Sunday’s battle with the Brockport Golden Eagles. Nelson made his presence known as he posted 4 points (1G, 3A) in the Dragons 4-2 win. Forwards Evan Schlicht, Steven Marvin and Chris Fidotta all added a goal as well. Fidotta’s goal at 6:37 of the 2nd period was the fifth powerplay goal for Cortland in its 8 attempts during the first 3 games.
To go undefeated for the weekend, Cortland had to matchup with the SUNY Oswego Lakers, a team that they considered a rival due to previous conference history. The first period was fast paced and mainly controlled by the Lakers, who struck first on a goal from Brian Van Horne with just under 3 minutes remaining in the 1st period. Steven Marvin of Cortland answered back just 12 seconds later. Cortland would go on to score the next 5 goals and run away with an 8-2 victory. Goalie Tom Corcoran, who got the start in this game, recorded his first career ECRHA win.
Up to this point, this has been Cortland’s best weekend of the season. The biggest component of the weekend? Their powerplay, which suddenly has caught fire. It went 6-for-9 during the weekend after the team finished 1-for-1 against Oswego on Sunday. The team’s powerplay could not get hotter at a better time. With less than a month till regionals, the Dragons of C-State have just become an even more dangerous team than they already were.