The Buffalo State women’s ice hockey team welcomed Potsdam University to the Ice Arena over the weekend with hopes of sweeping the Bears to kick off ECAC West play this season.
Instead, the Bengals (2-2) were forced to settle for a split of the pair of games, losing 3-2 on Friday evening before rebounding with a 3-2 win of their own Saturday afternoon.
After allowing Potsdam (1-2) to jump ahead early on just their second shot of the game, senior Christine Williams tied the game on the power play of a deflection from a shot by fellow senior Bri Murphy.
The Bengals would fall behind again late in the first period following a Potsdam goal in the final minute.
The only goal of the second period gave the Bears a 3-1 advantage leading into the final period until junior Rio Flynn reduced the Bengals’ deficit to 3-2 with 4:18 to play.
The Bengals would eventually fall by the same score in regulation despite holding a two-shot advantage over Potsdam (25-23). Sophomore goalie Jordan Lee made 20 stops and took the loss in her third game as a Bengal.
Head coach Rob Burke said although the team played well during the final 10 minutes of the game, the loss could have been avoided had the team played 60 minutes of solid “Bengal Hockey.”
“We were disappointed with the way we played. We wanted that game bad heading into the weekend,” he said. “After the loss we all acknowledged we didn’t play a complete 60-minute game but we didn’t want to get too negative. So instead of kicking ourselves we took the momentum from those final 10 minutes and used it to our advantage heading into Saturday’s game.”
A strong effort by freshman Christina Zandri, who was named the ECAC West’s Rookie of the Week, and Lee, helped carry the Bengals to a victory in the second game.
Zandri opened the scoring just over five minutes into the first period and added a second 2:08 later for her first two collegiate points, giving the Bengals a 2-0 lead heading into the second period.
Potsdam then recorded the lone goal in the second, outshooting Buffalo State 19-2 in the period, but Williams tallied her third goal on the season to give the Bengals a 3-1 lead that they would not relinquish.
Burke said Lee was outstanding in the team’s win as she made 34 saves and was named the second star of the contest.
“Jordan and I talked at length following the loss. She knew she didn’t have her ‘A’ game on Friday and told me to expect a better performance from her tomorrow,” Burke said. “She definitely had her ‘A’ game Saturday and was a big reason why we were able to come away with the win.”
Special teams play was key for the Bengals, too.
Coming into the weekend, Buffalo State had failed to score on the power play in 13 chances, something Burke said he made a point of in practice all last week.
“We changed our power play system back to the one we used last year,” Burke said. “Special teams are absolutely critical in this game. What we were doing wasn’t working, so I thought it’d be best to return to what the girls were familiar with.”
Burke’s adjustments paid dividends.
The Bengals finished 3 of 10 with the main advantage in the two games and managed to hold Potsdam to a single power-play goal. Murphy said the renewed system just works better.
“The system we used last year opens up a lot of opportunities for our scorers and we capitalized this week,” Murphy said. “You can expect more of the same in the future.”
This weekend the Bengals will look to continue their strong play as Neumann University visits Buffalo State for a pair of conference matchups on Saturday and Sunday. After losing both games to the Knights last season by a combined score of 7-2, senior Leah Knott said she’s looking to notch a couple of surprise wins.
“Our goal right now, as it is every week, is to just put together five good days of practice,” Knott said. “No one really expects us to win, but that doesn’t mean we won’t.”
Burke agreed, noting he hopes to come away from the weekend with at least three points.
“Neumann has a talented team, so our goal is to win one out of two,” he said. “We’re not supposed to win on paper, but we’ll be looking to change that.”
Brandon Schlager can be reached by email at schlager.record@live.com.