Bengals clinch playoff spot for third straight year

The Buffalo State men's hockey team fell 4-0 to Oswego on Friday, but was able to bounce back with an 8-1 victory over Cortland Saturday, clinching a spot in the SUNYAC playoffs.

The Bengals (11-11-2/6-8-1 SUNYAC) will participate in the SUNYAC playoffs for the seventh time in school history, and the third time in as many years. They are currently the fourth seed in the six-team tournament with one regular-season game remaining.

Mental mistakes and a lack of discipline haunted the team against Oswego Friday night. Buffalo State head coach Nick Carriere attributed the loss to the Lakers' ability to capitalize on Buffalo State's mistakes.

"You don't want to do that against anybody," he said. "Let alone doing that against a team that has All-Americans and guys who can really score goals and make plays."

The second-ranked Lakers went ahead early when Tyler Leimbrock scored on the power play just five minutes into the game. Oswego was able to control play from that point on, outshooting the Bengals, 33-18.

"We played a lot better than the score showed," Bengals' captain Mike Zannella said. "But when you give a team like that any type of momentum on the power play, it's tough to come back."

Oswego finished 2-for-7 on the power play Friday. Buffalo State goaltender Kevin Carr made 29 saves and kept the Bengals in the game all night.

"(Carr) kept the game close," Carriere said. "He had a breakaway stop; he had a great stop on a two-on-one. Oswego is a team that can score goals, and the fact that he kept it to four was huge."

The team responded to Friday's loss with an offensive outburst against Cortland Saturday.

The Bengals jumped out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period on goals from Trevor McKinney and Shane Avery. The Red Dragons scored with just 10 seconds to play in the first period, however, cutting the lead to one.

"In between the first and second period, we talked about our discipline level," Carriere said. "We kind of had some pretty direct conversation in the locker room about that's not the way we need to operate."

Buffalo State came out strong after the intermission and never looked back. The Bengals scored three goals in the second frame, including freshman defenseman Todd Graham's first collegiate goal.

"I got the shot on and he saved it, and then I went and crashed the net and hacked his glove and it slid under him," Graham said. "It was just a garbage goal but a goal is a goal."

The Bengals added three tallies in the third period to complete the lopsided 8-1 victory. Eight different players scored for Buffalo State, an accomplishment that didn't go unnoticed by the Bengals' captain.

"When we have eight different guys scoring, that speaks a lot for the whole depth of the team," Zannella said.

The Bengals went 3-for-7 on the power play, and also added a shorthanded marker. 14 skaters had at least a point in the game.

Buffalo State will face off against Fredonia on Friday night in their last regular season game of the season. A win would assure the Bengals home ice advantage for their first playoff game.

Even with a playoff spot wrapped up, the team isn't looking past their game against the Blue Devils.

"Throughout the year it's kind of a grind," said Carr. "But definitely now it's one-and-done, so you want to make sure you're on top of your game."

Zannella added that the team is already of the mindset that the playoffs have started.

"Friday night is huge. Friday night is playoffs," he said. "It doesn't matter who we play from here on out, we have to win."

Puck drop for Friday's tilt is set for 7 p.m. at the Ice Arena.

Chris Dierken can be reached by email at dierken.record@live.com.
Follow associate sports editor Chris Dierken on Twitter @CDierken