Monday, November 22, 2010

Cortland at .500 After Going 2-1 on Long Island

The Red Dragons took their talents to Old Bethpage, NY over the weekend. They were looking to move up in the standings and they started their quest with game one against Syracuse. The puck dropped at 7 A.M. The two teams came out sluggish as they struggled with a scoreless tie until Nick Boffoli put one behind the Orangemen netminder at 9:44 in the first. However, 'Cuse knotted it back up 26 seconds later. Cortland quickly regained composure as Tommy Farr picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and maneuvered his way around a defender and lifted the puck over the goalies shoulder. The first period came to a close with Cortland up 2-1. The second period saw just one goal on the power play on a shot by Farr which deflected off a Syracuse defenders leg into the net. It was assisted by Brendan Joyce. The Red Dragons finally woke up in the third period and they did not waste much time doing so. A carry-over power play saw Farr notch his third goal of the game from the point on a pass from Mike Weber. The goals began to come at a quick pace for the remainder of the period. Nick Boffoli scored his second of the game at the 1:50 mark of theperiod on a pass from rookie Gary Krupa. There were four more goals scored by the Red Dragons in the game (Monks, Krupa, Grogan, and Glynn). Rookie Al Grogan scored his first career goal at the 6:33 mark of the 3rd. Cortland started off the weekend with a 9-1 win. Cortland gathered all three stars of the game: #1- Tommy Farr (3 G, 1 A), #2- Nick Boffoli (2 G, 1 A), and #3 Lou Vetri (1 GA, 15 SVS, .93 SPCT).

The second game of the day for Cortland was against new powerhouse Queens College. The 4-0
Queens team had their sights set high for the game as they quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead at
the 0:15 mark. Cortland saw three more goals slip past goaltender Ross Midgen in the first period. Two more quick goals from the Knights in the second period caused Cortland to take a timeout. After the timeout the Red Dragons scored two goals in two minutes (Brendan Joyce and Cory Monks). The score stood at 6-2 at the end of the period with momentum on Cortland's side. This momentum was quickly taken away from Cortland at the 3:16 mark of the third period as Queens scored their 7th goal of the game. The Red Dragons could not over come a four goal deficit in the first period and lost the game 8-2.

The third and final game of the weekend and the first semester was against rival Ithaca College. The "Cortaca" roller hockey series was in Cortland's favor as they skated to a 10-0 win last season. They looked to continue this trend. Cortland came out firing at all angles scoring 5 goals on 12 shots in the first period (Grogan, Monks, Farr, Barbariantz, and Glynn). Ithaca started out the second period strong, pressuring the Cortland squad and scoring first. However, the Red Dragons quickly turned the tides and scoredtwo goals in 25 seconds by Joyce and Farr. Sean Glynn notched his second goal of the game later on in the period by dancing around the Ithaca goalie who dove for the puck and left Glynn with an open net. Ithaca scored one more goal in the period. The Red Dragons laid back in the third period and that led to two more Ithaca goals. The ferocious Bombers squad fought until the final buzzer sounded but Cortland hung on to win the "Cortaca" game 8-4 and take a 2-0 lead in the series. Cortland once again gathered all three stars of the game: #1- Tommy Farr (2 G, 2 A), #2- Brendan Joyce (1 G, 2 A), #3- Al Grogan (1 G, 2 A).

The weekend was one of the best in Cortland's history going 2-1 for only the second time in their short 3 year existence. The weekend saw Cortland score 19 goals, the record for goals in a 3 game weekend. Points were at a premium this weekend as the Red Dragons had some players with high point totals: Tommy Farr- 8 points (5 G, 3 A), Brendan Joyce- 6 points (2 G, 4 A), Gary Krupa- 5 points (1 G, 4 A), Al Grogan- 4 points (2 G, 2 A), Nick Boffoli- 3 points (2 G, 1 A), Sean Glynn- 3 points (3 G), Cory Monks- 3 points (3 G), Mike Weber- 2 points (2 A), and Mike Barbariantz- 1 points (1 G). This 2010-2011 squad has scoring power that has never been seen by the State University before. With 35 goals in 6 games this season, Cortland has almost evened their total from last years 40 goal output.

As the first semester schedule takes a pause for the winter break things are looking up for the
Red Dragons as they now stand in 5th place in Division III with a 3-3 record for 6 points. Cortland has 6 games remaining on their schedule before playoffs (Loyola, Scranton, Lehigh, Oswego, Ramapo, and UMass- Amherst). Cortland players are showing up in the league leaders in many different categories. Tommy Farr is tied for 9th in points with 13, tied for 5th in goals with 8, and tied for 1st in star points with 11. Gary Krupa is tied for 5th in assists with 8. Sean Glynn is tied for 4th in game winning goals with 2. Harris Barton leads the league in penalty minutes with 30. Rookies Krupa, Grogan, Weber, and Monks are improving their game every time they step on to the surface. They have brought leadership and a skill set to the team that no one could have envisioned during the tryout period. Krupa stands in second on the team in points with 11 and first in assists with 8.

On a side note, Harris Barton has completed his 3 game suspension and is now eligible to play in the next game and Bob Motto still has one game left on his 4 game suspension. Things are looking up for the Red Dragons as they are looking forward to the 2011 semester of play. Check back over the break for schedule updates and all-star announcements. Have a safe and happy holiday season!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Cortland Struggles Against PCRHL

The opening weekend of the 2010-2011 regular season started on November 6th. Cortland faced the PCRHL's best team, St. Joseph's. The game started off in favor of the Red Dragons as they were out to a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period. However, in the second period the momentum swung in favor of the Hawks as they climbed back into the game scoring three goals, one on the power play and one short handed. The tides took a turn for the worst as Cortland was shut down and shut out in the third period. St. Joseph's scored four goals in the final period to take the win 8-5. With penalties once again hindering the Red Dragons as theydid last year, the Hawks took their power play to the surface and scored three power play goals. Scorers for Cortland were: Chris Poplarski (2G, 1A), Gary Krupa (1G, 2A), Sean Glynn (1G), Mike Weber (1G), and Harris Barton (1A). Cortland's stars of the game were:#2- Chris Poplarski, and #3- Gary Krupa.

The second game of the day pitted Cortland against Villanova. A shake up of lines certainly brought a scoring power to the team. It took a while for the Red Dragons to awake from their afternoon game slumber, but they did in a big way scoring four unanswered goals in the first period, two in eight seconds, shutting out Villanova. However, a lack of defense in the second allowed the Wildcats to climb back into the game. This was also due to the physical play Villanova put on. The Cortland squad took an assortment of penalties, leading to only one power play goal in the period. The Red Dragons battled through and took a 6-4 lead into the third. They came out strong in the final stanza scoring two goals in three minutes. Once again, penalties proved to be costly as Cortland took three allowing two power play goals. The Red Dragons held tight to a close lead as the slipped away with an 8-6 win. Scorers were: Tommy Farr (2G, 1A), Mike Barbariantz (1G, 2A), Chris Poplarski (3A), Brendan Joyce (1G, 1A), Gary Krupa (1G, 1A), Sean Glynn (1G), Harris Barton (1G), and Nick Boffoli (1G). Cortland had one star of the game: #2- Tommy Farr.

The final game of the weekend was played against Drexel. If the previous games of the weekend
were any indication on how this game would turn out, Cortland would have to stay out of the penalty box. This proved to be the tallest task of the game for the talented Red Dragon squad.
They let the refereeing get to them from the start of the game. A bench minor for too many men on the ice caused Drexel's first goal of the game. Cortland battled back to make the score a 2-1 deficit at the end of the first off a shot by Tommy Farr that snuck by the netminder. A Brendan Joyce Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty carried over into the second period and Drexel capitalized by netting their second power play goal of the game. The two teams battled until Chris Poplarski scored a short handed goal at the 10:28 mark. That one goal deficit was erased by Drexel's third power play goal of the game coming 22 seconds after Poplarski's short handed goal. This sent Drexel into a 4-2 lead at the intermission. With time and man power of the essence, the Red Dragons lapsed into their old way of gathering up penalties. In the span of 36 seconds Cortland gathered 41 penalty minutes one minute into the
third period. Tommy Farr received a Slashing penalty, Chris Poplarski received a High Sticking penalty, Harris Barton received a Roughing penalty, a Game Misconduct, and a Game Ejection, and Bob Motto received an Intent to Injure penalty, and a Match penalty resulting in a Game Disqualification. This left Cortland two defensemen short and on a four on two penalty kill for five minutes. Miraculously they killed off this five minute four on two and didn't allow Drexel to net another goal for the remainder of the game. A goal was scored by rookie defenseman Mike Weber on a pass from Tommy Farr after the teams were back to even strength. With Ross Midgen pulled from the net so Cortland could be with an extra attacker, they pounded the Drexel goaltender with a flurry of shots but it was to no avail. Weber hit the post while the goalie was down with three seconds left and that sealed the win for Drexel. The Red Dragons skated away with a 4-3 defeat. Scorers for Cortland were: Tommy Farr (1G, 1A), Chris Poplarski (1G), Mike Weber (1G), and Gary Krupa (1A). Cortland's star of the game was: #1- Tommy Farr.

After the first weekend of play, Cortland finds themselves with a 1-2 record for a total of 2 points. This leaves them tied for 5th in the standings with four other teams. Chris Poplarski led the team in scoring with 7 points on the weekend, continuing where he left off
last season. Gary Krupa led rookies in scoring with 6 points on the weekend, showing that the talent level of the Red Dragons has improved tremendously since last season. Penalties certainly hindered the teams progress as they could not get anything done a man or two short most of the time.

Heading into their next set of games Cortland will be without Harris Barton (3 games) and Bob Motto (4 games) for their actions in the Drexel game. The Red Dragons will be playing in Old Bethpage, NY at Skatesafe America on November 20th and 21st. They will face Syracuse at 7 A.M. on the 20th and Queens College at 1 P.M. on the 20th as well. They will finish off the weekend against rival Ithaca College at 1 P.M. on Sunday the 21st. Stay tuned for how the Cortland squad fares in their next set of games.