Bulls NEWSBulls Improve to 3-0 in NECHLMonday, 10.22.2012 / 4:42 pm / Uncategorized COMMENT | PRINT It was another weekend and another two convincing wins for the UB Hockey Team. Fresh off a road sweep, Buffalo returned home for games against NECHL foes RIT & St. Bonaventure. On Friday night, UB looked to feed off a large home crowd at the Northtowns Center. After almost half a period of end to end action the Bulls struck first as Chris Covel (Sr) slammed home a rebound. Just :18 seconds later, Matt Ganci (Sr) lit the lamp on a back hand that squeezed through the pads of Tigers netminder Brian Jascur. Late in the period Buffalo would tally again, this time on the powerplay. Brenden Robinson (So) found the back of the net for his 6th of the season. Despite the lead, UB played much of the period on their heals as they struggled to clear their own zone. Finally, RIT’s Ryan Hoffman got one past Mike Musialowski (Jr) for a powerplay goal that sent the teams into the locker room with Buffalo up 3-1. The Bulls would settle down in the second and shut down the Tigers attack. Focusing more on defense, RIT would only muster 8 shot in the period while UB fired 17. 8 minutes in, Jascur would be forced to leave the game with an apparent hip injury and Tim Benner (Jr) would feast on backup Joe Lingle. Benner increased the Buffalo lead to 4-1 late in the second and virtually take over in the third. Just over two minutes into the final frame, Benner would score again to make it a 5-1 Bulls lead and then complete the natural hattrick late in the third on an amazing wrist shot that Lingle barely moved on. Benner’s third of the game and 8th of the year would be the exclamation point on the 6-1 victory. St. Bonaventure came to town Saturday hoping to fare better than RIT. After a shootout victory against Binghamton the previous night, the Bonnies were riding a bout of confidence into the contest. Buffalo would squash that early as Benner scored his 4th straight Bulls goal just :24 seconds into the game. St. Bonaventure would get on the board at the 16:21 mark on a shot that deflected off a shin pad and behind Matt Bradley (Sr) but UB would bounce back. The Bulls would pepper Bonnies goaltender Josh Popsie with 20 shots in the first period and despite his best efforts, Benner would beat him yet again with a powerplay goal late in the frame. Up 2-1 in the second, Buffalo would take advantage of an undisciplined Bona team. 5 St. Bonaventure penalties would lead to a flurry of chances for Buffalo and goals began to pile up. First, Mike Schalberg (So) would score on the advantage with a bar-down snap shot followed by a pair of goals 2 minutes apart by Ben Lantz (Sr). Willie Sanchez (Fr) would get the 4th of the period giving UB a 6-1 lead headed into the locker room. Buffalo would outshoot the Bonnies 25-4 in the second. The start of the third period would mark the end of Popsie’s night as he was pulled in favor of Nick Gregorio. Although the Bulls would settle into a more defensive mode, they would add three more goals by Dimitrios Koutsomitis (Fr), Sanchez, and Robsinson who also had 3 assists on the night. The game would end 9-1 with UB outshooting St. Bonaventure 54-21. GAME NOTES: Benner finished the weekend with 5 goals and 2 assists leading the way. Lantz returned from a suspension with 2 goals and an assist on Saturday. Musialowski had 32 saves on 33 shots Friday while Bradley had 20 saves on 21 shots. Defenseman Mike Pliszka (So) returned from an illness that kept him out of the lineup for 3 weeks. Through 10 games, Buffalo has outscored opponents 70-15 and outshot them 471-256. Special teams have also been a strength for the Bulls converting 36% of their powerplays and killing off 93% of penalty kills. Next up for Buffalo is two more home games Friday against Ithaca and Saturday against Cornell, both NECHL opponents. Puck drop for both games is 7:30 PM. |
Game Day
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