Geneseo vs. Neumann Weekend Recap

Geneseo splits weekend series with Neumann.

By Nate Lull

The Geneseo Ice Knights entered into the second weekend of their season with a tough pair of games at home against the Neumann Knights. Neumann, an up and coming team within the Division III hockey ranks, gave Geneseo all they could handle throughout the two game set. Neumann took the Friday night game 6-2, while Geneseo returned strong on Saturday posting a 5-3 victory.

Last season, the Ice Knights traveled to Neumann early in the season and swept a pair of close games. Both contests were tough and Geneseo was one of the first teams in the country to discover Neumann’s increased ability. It wasn’t long until other teams ran into this surprising Neumann team as well - as the Knights fell only three points shy of making the playoffs in the tough ECAC West. Many wondered if the success would be duplicated this season for Neumann and so far it has against two SUNYAC opponents. The Knights swept their opening series at Potsdam and continued their success last Friday against Geneseo.

Freshmen goaltender Greg Richardson got the nod from Geneseo Head Coach Chris Schultz for the Friday night start in net. Richardson was faced with the tough task of stopping a talented Neumann line-up that seemed to be firing on all cylinders. Neumann wasted no-time as they used an early power play opportunity to get on the board with a goal by Kyle Casey from the slot. Erik Stoyanvich followed that up by putting in the second goal of the night for Neumann on the power play 4 minutes later. This gave Neumann a quick 2-0 lead and put Geneseo on its heels. The Ice Knights regrouped and managed to hold off Neumann until the 16:57 mark when Neil Trimm put in the game winner, this time with a 4-on-3 advantage for Neumann, putting the Knights up 3-0 after the first period.

Neumann continued to find the back of the net in the second period as Matt Ward scored on a rebound out in front. This would do it for Richardson as Schultz elected to go with Derek Jokic the rest of the way. It was a tough start for Richardson, as he was forced to face a talented Neumann team in his first college appearance. Despite the tough outing, Richardson did make several quality stops, including a fantastic glove save on the third shot of the game from Neumann’s Kyle Casey. With one start under his belt and the early jitters gone, I believe Richardson will improve in his next outing.

With Jokic in net, Geneseo seemed to get a kick of energy. Tyson Terry got the Ice Knights on the board as he was assisted by Mitch Stephens and Mike MacDonald at the 17:08 mark on the power play. But all the momentum seemed to melt away as Neumann’s Mike Hedden scored on a 5-on-3 chance with four seconds left in the period. This gave Neumann a 5-1 lead going into the third period.

As the third period began, Geneseo refused to quit. The Ice Knights skated hard and were rewarded when Sebastian Panetta scored on the power play from Stephens and Mathieu Cyr at 7:14. This made it 5-2 and Geneseo looked to have some life left in them. But Neumann goaltender Mike Collichio ended any thoughts of a Geneseo comeback as he made several key saves down the stretch. Collichio looked strong all night on Friday and is really the backbone of the Neumann team. Neumann put the game away for good when Kyle Casey netted his second of the night making the final score 6-2.

Overall, Neumann worked and skated extremely hard on Friday night and came away with a solid win. Geneseo looked stronger as the game went along, as the tried to recover from a poor first period. The team seemed to rally around Derek Jokic when he entered the game and played much better after that point. Neumann wanted the sweep and Geneseo wanted revenge, so this set the stage for the second showdown in as many days between the two teams.

Geneseo takes game two, 5-3

The stakes were high for both teams coming into the Saturday match-up between Geneseo and Neumann. Geneseo wanted to avoid the sweep at home and with a win perhaps Neumann could crack the national USCHO rankings for Division III.

Neumann got right back to work as Neil Trimm fired a slapper past Derek Jokic less than a minute into the game. This would be the only offense for the first period as Geneseo couldn’t find an answer for Mike Collichio. Despite getting one early shot past Jokic, Neumann couldn’t seem to find the holes as Jokic looked strong the rest of the period.

Geneseo used a power play that carried over from the first period to get on the board first only thirty seconds into the second as Casey Balog netted his first of the year. Mathieu Cyr followed that up by slipping another one past Collichio at the 6:32 mark. This gave Geneseo a 2-1 lead and it appeared that they had finally figured out how to beat Collichio.

Any momentum built by the 2-1 lead was quickly erased though as Jesse Cole scored off the ensuing face-off for Neumann, putting it back to 2-2. It would stay this way for the rest of the period and the teams would decide the game in the third period.

Such a close contest brought the physical side out for both teams. The game was full of penalties, ten for Neumann and eight for Geneseo. Neumann sealed their fate midway through the period when after an initial penalty was called Forward Dayne Bihn sent a puck into the crowd and was sent off the ice with a game misconduct. This gave Geneseo a huge opportunity with a lengthy 5-on-3 chance. Chris Kestell took advantage and scored his second of the year for Geneseo and tied it up at three.

Mike MacDonald was apparently tired of having a close game at this point as he took over the rest of the way for Geneseo. MacDonald scored fourteen seconds after Kestell on a beautiful pass from Mitch Stephens and easily put one past Collichio as Neumann was still trying to kill off the 5-on-3 penalty.

MacDonald finished it off by scoring unassisted four minutes later as he skated around two Neumann defenders, faked a pass to Stephens out in front and roofed it on Collichio to put the final score at 5-3 and sealing the win for Geneseo.

It was a great weekend of hockey as both games had a lot on the line for such an early season game. Both wanted to solidify their belonging as one of the top fifteen teams in the country and from this the fans got to see a weekend of hard fought hockey games. Geneseo comes out of the weekend with a record of 2-1 and Neumann returns home with a record of 3-1. Both teams begin league play next weekend with Neumann traveling to Lebanon Valley for a set of games and Geneseo hosting Cortland on Friday night and Oswego on Saturday night. Both of Geneseo’s games are at 7 PM.