Ice Knights clinch home playoff game

The Geneseo Ice Knights won their regular season finale over Morrisville, 3-2, on February 17, clinching a home playoff game.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” head coach Chris Schultz said. “Our guys gutted out a nice win, and we’re really looking forward to an opportunity to play at home.”

First year Justin Scharfe opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game, after sophomore Ryan Goldberg found him all alone in front of the net. Scharfe deked out the Morrisville goalie and found the back of the net for his fourth goal on the season.

Morrisville tied the game later in the first, but Geneseo came out strong in the second period. Sophomore Carson Schell tipped in a shot from the point from classmate Zachary Vit on the power play early in the period. Senior Clint Olson assisted on each of Geneseo’s first two goals, and finished second on the team behind Vit with 13 on the season. Vit led the team with 12 goals, 19 assists, and 31 points in 2011-2012.

Junior Kaz Iwamoto gave the Ice Knights a two-goal lead later in the second after he made a great move to get the Morrisville defenseman and goalie out of position for a wide open net. Morrisville pulled back within one halfway through the third, but Geneseo’s defense held strong the rest of the game.

In the last minute with Morrisville’s goalie pulled, the Ice Knights were able to tie the puck up behind the net for most of the last 25 seconds of the game.

“Our guys did a great job freezing the puck behind the goal line,” Schultz added. “We killed about 20 seconds just by falling on the puck and not letting the puck re-enter the scoring area.”

Senior Cory Gershon earned the win in goal, making 24 saves and allowing two goals.

“I was happy with Gershon’s play, but I think there were some things I wasn’t happy with in terms of rebound control,” Schultz said. “But he won the game and that’s important for goaltenders.”

Geneseo was able to finish the regular season 13-11-1 and 7-8-1 in SUNYAC play, despite countless injuries throughout the lineup. Only three players, Vit, Olson, and junior Corbin Rosmarin, played all 25 games for the Ice Knights.

“If anybody gets hurt we don’t have an extra player right now. For 25 games now, we haven’t had our best lineup,” Schultz said. “That says a lot about who we are as a team and the character and the ability of the players on our team… Our team knows what we’ve dealt with and I’m really proud of them right now.”

Geneseo and Fredonia each finished tied for fourth in the SUNYAC with 15 points, but Geneseo holds the tiebreaker due to having more conference wins. The Ice Knights will host Fredonia in the first round of the playoffs on Wednesday, February 22.