Monday, December 14, 2009

Regular Season: Glastonbury, CT October 31, November1, 2009

The regular season opener was held in Glastonbury, CT. A 5 hour trip for the Cortland team. Game one "Cortaca". Ithaca, a newly formed team in the ECRHA, was not taken lightly by the Red Dragons. Cortland came out strong with a goal by Farr 0:34 into the game and a goal by Nick Boffoli 1 minute later. The first period ended with a 4-0 lead in Cortland's favor. The second period saw more of the same with 2 goals by Barbariantz and a goal by Barton. The third period was the icing on the cake with 2 shorthanded goals by Poplarski and Valle. Cortland rolled to a 10-0 win and preserved the shutout for Vetri. Cortland's stars of the game: #1 Tommy Farr, #2 Mike Barbariantz, #3 Brendan Joyce

The Red Dragons next contest was against another new team of the ECRHA, University of Massachusetts Minutemen. The game saw 18 minutes of penalties taken by Cortland. Shorthanded was Poplarski's calling to do damage. Chris had 3 shorthanded goals and 1 even strength goal. Midgen, with strong goaltending, and Poplarski, with playmaking abilities, kept the Red Dragons in the game. Cortland yeilded 33 shots agianst Midgen who made 28 saves. The penalties hindered the Red Dragons who struggled to a 5-5 tie. Cortland's star of the game: #1 Chris Poplarski

The final game of the weekend was Sunday morning at 8 A.M. against the Northeastern University Huskies. The squad took the early wake up call and ran with it. The line of Farr and Joyce provided all the scoring. Joyce scored 0:10 into the game on an assist from Farr. The next goal came 15 seconds later from Farr on a pass from Joyce. Their third goal was scored by Farr 2:46 into the game. The first period ended 3-0 in favor of the Red Dragons. Cortland then laid back, stopped pressuring the puck and took bad penalties. The second period saw Northeastern climb back from a 3-0 deficit to a 3-3 tie. In the third period the two teams stepped up their defense and allowed no more goals. However, a Husky power play at the end of the game called Midgen to make several mind blowing saves to preserve the 3-3 tie. Cortland's stars of the game: #1 Tommy Farr, #2 Brendan Joyce

The Cortland Red Dragons finished the weekend with a 1-0-2 record.

Pre-Season: Feasterville, PA October 10th and 11th, 2009

Preseason was a good starting point for Cortland. Their first game pitted them against the defending DIII ECRHA champions, Scranton Royals. Cortland finished 0-2 against the Royals last season. The first goal was scored shorthanded by Bob Motto 1:47 into the contest. Another shorthanded goal was scored by Chris Poplarski 6 minutes later. The first period ended in Cortland's favor 3-1. Scranton scored 3 goals in 3 minutes to start the second period. The Red Dragons battled back with goals by Bob Motto and Harris Barton. A hard fought third period by Cortland saw 2 more goals by Poplarski, 1 goal from Barton, and 1 by Lou Vetri. A late goal scored by the Royals left for an exciting finish. Goalie Ross Midgen faced a flurry of hard shots and made some spectacular saves to preserve the win for Cortland. The Red Dragons ended the game with an 8-7 victory. Cortland's stars of the game: #1- Chris Poplarski, #3- Harris Barton

The second game of the day for the Red Dragons was against the newly formed Ramapo College Roadrunners. Cortland came out lazy and allowed the first goal of the game 3 minutes into the contest. However, that was enough for Cortland to realize they needed to play shut down defense. Allowing only 10 shots the entire game on goaltender Bryan Buchalski. Goals were scored by Tommy Farr (3), Sean Glynn (3), Poplarski (2), Miguel Valle (1), Barton (1), and Lou Vetri (2). Stellar defense was played by the pairings of Barton and Barbariantz, Dan Rocklein and Vetri, and Motto and Dan Titterton. The Red Dragons ended the game with a 12-4 victory. Cortland's stars of the game: #1- Tommy Farr, #2 Sean Glynn, #3 Chris Poplarski

The third and final game of the weekend proved to be a struggle for a very winded Cortland team. They were up against the Temple University Owls "B" team. The game started slowly for the Red Dragons. They were down 2-1 at the end of the first period with the only goal being scored on the power play by Poplarski from Glynn. The second period saw 2 goals scored by Tommy Farr which knotted up the game 3-3 at the end of the 2nd period. The tie lasted until 3:07 left in the game when a goal was scored by Temple to put the game away. Netminder Lou Vetri played great allowing only 4 goals on 40 shots. A lackluster game was played by Cortland Sunday morning at 11A.M. 4-3 loss. Cortland's stars of the game: #1- Tommy Farr