The Cortland Red Dragons traveled to Feasterville over the weekend to continue their season. Their first game was against the defending Division Three Champion Scranton Royals. Cortland gave up a goal one minute into the contest. However, the Red Dragons battled back and Mike Barbariantz scored a power play goal with the assist going to Chris Poplarski. The period ended 2-1 in favor of the Royals. The second period saw just one goal by Scranton. Nick Boffoli netted his first goal of the year in the third period. Penalties once again hindered the Red Dragons play making abilities. Goaltender Ross Midgen kept the team in the game by making 17 saves on 22 shots. Cortland lost 5-2.
The following game was a tough test for Cortland when they played the first of two games against the Delaware Fighting Blue Hens. Cortland played strong defense for the majority of the first period until Delaware got two quick goals in the final minute of the period. The second period started well for the Red Dragons scoring two goals in the first two minutes from Chris Poplarski and Tommy Farr. With the game knotted up at two the Blue Hens stepped up their offensive play making ability netting three goals in a row until Poplarski scored his second goal on a slap shot from the point. However with fatigue setting in, Cortland couldn't step up to the overpowering Delaware team. A three goal third sealed a second straight loss- 8-3.
With Saturday's two loss day in the rear view, Cortland played Delaware for the second time. A goal was scored by Tommy Farr assisted by Bob Motto three and a half minutes into the game. Two goals were the scored by Delaware putting the Red Dragons down 2-1 at the end of the first. Shut-down defense and great goaltending by Lou Vetri only saw the Hens net one goal in the second stanza while Brendan Joyce scored one of his own for Cortland. With the Hens leading 3-2 going into the third period Cortland stepped up their offensive abilities as Chris Poplarski scored one minute into the period to knot it up at three. Two goals in a row by Delaware left for an exciting finish. With a power play opportunity Cortland controlled the zone and a crisp pass by Joyce found Miguel Valle's stick who knocked it home to pull the Dragons even closer.
Another power play with one minute left in the game called for Vetri to be pulled for an extra attacker. The 5 on 3 power play saw great puck movement and a shot by Farr was kicked out to the front of the net by the Blue Hen net minder which found the stick of Joyce who scored the tying goal with 22 seconds left in the game. A 5-5 tie increased Cortland's confidence going into the fourth and final game of the weekend. Cortland's stars of the game: #2 Brendan Joyce, #3 Tommy Farr.With a come from behind tie, momentum was on Cortland's side when they faced Loyola. Three goals (Barbariantz, Farr, Poplarski) in five minutes is just what the Red Dragons needed to bolster their confidence to an even higher level. With a three goal lead, Loyola battled back to make it 3-2 at the end of the first. Two power play goals and one even strength goal by Cortland put them up 6-2 in the middle of the second period. Loyola netted one in the second. With the score in the Red Dragons favor going into the third, the team let up two quick goals. The game was tied at six going into the final minutes of the hard fought game. After a Loyola time-out, Cortland was quick to rush the puck into their offensive zone and tally 3 quick shots. However, an odd-man rush and a slick move by a Loyola forward saw the puck slide right into the back of the net with 1:01 left on the clock. Cortland fired shots from all angles but it was to no avail. The Cortland Red Dragons lost 7-6.
Cortland now finds themselves with a 1-3-3 record and in seventh place. They will certainly need to pick up their play for their last set of games if they plan to make a run at the division crown.
Tommy Farr was selected by the ECRHA to represent Cortland in the D-III All-Star game against the "B" Division All-Stars.
