Cortland Knocked Out of Playoffs in Pool Play

The ECRHA's annual playoffs were held in Feasterville, PA over the weekend. Cortland's seventh place finish placed them in a pool with second seeded Loyola, fourth seeded Delaware, and sixth seeded UMass- Amherst.

The Red Dragons played the Loyola Greyhounds on Friday night at 11:40. The squad was eager to avenge their 7-6 loss to Loyola earlier in the season. The Greyhounds took an early 2-0 lead at the end of the first period. The second period had eight goals, four by Cortland and four by Loyola. The Red Dragons could never muster up that one extra goal to tie up the game and give themselves momentum going forward. The third period saw Cortland start out quickly with a goal fifteen seconds into the period. However, three unanswered goals by Loyola proved to be too much for Cortland. They lost in the first game 10-7. Top Scorers: Miguel Valle- 1 G/3A, Chris Poplarski- 2 G/1 A, Brendan Joyce- 1G/ 2A, Tommy Farr- 2G, Nick Boffoli- 1 G, Sean Glynn- 1A.

The second game against Delaware started out sluggish with Delaware taking a 2-0 lead but Cortland battled back with 2 goals by Tommy Farr in the span of 11 seconds. Delaware scored agian at the end of the period to make the score 3-2 at the end of the first. The second period saw two more early power play goals by Delaware, however, Chris Poplarski scored twice while Delaware netted one more at the end of the period. Another power play goal in the third by Delaware and a goal by Farr and Poplarski made the score 7-6 in favor of Delaware with 2 minutes to go in the contest. Delaware controlled the puck for the remainder of the game and the Red Dragons could not get another shot off. The second game ended in a 7-6 loss.

The third game of pool play was a must win game for both Cortland and UMass- Amherst. UMass came out intense and physical and took a 5-0 lead into the second period. Two back to back goals by Cortland (Valle, Farr) proved to have no momentum behind them. UMass scored three more goals in the game to take the 8-2 win and advance to the elimination round. The Cortland Red Dragons lost their final game of the season.

Cortland ended their seson on a nine game losing streak. Penalties and lack of momentum hindered the Red Dragons ability to win. The goal and points leader for the season was Tommy Farr with 19 goals and 3 assists for 22 points. The assist leader was Brendan Joyce with 11. The additions of Chris Poplarski, Brendan Joyce, and Dan Titterton certianly improved the team but the league had also improved considerably. Congradulations to the Northeastern University Huskies who beat the Scranton Royals 10-4 to win the Division Three Championship.