All-Star Game Video

Check out CJ Gilcrist, Lou Vetri, and Tommy Farr playing with Division III's finest against Division B's Best. When all was said and done Gilcrist took home the MVP.

DIII vs DB AS 2012-MPEG-4 from ECRHA Gameday on Vimeo.

Cortland Clinches Number One Seed

The Red Dragons kicked off their Spring semester with a huge bang last weekend in Feasterville, PA. The first game of the weekend called Lehigh to the rink to take on Cortland. However, the Hawks, being just two hours from Feasterville, decided to leave on Saturday morning to try and make it to the 6 A.M. start time. Due to the winter weather, Lehigh did not make it, thus forfeiting to Cortland. The Dragons being awake and ready for the game, had a light skate around for the hour time slot.

With the Dragons being quite angry about the Lehigh “no-show” in the morning, Loyola was next on the schedule at 2 P.M. A furious Cortland squad showed up, notching eight goals in the first period alone. The first period was capped by Max Stern’s hat trick. Other goals in the period were Tom Hughes (2), Gary Krupa, Mike Barbariantz, and Tommy Farr. In the second Cortland scored four more times, with Mike Weber picking up three assists in the period. The third and final period of the game saw the Dragons pick up seven more goals, and give up just one fluke goal that deflected off of defenseman’s Mike Weber’s skate and crossed the goal line Lou Vetri was manning. With a 19-1 win, easily the largest goal out put in one game in Cortland history, Stern netted seven goals while Hughes notched four.

Ramapo was etched into the 8 A.M. time slot versus Cortland on Sunday morning. The Dragons, once again anxious to get the scoring going, netted six goals in the first period,

again with Stern scoring a hat trick, this one of the natural variety. A seven goal showing by Cortland in the second period was more than enough to seal the victory in the early morning game. However, three more goals in the third would cap off the morning victory in favor of the Dragons, 16-0.

Coming off of two blow-out wins, Cortland faced their rivals Oswego in the biggest game of the weekend. Cortland started the game a bit rusty from playing run and gun offense to adjusting to playing a steady stay at home defensive game against the Lakers. The new tandem of Mitch Croce and Chris Fidotta really clicked on all cylinders over the weekend. They got the scoring started on a nice play set up by Fidotta with Croce netting the goal. With just thirty seconds left to play and the Red Dragons on the man advantage, Mike Weber capitalized and scored the second goal of the game on a pass by Stern.

Going into the second period Cortland was looking to extend its lead quickly, however Oswego had other plans. Just 43 seconds into the second stanza, the Lakers cut their lead in half on a goal. No goals were scored in the middle of the period, however there was a good amount of rough play along the boards and in front of the net. With 2:02 left to play in the period CJ Gilcrist finally found the back of the net to put the Red Dragons back up by two. Then again with just 13 seconds left on the clock, Max Stern found the back of the net for his 16^th goal of the weekend, an extremely impressive mark for which he was rewarded with the number one star of the weekend. This put Cortland up 4-1 at the end of the period and they didn’t look back in the third. The Dragons tallied three more goals in the game from Gilcrist, Krupa, and Fidotta. Cortland skated to a 7-1 win and now holds a 3-0 record over the Lakers this season.

Now 12-0 on the season, Cortland has secured first place in D-III with 24 points. Three forfeits are scattered into that 12-win mark. Cortland has only played 9 games, however they have scored 111 goals in those nine and have given up just 16 (9 of the 16 being to Oswego). The squad will play their last regular season games in Glastonbury, CT. The first team on the schedule will be Queens College, a Division II school. This will be Cortland’s biggest test of the season so far. If they can give Queens a game and even come out victorious, it will be a huge step forward for a program that just four years ago was being blown out by teams 13-0. The other game on the Glastonbury schedule will be the Oswego Lakers, the ECRHA’s featured game of the weekend.

GIlcrist Brings Home ASG MVP, Stern's Team Wins Skills

Not to be forgotten in this weekends games are the All-Star Events. First the All-Star Game was played at 1 P.M. Goalie Lou Vetri, CJ Gilcrist, and Tommy Farr were all named starters for the DIII Team. The B Team started things off quickly with 2 goals. However Cortland’s Gilcrist answered back at the end of the period. To start the second period, the DIII All-Stars scored

three straight goals (Peiffer [Loyola], Farr [Cortland], and Gambardella [Oswego]), to take a 4-2 lead. The B All-Stars battled back netting two more goals and shortening their deficit to just one. However, Gilcrist sniped two more goals for the team to take them into the break leading 6-4. In the third it was much of the same Gilcrist dominance as we are used to seeing on the Cortland squad. CJ added two more goals to his performance while the D-III All-Stars skated to a 9-6 victory over the B All-Stars. CJ Gilcrist was named MVP of the game by scoring 5 goals and adding one assist, claiming his prize of custom Revision Hockey Wheels.

In the Fastest Skater Event, Tom Hughes was determined to prove he was the fastest skater in

the ECRHA. Hughes won his first two elimination events and advanced to the quarterfinals against Jay Quinn of Queens College. Hughes dancing at the line seemed eager to begin the race. His short, quick strides beat out Quinn’s long strides by a hair. Hughes moved on to the Final Four to face Ed Jones of Neumann College. At the start of the race Hughes crouched down and starting swaying back and forth proving he was ready to begin while Jones waited calmly at the starting line. The race was neck and neck for the entire time until Hughes slipped a bit coming out of a turn. Hughes had already raced three times and this was his fourth, a valiant effort that fell just short.

In the 3-0 Breakaway Contest, Chris Fidotta, Tom Hughes, Max Stern (substituting for Gary Krupa), and netminder Lou Vetri all were placed on separate teams for the contest. Fidotta, Hughes, and Vetri’s teams were all knocked out in the first round. However, Stern’s team of Pat Rosa (Hofstra), Matt Mendolia (Queens), and goalie Zack Back (UConn) made it to the finals on the extremely talented play of Back. In the finals Stern/Rosa/Mendolia connected three times to put their team up 3-1 at the end of the contest. Each member of the team won a set of Revision Hockey Wheels. Stern kindly donated his wheels to Gary Krupa, as he took his spot in the contest.

Congratulations to all of the All-Stars and Skills Competition competitors for putting on a great show! Thanks to the ECRHA’s Marketing Team for putting all of the events together!

Huge Schedule Change; Cortland Oswego Showdown Sunday

With the news of the Syracuse Orange dropping their team from the ECRHA for the remainder of the season, Cortland and the entire ECRHA's schedule was changed late last night. The Red Dragons still will play Lehigh at 6AM Saturday morning followed by the All-Star Game for Vetri, Gilcrist, and Farr. The second game on the schedule still calls Loyola to the rink to face-off with Cortland at 2PM, immediately after the ASG.

However, Sunday's schedule has been tweaked to fill the void 'Cuse left. Cortland will now play Ramapo at 8AM. The Red Dragons then have a four hour break to game plan and rest up for their biggest competition, the Oswego Lakers at noon Sunday. In the last meeting of the

"Cortswego" Series, a phrase coined by Cortland's own Sean Glynn, the Dragons smothered the Lakers with 35 shots. The Lakers had just 12 shots (Cortland matched that 12 shot mark by the end of the first period). The final score of the game was 11-3 in favor of Cortland. With the win Cortland sailed on to win its next four match-up's. This game could possibly be the last time Cortland skates against the Lakers until playoffs, so this game should set the tone for the rest of the season.

With the Orange dropping its program, Cortland received two forfeit wins, improving its record to an impressive 8-0. Easily tops in the division. During this All-Star Weekend Cortland can lock up first place with just two wins. However, Cortland is looking for another clean sweep of the weekend.

Don't forget to keep up with the weekends games on www.ecrha.net and the leagues twitter handle @ECRHAHockey. Stay warm and be safe with the inclement weather tomorrow!

All-Star Weekend Schedule Posted; Three of Five All-Star Starters are Red Dragons

With classes starting on Wednesday at SUNY Cortland, the second half of the season is just five days away. The ECRHA's annual All-Star Event Weekend kicks off on Saturday morning with Cortland playing the first game of the weekend against rival Lehigh at 6 A.M. The last time these two teams met in Pottstown, PA two months ago, the Red Dragons ripped the Hawks 11-2. After the early morning affair with the Hawks the Cortland squad will take a rest until their 2 P.M. game against the Loyola Greyhounds. Cortland beat the 'Hounds 14-3 with seven skaters in Pottstown in their last meeting. The Dragons will receive a much needed 17 hour break after the Loyola game before facing off against a scrappy Ramapo team. The final game of the weekend will be against the Syracuse Orange at 12 noon Sunday. Cortland beat the Orange 10-0 in the first game of the season back in October.

Along with the four games for the Cortland squad, three players will have an extra game over the weekend. Goalie Lou Vetri (Smithtown, NY), forward CJ Gilcrist (Monroe, NY), and forward Tommy Farr (Washingtonville, NY), have all been selected for the ECRHA's Division III vs Division B's All-Star Game. Each Cortland player has been named as a starter for the team along with Oswego's Billy Farr and Syracuse's Jared Bly.

Vetri has been D-III's best goalie all season allowing just 7 goals against in six games. Lou leads the league in wins (4), goals against average (1.75), and save percentage (.885). Vetri has taken over as an assistant captain this season. Off the ice he has also taken over as President of the club. In Vetri's fourth year in the league, he has certainly proven to the team and the league that he is one of the toughest goalie to score on. With Vetri playing the best hockey of his career, he is looks to keep carrying the Red Dragons for the remainder of the season and into playoffs. This is Lou's first All-Star Selection.

CJ Gilcrist has come to Cortland and taken the league by storm. He currently leads D-III in points (29), tied for first in goals (16), tied for first in assists (13), and leads in star points (12). Gilcrist has been on fire in the last four games notching 24 points. He looks to carry over his hot streak to the second half of the semester and into playoffs. This is CJ's first All-Star Selection, in his rookie year.

Tommy Farr has made his fourth consecutive All-Star Game. Last year in the All-Star Game Farr notched a goal en route to a shootout loss for his team. This year Tommy has 12 points including 4 power play goals, good enough for first in the league. Farr is currently 18 points off from the elusive century mark. He looks to captain the team to an undefeated season for the first time in school history.

Check out the entire D-III All-Star roster here: http://ecrha.net/article.php?article_id=54989

Along with the All-Star Game comes the skills competition. The skills competition has made it back to the ECRHA by way of fastest skater and 3-0 challenge. This year Cortland has 4 participants in the contests. Freshman Tom Hughes will participate in the fastest skater contest, his first match up will be against Corey Bauman of UMass. Hughes will have to beat four other competitors in order to be crowned fastest in the ECRHA.

Gary Krupa and freshman Chris Fidotta will be with a team of two other skaters and a goalie in the 3-0 breakaway challenge. Lou Vetri is also playing goalie for the contest. Krupa will be paired with Matt Mendolia of Queens College, Pat Rosa of Hofstra, and goalie Zak Back of UConn. Fidotta will be paired with Brian Pershinsky of Binghamton, Scott Kalbfleish of Temple, and goalie Max Sparr of UMass. Goalie Lou Vetri will be with the skating tandem of Rob Lerro of Northeastern, Matt Lester of Ramapo, and Jared Pollet of Rhode Island.

Who will win if Krupa or Fidotta's teams are paired up against Vetri? Should be interesting!

Check out all of the Skills Competition players and match ups here: http://ecrha.net/article.php?article_id=54990

Good luck to all Red Dragons in the All-Star Game and skills competition this weekend! Don't forget to keep up with all of the Cortland games on www.ecrha.net! Also be sure to follow the ECRHA on Twitter at their handle @ECRHAHockey as they are sure to post updates throughout the weekend on all games, divisions, All-Stars, and skills competition.