By Taylor Nigrelli
Assistant Sports Editor
After splitting two games for the third weekend in a row, the hockey team (4-3) will head to Binghamton (5-3) tonight to take on the Bearcats at 8:15. The Bonnies host Syracuse (5-3) at home Saturday.
Both of this weekend’s games are rematches for the Bonnies from earlier this season, losing at Syracuse (4-1) and defeating Binghamton 5-4 at home.
Freshman forward Mike Griffin expects physicality to be a major aspect of this weekend’s game against Binghamton.
“We expect to see a physical game,” Griffin said. “When we played them at home it was very physical, so we expect the same on the road.”
Junior defenseman Mike Felter believes Saturday will be a tough matchup as the Bonnies have struggled when facing Syracuse lately.
“We’ve never beaten Syracuse since I’ve been on the team,” Felter said. “Including playoffs, we’ve lost to them the last seven times we’ve played them.”
Felter said the team needs to play smart against Binghamton to have a chance against the Orange.
“I think the biggest thing will be to keep our cool and play a smart game on Friday,” Felter said. “We can’t do anything stupid and get suspensions for Saturday.”
Last weekend was quite the rollercoaster ride for the Bonnies as they fell to Oswego, 8-1, before returning home to defeat Little Three challenger Canisius 8-4 Saturday.
Although the score may not indicate it, the Bonnies kept it close for much of the Oswego game. Oswego led 2-0 with 4:18 left in the second period when referees called sophomore Rob Maust for tripping. Oswego scored on the ensuing power play and never looked back.
Felter said focus was an issue for the team.
“Just about everything (went wrong),” Felter said. “We weren’t mentally or physically focused for the game. We got down by a few goals and we basically gave up.”
The team rebounded with a resounding 8-4 win over Canisius Saturday. The teams scored early and often as Canisius raced out to a 3-1 lead early. Two goals by junior captain Mike Iulianello tied the game at 3.
The Brown and White added two more in the second to take a 5-3 lead as freshman forward Jake Piegay scored his first collegiate goal. Iulianello completed his hat-trick in the third period and sophomore Jake DiGello scored his first goal of the season to give the Bonnies an 8-4 win.
Griffin is happy with the way the team answered Canisius’ first period effort.
“They’re a big team, and they play a physical game,” Griffin said. “They really came out hard and we brought it right back to them. That was a big win for us as a team.”
Four of the Bonnies’ goals were scored by freshmen and sophomores. According to Felter, this type of production from underclassmen takes pressure off the top lines.
“(The underclassmen) have really helped a lot,” Felter said. “You can’t rely on one line if you want to win and that’s what we‘ve done in the past. The underclassmen scoring goals so much allows us to take some of the pressure off of the top line.”
