By Mike Specht
Staff Writer
After a loss to SUNY Cortland last Saturday, the men’s hockey team won’t take part in the American Club Hockey Association playoffs in 2013. Needing a win to stay in contention, the Bonnies (8-11) were outscored 10-3 by Cortland. Their season will conclude Saturday at Ithaca College (13-11). The puck will drop at 7:30 p.m.
Although the game Saturday has no playoff implications for St. Bonaventure, Co-captain Mike Iulianello wants to end the season with a victory.
“The mindset is there’s no pressure at all, since playoffs are out of our reach,” Iulianello said. “That seems to be when we play our best hockey. It’s a pride thing, especially since we’ve had a bit of a rivalry with Ithaca over the years.”
The Bonnies fell to Ithaca Jan. 25 by a score of 4-3. Penalties for the Bonnies were a factor in that game, as the team accumulated eight of them, including one major. Starting goalie Josh Popsie will sit, giving freshman Nick Gregorio a chance between the pipes. Even though he’ll be spectating, Popsie said he is still hungry for one last win.
“You want to end the season on a high note,” Popsie said. “In my opinion, this team took us out of playoff contention. Even though a loss won’t affect Ithaca, it would be great to win our last game.”
In last Saturday’s loss to Cortland, the Bonnies were trailing 1-0 going into the second period. By the end of the second period, Cortland led 6-1.
“We didn’t come to play at all,” Iulianello said. “We weren’t ready to play, whether it be the long bus ride or guys still waking up. We didn’t get any bounces our way, and the goals started pouring in.”
The Bonnies had trouble getting shots on net during the game. Senior Tom Meka, second in points for the Bonnies, missed the team bus that morning.
By the third period, freshman Nick Gregorio was put in the net to replace Popsie. Cortland still managed four more goals on Bona’s. Cortland’s forwards outshot the Bonnies throughout the competition, and the St. Bonaventure defense didn’t have a solid answer for them. Iulianello and Perhacs (2) scored for the Bonnies, while Taylor Rosenberg, Mike Griffin and Mike Felter contributed with assists.
After making the playoffs last year, the Bonnies unraveled in the second half of the season. Posting a 4-4 record going into November, the hockey team couldn’t win at a consistent level. They managed to win only two more games going into semester break, and two more since then.
“We started the season off on a good note, but couldn’t get it together when we needed to.” Iulianello said. “We lost the games we should’ve won, and now we’re on the outside looking in. We expected to make the playoffs this year, and not reaching that is real disappointing.”
Next year, the Bonnies will retain all its players except for Meka. With a more experienced team on the ice, the playoffs are the goal, in addition to a .500 season record.
“The future is going to be good. We have to come out of every game hard, and can’t take off games in the middle of the season,” Popsie said.
