Lake Placid, NY – The SUNY Canton men's hockey team used a furious comeback late in the second and throughout the third period but fell just short, 5-4, to Skidmore College at Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid.

Skidmore got on the board first 4:59 into the first when Zach Arden beat Roo goaltender Louie Puig (Chicago, IL) off passes from Ondrej Krajnak and Marc Cibelli. The Thoroughbreds would add two scores 85 seconds apart to open up a 3-0 lead after one.

Mickey Foley and Kenny Nelson scored at the 11:22 and 15:27 marks of the second period to open a 5-0 Skidmore advantage. Josh Sova (Oswego, NY) scored the first Roo goal of the season with 2:54 left in the frame. The freshman beat the Thoroughbred goaltender on the power play off passes from Brandon McMartin (Toronto, ON) and Eric Witzel (Ottawa, ON).

Whatever Head Coach Trevor Gilligan said in the locker room ignited the Roos because just 30 seconds out of second intermission Thomas Crabtree (Knoxville, TN) found Tyler Ralph (Middletown, NJ) for his first collegiate goal. Five minutes later Nick Vasilopoulos (Montreal, QC) was the recipient of a score off assists from Kasey Kulczycki (Laval, QUE) and Taylor Pickering (Marine City, MI) to get SUNY Canton with 5-3.

The Roos continued to attack looking to get within one. Both teams were whistled for penalties with 1:40 remaining. Thirty-five seconds later Coach Gilligan pulled the goalie in favor of the extra skater and nine seconds later it paid off as Kenneth Orlando (Chalfont, PA) lit the lamp off a feed from George Curry (Schaumburg, IL) as the Roos were within just one with 56 seconds remaining.

Ralph won the ensuing faceoff allowing Gilligan to once again pull Puig with 39 seconds remaining but SUNY Canton was unable to get a shot on goal in the closing seconds.

Both teams were even in the faceoff circle with 37 wins apiece, while the Roos held a slight 32-29 edge in shots. The Roos defense was active all night blocking six shots. Both teams scored once on four power play opportunities. Puig turned aside 24 shots in goal for SUNY Canton, while Jack McDonald made 28 saves for the Thoroughbreds.

The men's hockey team opens its home schedule on Friday at 7:00 p.m. when it hosts Fredonia State in the Roos House.