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Special Teams helps Roos hockey rout Niagara

Posted 2/4/12

(Canton, N.Y.)- The SUNY Canton men’s ice hockey team scored four power play goals in the second period as they rolled over Niagara University 7-0 Saturday afternoon in Canton. The Roos swept the …

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Special Teams helps Roos hockey rout Niagara

Posted

(Canton, N.Y.)- The SUNY Canton men’s ice hockey team scored four power play goals in the second period as they rolled over Niagara University 7-0 Saturday afternoon in Canton.

The Roos swept the weekend series with the Purple Eagles and won their fourth straight game improving to 24-2-3 overall and 7-2 in the Eastern Collegiate Hockey League.

The Roos took advantage of a five-minute major penalty assessed to Niagara’s Drew Mencer for contact to the head in the second period and pumped in four straight goals over a span of under three minutes to blow open a 1-0 game. Two of the Roos’ other three goals were scored short-handed and SUNY Canton also killed off two 5 on 3 Niagara power plays in the third period as special teams played a huge role in Saturday’s outcome.

A Dan Cibelli (Liverpool, N.Y.) short-handed goal late in the first period and an early even-strength goal in the second period from freshman forward Thomas Freeman (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) gave the Roos a 2-0 lead before the flood gates opened on that decisive power play.

Freshman defenseman J.R. Lafferty (Williamstown, N.J.) put the home team on top 3-0 nearly two minutes into the power play when he one-timed a nice centering pass to the high slot from junior forward Corey Frizell (Orleans, Ontario). The lead stretched to 4-0 a minute later when Frizell drove between the circles and slid a nice pass to senior forward Darren Camp (Canton, N.Y.) who stuffed home the puck off the right post into a wide open net. On the next shift and just 29 seconds later the margin grew to 5-0 when senior forward Rob Liggio (Canton, N.Y.) took a return pass from freshman defenseman Sean Gallagher (Sandwich, Mass.) up top, skated into the right faceoff circle and wristed a shot through the pads of Niagara goalie Dane Wakefield. Freeman then capped off the impressive run with his second tally of the day. The rookie made a strong rush from center ice and down the right wing, beat one defenseman and tucked the puck past Wakefield and the Roos were in control with a 6-0 lead after 40 minutes.

Junior forward John Payne (Port Moody, B.C.) completed the scoresheet when he netted the Roos second short-handed goal with 6:58 left in regulation.

Freshman goalie Morgan Barr (Almonte, Ontario) notched his second shutout this season stopping all 20 shots he faced to improve to 12-1-2.

Wakefield finished with 41 saves as the Roos outshot Niagara 101-43 in both games this weekend.

SUNY Canton returns to the ice on Super Bowl Sunday when they’ll face the University of Rochester starting at 12:30 p.m.