NCCC sweeps weekend road trip

Niagara County Community College hit the road this past weekend and came away with a pair of inter-divisional wins against SUNY Cortland and Cornell University, two of the three best teams in the UNYCHL Central Division. NCCC improved to 10-3 overall on the season.

Niagara CCC 4, SUNY Cortland 3

Trevor Goodyear made his second start in net for NCCC on Saturday, stopping all 22 shots he faced in the first period. Conner Kaluzny scored on one of N-Trip's five shots. Gavin Cerrillo extended the lead in the second off a delayed penalty. Will Casullo added a third, ringing it off the post and in. Spencer Hrynczak scored a tic-tac-toe goal off beautiful passes from Kevin Carle and Matt Stewart, giving NCCC a 4-0 lead midway through the third.

Cortland's leading goal scorer Cole Haldane got the Red Dragons on the board 74 seconds later, with Joseph Morrello pulling them to within two late in the third period. Christopher Hammerle hammered the puck through the legs of Goodyear with 51 seconds left in the game to make it 4-3. N-Trip would hang on, though, as Goodyear stopped 45 shots to earn his second win in as many starts.

Niagara CCC 3, Cornell University 2

Evan Kopp started in net the following day and stopped the first 12 shots he faced in the opening period. With seven seconds remaining, though, the Big Red scored a power-play goal off the stick of their leading scorer Denis Brown. Aidan Cobb scored another power-play goal in the second period for Cornell.

N-Trip, meanwhile, was held scoreless through the first 42:57 of the game until Casullo snuck one in and got it on the board. Later in the period, Eddie Jetter tipped the puck past Big Red netminder Jeremy Siegel off the initial shot by Stewart. Jason Kuchey finished the comeback by going end-to-end, maneuvering by the defense and tucking the puck past Siegel with 2:37 to play. Kopp stopped 29 shots for his fourth UNYCHL victory in net.

The Thunderwolves are back in action this coming weekend with a pair of UNYCHL Metro Division games. They travel to Brockport (1-7) on Friday evening before hosting longtime rival Buffalo State (3-4) at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Hyde Park.