Men’s Hockey Get Three League Points On Road Trip

Watertown, NY ~ The Paul Smith's College Men's Hockey Team secured three of a possible four points over the weekend in their first Upstate New York College Hockey League (UNYCHL) East Division matchups against SUNY Jefferson and SUNY Canton.

Friday's game saw four lead changes in a battle of last year's #2-seeded Bobcats and #3-seeded Cannoneers.

It was the hosts who got on the board first on the power play, which would plague the Bobcats for the duration of the game.  The last three goals of the first period by Larry Parece (Woburn, MA), Julien Shafer (Queensbury, NY), and Nick Ogden (Queensbury, NY) saw the Bobcats take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.

The second period, however, was a different story as the Cannoneers scored four goals, with two of them being on the power play to make it 5-3.  It looked like the two-goal lead would hold until Colin Palmer (Clifton Park, NY) connected on a nice pass from Attila Quesnel (Montreal, QC, Canada) to put the Bobcats within one at 5-4.

Quesnel put the team on his back and picked up two goals at 18:54 and 11:00, but again, penalties got the better of the visitors which resulted in a power play goal for the Cannoneers with just 4:04 remaining in regulation to make it 6-6.

The Bobcats seemed primed to score the game-winner as the Cannoneers took a penalty of their own with 1:57 left in the third, but two bad Bobcat penalties in the last 1:31 saw JCC take the man advantage going into OT.  The game-winner came for the Cannoneers just 56 seconds into OT, again on the power play.  The Bobcats were able to salvage a point with the OT loss but certainly could've done better in a game they seemed to dominate at times.  PSC spent nearly half the game in the penalty box, with 13 penalties equaling 26 minutes of game play.

Saturday's game against SUNY Canton was a different story, as the Bobcats played much more disciplined hockey against the Roos.

Omar Uqdah (North Adams, MA) got things started on the power play on a nice tip from a point shot by Nick Ogden, who, with team captain Dylan Jannarone (Brick, NJ), picked up assists on the play.  The Bobcats continued to press the attack which saw Attila Quesnel score his third goal of the year on a nice skate-pass from newcomer Collin Trapiss (Macedon, NY).

The second period saw more offensive zone-work from the visitors as the Roos just couldn't keep up with the speedy Bobcats.  The third and final goal of the game came on a tic-tac-toe play from Trapiss to Palmer to Quesnel which saw the puck end up in the back of the net before the defense or the goalie could even react.

The third period was a defensive masterclass as the group of Jannarone, Ogden, Dylan Sauve (Wappingers Falls, NY), Owen Kime (Waterloo, NY), Mike Hansen (New Hartford, NY), Tyson Smith (Cato, NY), Joe Beaudoin (Falmouth, MA), and Kyle Davis (Canandaigua, NY) played hard-nosed defensive hockey.  Beaudoin and Davis helped newcomer Gianluca Minicozzi (Montreal, QC, Canada) kill off an important 6-on-3 with just minutes left in the game as the Roos pulled their goaltender for the extra attacker.  The textbook Bobcat penalty kill, however, held firm and kept the Roos off the scoreboard to preserve the shutout.

But the real star of the game was first-year goaltender James Kircaldie (Londonderry, NH) who recorded his first win in his first collegiate hockey appearance in a 51-save shutout that demonstrated to both teams why he helped Londonderry high school win the New Hampshire High School Division I State Championship last season.  For his effort, Kircaldie was awarded Player of the Game, and did so in front of his parents and many of the Bobcat supporters who made the short trip to Canton for the game.

The Bobcats are back on the ice for an exhibition game October 18th against SUNY Jefferson at 8:30pm at the Saranac Lake Civic Center.  They play SUNY Onondaga at 6:30pm the following day in another UNYCHL East Division showdown.

You can follow the men's hockey team on Instagram at @pschockey or follow the general athletics account at @smitty_nation for schedules, updates, photos, and much more!

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At Paul Smith's College, it's about the experience. As the only four-year institution of higher education located in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York, Paul Smith's provides real-world, hands-on learning in fields such as business and hospitality, culinary management, forestry, environmental sciences, and natural resources. We can draw on industries and resources available in our backyard while preparing students for successful careers anywhere. Our community of resourceful, enterprising, supportive, and adventurous individuals collectively provides experiential education, student support in the classroom and beyond, and meaningful opportunities for our alumni. We pride ourselves on research and advocacy on issues that improve our planet and the lives of the people who inhabit it. Learn more at www.paulsmiths.edu.