Looking to continue their hot start to the season, the Blue Devils came out fast and furious, generating a lot of opportunities early on — and showing much of what was to come. Fredonia State (5-1, 3-1 SUNYAC) brought great pressure impeding the Red Dragons’ ability to possess the puck for long. The only chances the Blue Devils allowed to Cortland were low percentage transition plays and very little sustained offensive zone time.

The Blue Devils got their first goal thanks to their speed, as Todd Schauss raced to a puck to beat the defense. Schauss then laid a quick drop pass to Luke Rivera who made no mistake quickly snapping the puck short side from the right wing faceoff dot.

The Blue Devils did not stop there as only a minute later, Victor Tracy gave the Red Dragons defense the “ole razzle dazzle”, Tracy danced over the blue line and found himself in tight on net before placing the puck top shelf.

Once again, the Blue Devils legs benefited them, as Jake Haynes — similarly to Tracy — entered the zone with speed and drove the net. If not for the Cortland defenseman, who tripped Haynes, he surely would have scored.

OBSERVER Photo by Justin Goetz Fredonia Blue Devils goaltender Eric Bogart stops the puck against Cortland during Saturday’s game at Steele Hall Ice Arena in Fredonia.

On the ensuing power play, the Blue Devils made Cortland pay. Early into it, Rivera found a loose puck after a shot from the point, putting it in easily thanks to the man advantage, giving the Blue Devils a three goal lead.

“I thought we came out the way we wanted to. You come off such a big, emotional, hard fought win last night, it’s hard to regenerate that kind of excitement and passion,” said Fredonia State head coach Jeff Meredith. “But I thought our guys did a really good job. Things that they did well were just simple plays, and getting pucks behind their defensemen.”

Cortland (3-5, 1-4 SUNYAC) managed to get a late goal back in the final minute of the period, making it 3-1 headed to the first intermission.

After a lackluster first period by the Red Dragons they were only down by a pair. They recognized their performance, and in the second came out flying showing signs they weren’t going to give up.

Cortland’s legs looked refreshed after the intermission, they brought with them a ton of energy generating turnovers not seen by the Fredonia State defensemen in the first period. The Red Dragons went for many cross crease looks and attempted to get traffic in front of Bogart in net. The Blue Devils goaltender did a great job of standing strong keeping out everything thrown his way.

Fredonia State gathered themselves part way through the period getting back to their possession game seen in the first. The Blue Devils transition speed resulted in another goal, as Ethan Kirbis fed Colin Valentine the puck in the slot, giving the Blue Devils a 4-1 lead with five minutes remaining.

Similar to the first period, the Red Dragons did not give up. Once again, with traffic in front of Bogart, a Cortland shot from the point found the back of the net. Furthermore, in the final minute the Blue Devils took a penalty, which put Cortland on the power play to start the third.

“That’s not good (giving up a late period goal). It gives the other team life and it gives them hope,” said Meredith. “College hockey is good, you can’t give anybody any kind of momentum or life or excitement.”

Fredonia State entered the third on the penalty kill again, and was able to kill it. Shortly afterwards Cortland switched roles and found themselves in the box. However, Ethan Kirbis capitalized on the opportunity which gave the Blue Devils back their three goal lead.

The Red Dragons did not give up again, as shortly after they responded with a beauty of a backhander on a near no angle shot from just above the goal line. Cortland shortly later tallied their first consecutive scores of the period making it a 5-4 game. A real nail biter towards the end each team exchanged possession sharing an equal amount of opportunity. The Blue Devils managed to cap off the win as they held on late keeping the Red Dragons at bay, 5-4.

“That was a game if we maybe didn’t have as much maturity or as many veterans, that game could have slipped away from us at a key point in the third period,” said Meredith. “We’ve got older guys, they’re a little bit more level headed. They can be more resilient, and I think that’s exactly what we needed tonight.”