CORTLAND, NY – The nationally 14th-ranked Cortland scored a power-play goal and a short-handed goal in the first period, and clinched a first round bye and home semifinal contest in the upcoming SUNYAC Tournament, with a 2-1 victory over Canton on Saturday evening. The Red Dragons are 17-6 (10-2 SUNYAC), while Canton drops to 9-14-1 (6-7 SUNYAC). Cortland can clinch the top seed in the conference tournament with a victory in either of its final two contests, Sunday at Oswego or next Friday at Morrisville.

Brady Hildreth (Lockport/New Jersey Titans) and Evan Beaudry(Mississagua, ON/Kemptville 73’s) each scored a goal for the Red Dragons, with Beaudry also providing an assist. Ronan Mobley(Playa Del Ray, CA/New Hampshire Avalanche) made 30 saves in goal for his 15th win of the season.

Nate Hopkins made 26 saves in goal for Canton, and Logan Kelly scored the lone goal for the Roos.

Canton held a 6-2 advantage in shots on goal over the first 10 minutes of the contest, but Mobley stood strong in goal to keep the game scoreless. With under nine minutes left, Mobley made a solid pad save to deny a breakaway attempt for Niko Schoner.

The Roos committed a tripping penalty with 7:08 remaining in the frame, and Cortland capitalized just 42 seconds later with a power-play goal. Nate Berke (Williamsville/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) fed the puck out from the right point to Beaudry at the left point. Beaudry began to skate in towards the goal, before quickly sending a pass out to the right circle for a one-timer by Hildreth that beat Hopkins into the back of the net.

In the final six minutes, Cortland took a penalty for a hit from behind to give Canton an opportunity on the power play. Not only were the Red Dragons able to successfully kill the penalty, they also netted a short-handed goal with a fortuitous bounce.

Colby Seitz (Eden/Corpus Christi Ice Rays) gained possession of the puck and skated out to center ice before dropping a pass back to Joshua Rumolo (Brooklin, ON/Wellington Dukes) to kill off some additional time on the penalty. Rumolo passed the puck to Beaudry at the left circle in the Cortland defensive zone, who shot the puck nearly the entire length of the ice and between the legs of Hopkins for an unexpected but welcomed goal, Beaudry’s first of the season.

The score remained 2-0 into the first intermission, with the teams both having 10 shots on goal apiece.

Cortland was within inches of adding a third goal early in the second period, as Johnny Facchini rung a shot off the post on the power play.

Mobley made 10 more saves, while Hopkins stopped all nine shots he faced in the period to keep the score at 2-0.

In the third period, Hopkins came up big to deny Cortland on three odd-man rushes. Two minutes into the period, Berke skated in on a partial breakaway, but was stopped by Hopkins. He then stopped Anthony Bernardo from netting another goal shorthanded with a lunging save off a 2-on-1 break. Just over six minutes into the period, Justin Legault (Oakville, ON/Burlington Cougars) was denied in front of goal.

Canton was able to pull within a goal with 4:15 remaining in the period, as Kelly took a feed from Cory Liu at the point, and fired a wrist shot from the right circle into the back of the net.

In the final minute, the Roos pulled Hopkins for an extra attacker, but the Red Dragons were able to hold Canton without a shot on goal over the final minutes. A blocked shot by Domenic Settimo in the final ten seconds secured the victory for Cortland.