Ice Knights roll in 6-3 exhibition win over Alvernia
On Oct. 15, the Geneseo Ice Knights played their first exhibition game of the season against the Alvernia Golden Wolves, who are in their inaugural season and the newest member of the United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC). The Ice Knights looked to make this game a strong start to their season and live up to the high expectations set for them as the reigning National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) runner-up and top-ranking SUNYAC team.
The IRA Ice Rink was electric as the Ice Knights took their positions to start the game. Upon puck drop, the Knights immediately applied the pressure on Alvernia with multiple shots on goal. Due to the Knights’ focus on offensive pressure in the Alvernia zone, The Golden Wolves were able to get a goal early into the period. After that first goal, there was a sense of nervousness in the arena and the crowd was silenced. In true Ice Knight fashion, they did not take long to respond to Alvernia’s goal: minutes later, freshman forward Greg Koutsomitis was able to score a sensational goal from a shot between his legs that went in the top right of the net.
Spirits were high for the Ice Knights after this score, with a goal by junior forward Mitch Machlitt and two goals from last season’s Rookie of the Year, sophomore forward Peter Morgan, to close out the period. By the end of the period Geneseo out-shot Alvernia 14 to four. After letting in the first goal, senior goalie Matt Petizian finished strong, making multiple saves to finish the period and ensure that Geneseo had all the momentum going into the locker room for the first intermission.
The second period was much more physically competitive; both teams had players enter the penalty box and shots were at a minimum for both teams, with Geneseo having only eight compared to the first period’s 14 and Alvernia having just five shots on net themselves. Even though the teams’ shots were limited, both teams found the back of the net with Alvernia scoring first and the Ice Knights then scoring off of a fantastic assist from senior forward Tyson Gilmour from the left side of the net to set up sophomore forward Domenic Garozzo to score the go ahead goal. The rest of the period was mostly quiet due to both teams' goalies stepping up and keeping the scores to a minimum in the second period.
During the third and final period, the play was very similar to that of the second period—the Ice Knights and Golden Wolves traded goals again, with Geneseo’s Machlitt scoring his second goal of the night to wrap up the game with a final score of 6-3.
Saturday’s game was the first of hopefully many wins this upcoming season. The Ice Knights play their second and last exhibition game on Friday, Oct. 21 against Collingwood Blues of the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) at 7:00 p.m. They then open their regular season at home on Oct. 28 against Neumann College.