Canton, NY – Tyler Bullard (Ballston Spa, NY) scored with 8.5 seconds remaining and Vili-Jesper Koivula (Pinsiö, Finland) found the back of the net twice to go with an assist to lead the SUNY Canton men's hockey team to a thrilling 3-2 win v. SUNY Cortland on Friday evening in the Roos House.
 
SUNY Canton (1-0) overcame a 2-0 deficit to score three unanswered including a pair of third period goals in the season opening victory. The win is the first career victory for Roos Head Coach Alex Boak.
 
"I'm very happy with our team not getting too down on themselves after going down 2-0," Boak said. "We found a way to gradually chip away. We got one, then two. Our guys did a good job of not getting too high on the bench. Our speed played a big factor tonight and we were relentless and came away with a big W."
 
After just 47 seconds of action in the first period play was halted for nearly 25 minutes due to fire alarms going off in the building. Just 22 seconds after restarting the Red Dragons got on the board as Paul Fregeau carried the puck into the zone and found Dougie Elgstam. Eglestam skated right to left and lifted the puck up and over the blocker of Roo goaltender Michael Cerasuolo (Montreal, QC). Stefano Alonzi was also credited with a helper on the play.
 
With just over nine minutes remaining in the opening period the Roos nearly tied the game when Vili-Jesper Koivula's (Pinsio, Finland) shot struck off the left post. Cortland took a 1-0 lead into intermission.
 
The Red Dragons doubled their lead 3:49 into the middle period on a 5-on-3 power play. Mike Crowley found Elgstam with the puck who fed a cross-ice pass to Darren McCormick at the right circle who lifted a shot over the blocker of Cerasuolo.
 
The Roos cut the deficit in half 14:07 into the second period on a great piece of hustle from Nick Lepone (Richmondhill, ON). The sophomore hustled to stop an icing call and caused a defensive zone turnover finding Koivula to his left who beat Red Dragon netminder Drew Weigman near post over the blocker to get the Roos within one.
   
SUNY Canton knotted the game at two apiece on Koivula's second of the night with 7:43 remaining as he sniped a shot top shelf inside the bar past Weigman with 18 seconds left on the power play. Patrick Farnan (Clifton Park, NY) earned a helper on the play.
  "He's a good player," Boak said. "Him being a freshman I was very happy with his performance. All of our freshmen stepped up and played big key minutes. They all chipped in and helped us make a strong comeback."
 
Bullard proved to be the hero netting the game-winner with just 8.5 seconds left in his first collegiate game. Koivula's shot struck off the post and was sitting in front of net as Bullard was able to deposit the puck into the open net in traffic as the Roos House crowd erupted.
 
Cerasuolo made 16 saves including several key third period saves en route to his first collegiate win, while Weigman turned aside 21 shots for Cortland.
 
"Giving a freshman a start is a bit nerve-racking for the player. He was very calm and collected," Boak said. "He came up with big saves – a big break away save with six minutes left and that gave us momentum and we were able to pot one with eight seconds left."
 
These same two teams will meet on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Roos House.
 
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About SUNY Canton
SUNY Canton is Northern New York's premier college for career-driven bachelor's degrees, associate degrees and certificate programs. The college delivers quality hands-on programs in engineering technology, health, management and public service. Faculty members are noted for their professional real-world experience in addition to outstanding academic credentials. SUNY Canton OnLine offers hundreds of flexible and convenient courses, as well as 10 exclusively online bachelor's degrees. The college's 15 athletic teams compete as members of the NCAA Division III and the USCAA.