BUFFALO, N.Y. – The SUNY Potsdam men's hockey team (6-15-1, 5-8-1 SUNYAC) escaped the brisk North Country weather Friday night as they hit the road for the opening game of their weekend road trip. The Bears took on Buffalo State (10-8-2, 6-4-1 SUNYAC), defeating the Bengals by a final score of 2-1 in overtime.
 
Despite outshooting the Bengals in the first period, the Bears were unable to find the net and found themselves entering the first intermission trailing 1-0. The Buffalo State goal came just past the halfway mark of the period on the powerplay. Jon Colley fed the puck through the slot to Nikita Kozyrev for a back door one-timer from the faceoff dot. The shot beat Bears sophomore goalie Michael Paglucca (North Reading, Mass./New Hampshire Avalanche) to put the Bengals on the board. Zach Remers recorded the second assist on the play. The teams would head to the locker rooms with the score unchanged.
 
In the second period, the Bears would take advantage of a power play opportunity of their own to even the score. Just over seven minutes into the period, the Bengals were whistled for holding. On the ensuing powerplay, sophomore forward Tom Terranova (Middletown, N.J./Syracuse Stars) took a shot from the left side of the zone that Bengal goalie Trevor Micucci handled, however, senior forward Bryce Ferrell (Buffalo, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres) was parked in front of the net and buried the rebound on his second jam attempt. Senior forward Tyler Young (Massena, N.Y./Kanata Lasers) also assisted on the powerplay goal. The score would remain tied at one headed into the third period.
 
With both teams looking to collect key SUNYAC points, neither team wanted to concede the go-ahead goal in the final twenty minutes of play. Back-and-forth action and one powerplay for each team yielded no goals in the final period.
 
As the game headed to overtime, both teams ramped up the pressure in an attempt to score the winning goal. It would be the Bears who would find the net in extra time with just 21 seconds remaining, as Ferrell netted his second of the game, once again burying a rebound off of a Terranova shot. Senior forward Joey Sollazzo (Ottawa, Ontario Navan Grads) also assisted on the game winning goal.
 
Paglucca finished with 17 saves on the night, while Micucci finished with 36. The Bears outshot the Bengals in all three periods. The Bears were 1-4 on the powerplay, the Bengals went 1-2.
 
The Bears travel south to Fredonia tomorrow for a 7pm matchup with the Blue Devils.