Jan. 4, 2008

Stats

ADRIAN, Mich. - The Adrian College men's varsity hockey team blew open a close game in the second period to take their 10th victory of the season with a 7-4 win over SUNY-Geneseo on Friday night.

The Blue Knights grabbed the early lead, scoring 5:25 into the game on an even-strength goal. The visitors' lead was quickly wiped away as Eric Miller scored his 13th goal of the season less than a minute and a half later to knot the score at 1-1. In the back-and-forth first period, the Geneseo squad took what proved to be their last lead of the game midway through the frame to hold the 2-1 advantage.

In the second period, the Bulldogs showed the Blue Knights why they are among the nation's highest-scoring teams as they opened up the flood gates for four unanswered goals in the second 20 minutes of the game. Mike Fiorillo got things started for the Bulldogs, scoring his second goal of the season less than five minutes into the period. Shawn Skelly netted his first goal of the game on a power play to give the home team the 3-2 lead at 8:42 in the period. Eric Bailen scored his first of two goals in the game just over two minutes after Skelly to push the Bulldog lead to 4-2. Skelly wrapped up the second period scoring at 14:40 to widen the lead to three goals on an even-strength effort.

In the third period, Adrian gained their biggest lead on Eric Bailen's second goal of the game and fifth goal of the season just 2:01 in to make the game 6-2 in favor of the Bulldogs. The Blue Knights would not bow out quietly, however, as they mounted a bit of a comeback on back-to-back power play goals at 5:40 and 8:52 in the third to cut the Bulldogs' lead to two goals. Despite pulling their goalie and adding an extra attacker, the Blue Knights would not get any closer to the Bulldogs. Shawn Skelly put the game out of reach decisively, completing the hat trick on an empty net goal after battling to gain control of the puck deep in the Geneseo zone.

Brad Fogal picked up his ninth win on the season by making 14 saves on 16 shots on goal through the first two periods of the game. Bryan Scott added 11 more saves for the Bulldogs in the third period.

The Bulldogs, now 10-3 on the year, will take to the road next weekend for Friday and Saturday games against conference opponent Concordia University (Wisconsin) with the puck dropping at 7:00 p.m. CT on Friday night.