Despite the men's ice hockey team's dominant play in the first two and a half periods in Saturday's game against Rochester College, the game was tied at 1-1 late in the third period. It appeared Buffalo's chances at an appearance in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA) national tournament could be in jeopardy.
But Rochester defenseman Sam Berry gave Buffalo a break when he committed a five-minute major penalty for checking from behind.
The Bulls scored two goals during the ensuing five-minute power play, which proved to be enough to earn the victory. The No. 20 Bulls (23-9, 11-2 Northeast Collegiate Hockey League) defeated the Warriors (13-13), 3-2, at the Northtown Center in a Saturday night showdown.
"We were trying to work the puck," said sophomore forward Willie Sanchez, who scored the first goal on the power play. "We were getting chances all game and were just trying to bear down. [Sophomore forward] Scott Sims gave me a nice pass and I was just lucky to get it over [the goalie's] shoulder."
Shortly after Sanchez's goal, junior forward Brenden Robinson scored the eventual game winner with 5:46 left in the game.
The Bulls scored all three of their goals on Saturday night on power plays, the first coming off the stick of senior forward Tim Benner in the first period.
"The [three] power play goals were huge," said head coach Sal Valvo. "Special teams is a big part of this game. Not only did we kill off our penalties all game, but we capitalized three goals on power plays."
The Bulls dominated early, outshooting the Warriors 17-8 in the first, with the puck in Rochester's end for most of the period. The Bulls could not, however, capitalize on their scoring opportunities.
The game continued to play out in the Warriors' end in the second period, but after stretches of play where it looked inevitable that Buffalo would pull away, Rochester scored its first goal of the game with 4:42 left in the period.
"When you dominate a team down low in their zone and don't get the bounces or capitalize on your chances, nine times out of 10 the puck's going to go the other way and they're going to score," Valvo said.
The Bulls' play in the third period proved to be the difference.
After 10 minutes of back and forth, it looked like the game could be heading to overtime. But Berry's penalty gave Buffalo the spark it needed to pull away from Rochester and give the Bulls a 3-1 lead with less than four minutes to play.
Rochester scored a late third period goal with 39.8 seconds left to pull within one, but the Warriors were unable to get any closer due to the stellar play of senior goalie Mike Musialowski and the Bulls' defense that stood in front of him.
"Every game is do or die for us," Sanchez said. "Especially because we're trying to crack that top spot to make nationals."
On Friday night, Buffalo traveled to St. Bonaventure (5-11, 3-7 NECHL), where they defeated the Bonnies, 6-1, with an offensive onslaught.
The Bulls have one game left in NECHL play, but due to a tiebreaker, Syracuse (19-5, 12-2 NECHL) has already clinched first place in the NECHL and the auto bid to the ACHA tournament. This means the Bulls must finish the season ranked in the top 20 to qualify for an at-large ACHA tournament berth.
The Bulls have one more game left in the regular season before they host the NECHL tournament at the Northtown Center starting Feb. 28.
Buffalo will host Ithaca (7-15, 1-11 NECHL) at the Northtown Center Friday in its last regular season game. The puck is set to drop at 7:30 p.m.
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