The University at Buffalo CHF Club Hockey Team defeated Penn State Behrend 15-5 on Friday, September 30.
Buffalo Hockey came into their home opener Friday night with momentum and confidence. A week earlier, they defeated Buffalo State on the road, and snapped a four-game losing streak against the Bengals. The win allowed UB to avenge their loss to Buffalo State in last year’s UNYCHL playoffs.
“Last week was a great win… Buff State’s a great team… we kind of have a vibe in the locker room that this is a year we’re going to compete for nationals,” said Ryan O’Donnell, UB’s starting goaltender and assistant captain.
Riding a 1-0 start, the Bulls took the ice against Penn State Behind for their first home game. After falling behind early, the UB offense caught fire. They finished the first period leading 6-1, and outshot Behrend 30-2.
Six different Bulls scored in the first period. Captain Matt Tullo continued his impressive UB career with his second goal of the season. The Bulls’s top forward scored 41 points in 22 games last season.
Forwards Cam Bass, Tommy Mccarren, Tucker Velepec, Matthew Mcculloch, and defenseman Bryan Hummel each scored in the first.
In the second period, Behrend replaced starting goaltender Colin Bistarkey with Zane Ryan Lewis. This did little to stop the UB attack, as they piled on five more goals, and ballooned their shot advantage to 53-15.
Dylan Foresta scored his second of the campaign. Jack Evert, Matt Cohen, Tyler Vanputte, and Hector Vargas all picked up their first goals of the season. The officials gave out so many “first goal” pucks that they had to resupply during intermission.
Forward Matthew Mcculloch also scored in the second period, his second goal of the game.
“Pucks on net and rebounds all game is really what it was,” said Mcculloch. “Good teamwork all the way around… we had four game pucks given out for first goals… so we got better from last year and we’re going to be a force to reckon with.
In the third period, Behrend made another change in net. Daniel Kowatch stepped in to try to stop the bleeding. Two minutes into the period, however, Tommy Mccarren picked up his second of the game.
Cohen and Hummel scored again, and Andrew Daddario picked up his first goal of the season.
Despite the one-sided score, excitement still carried late into the third period. UB’s Dylan Foresta tangled up with Behrend’s Nikolai Osborne. After Foresta slammed him to the ground, Osborne swung his stick back into Foresta’s helmet and drew a slashing penalty. The officials sent both players to the box for the remaining few minutes of play.
At the final buzzer, UB walked away with their second win of the season, 15-5. They outshot Penn State Behrend 68-22 in a commanding home victory. 12 different Bulls scored a goal.
Bulls’ Head Coach, Cody Felser, picked up the first home win of his career. Felser played for UB last year, and moved behind the bench for this season.
Felser spoke about his transition, “the biggest thing is getting that separation between the friend that I once was on the team, to more of that authority figure… we started implementing some new systems this year and it seemed to pay off.”
Felser also praised the depth of his team, “we’re a lot deeper than we were last year…where we relied heavily on that first line.”
The Bulls now sit at 2-0 in league play, and continue to chase their goal of playing for a CHF national championship.
“Our guys came ready to work,” said Felser.
Tantalo Takes 