Pine Valley, NY – The Elmira College Men's Ice Hockey team led early, but was unable to overcome three goals from the Knights in the second period as it fell 4-2 to visiting Geneseo Saturday evening at the Murray Athletics Center. The win improves the Knights to 6-6-0 overall, while the loss drops the Soaring Eagles to 7-5-0 overall.

EC struck quickly off the opening faceoff as Kevin Willer '12 (Toronto, ONT -- North York Rangers) gained control feeding the puck up to Darcy Vaillancourt '12 (Bonfield, ONT -- Innisfil Lakers). Knight goaltender Adrian Rubeniuk seemed to expect a snipe from Vaillancourt, who instead fed a cutting Josh Burnell '15 (Mississauga, ONT -- Georgetown Raiders), who one-timed it home, top shelf past Rubeniuk. The Purple and Gold had another golden opportunity a minute later when Brock Sawyer '12 (Toronto, ONT -- Powell River Kings) saw half the net open but fired just wide. The Knights responded at the 4:54 mark of the first period when Rich Manley converted a rebound goal as Zachary Vit and Corbin Rosmarin tallied helpers on the play. Both teams had multiple chances the remainder of the period, but solid goaltender play led to a 1-1 tie after the first.

Geneseo drew first blood in the second frame when Manley gathered a loose puck at the blue line and carried it 2-on-1 into the zone with Rosmarin. Manley fed it to Rosmarin who evaded an EC defender at the right faceoff circle and fed a cross in front where Manley one-timed it home past Elmira goaltender Ryan deMelo '15 (Brampton, ONT – North York Rangers), giving the Knights a 2-1 lead just under halfway through the period. The Knights then capitalized two minutes later after a pair of Soaring Eagle penalties, as they converted a 5-on-3 score. Vit tallied his second point of the game, this time on the scoring end, while Rosmarin and Colin de Jersey recorded assists on the marker. The Purple and Gold did well to kill off the second penalty, keeping the deficit at two, 3-1, in favor of Geneseo. However, the Knights converted a demoralizing fourth goal with just over one minute remaining in the third period when Clint Olson tallied his first score of the game. Jimmy Powers and Jake Yard notched assists on the Olson score.

Elmira came out of the second intermission with intensity they didn't have in the second. Burnell tallied his second score of the night at the 1:05 mark of the third frame. Eric David '15 (Dorval, QUE -- Pembroke Lumber Kings) fed Willer at the point, who fired a slap shot, which was then redirected into the back of the net off the stick of Burnell. The Soaring Eagles had a great opportunity to bring the deficit within one a minute later when Wes Consorti '12 (Brantford, ONT -- Niagara University) got a shot on net in front of the goal, but Rubeniuk thwarted the scoring attempt. EC continued to search for a third score that would put the pressure on the Knights but was unable to connect on a third score.

The power play played a significant role as Geneseo recorded half of its scores on the man advantage and went 2-for-4 overall. Elmira scored one of its two goals on the power play, as it converted one of four opportunities. Despite outshooting Geneseo 35-24 EC was unable outdue Geneseo in the scoring column. deMelo finished with 20 stops between the pipes for the Purple and Gold, while Rubeniuk made 33 saves for the Knights.

The Soaring Eagles don't play again until January 6th when they play Fitchburg State. EC has a three game road trip before it returns home January 13th for a 7:00 p.m. tilt with SUNY Morrisville at the Murray Athletics Center.