Score: Curry College 3, Elmira College 1
Records: Curry (8-5-1), Elmira (5-9-1)
Location: Pine Valley, N.Y. -- Murray Athletic Center Ice Arena
 
PINE VALLEY, N.Y. -- Elmira College men's ice hockey lost a hard-fought contest to Commonwealth Coast Conference foe Curry College, 3-2, on Friday evening at the Murray Athletic Center.
 
The Colonels opened the scoring at the 7:43 mark of the first period with a rebounded shot from Curry forward James Murphy that just beat senior netminder Sal Magliocco '17. Magliocco made a tough save to stop the original shot from Jarret Kup, but was unable to block the follow-up by Murphy.
 
The Soaring Eagles had a few chances to score a goal of their in the opening period but were held scoreless in both of their early power-play chances.
 
Junior forward Tyler Theodoulou '18 knotted the game up at 1-all a little over 10 minutes into the second period with a power-play goal. With the Soaring Eagles on the extra-skater advantage, Connor Powell '20 and Matthew Cuce '20 started to work the puck around the back of the net, when Powell hit Theodoulou with a beautiful pass that he buried past Curry goalie Brett Sinclair.
 
Elmira had its chances to take the lead in the following period, as the Soaring Eagles put 16 shots on goal in the second. Unfortunately for EC, Sinclair was up for the challenge, as he stopped 15-of-16 shots.
 
Sinclair wasn't the only goalie that showed up to play in tonight's game, as Magliocco tied him with 35 stops between the pipes. The 5-foot-10-inch keeper was busy all night, as he had to face double-digit shot attempts in all three periods.
 
Both programs continued to battle, as no goals would be scored for the next 23 minutes. Then at the 7:26 mark of the third period, Mack Heisinger broke the tie with an unassisted goal from right in front of the blue line. Heisinger took advantage of EC's inability to clear the puck, as he stole a pass and rocketed a shot past Magliocco.
 
The Colonels added one more goal about nine minutes later to expand the margin to 3-1, but the game was already out of EC's reach. Despite a late rush, Elmira was unable to pull the deficit any closer.
 
Turning Point
Both programs battled their hearts out in tonight's matchup, as the final score may not illustrate the evenness of the contest. The difference in the game came down the deep third-period goal scored by Heisinger. Up until that point, it was either team's contest. Both keepers played well in net and were prepared for the other team's offensive attack. Unfortunately for Elmira, they struggled to figure out how to get any goals past Sinclair, as they settled for the lone Theodoulou strike. Once Curry expanded the lead to 2-1, the Purple and Gold were unable to pull the game any closer.
 
Inside the Box Score

• Curry finished the game with the slight advantage in shots 38-36.
• Elmira committed five penalties for 21 minutes, while the Colonels were assessed seven infractions for 33 minutes.
• EC finished 1-for-3 on the power play; Curry was 0-for-2.
• Theodoulou scored the lone goal for the Soaring Eagles.
• Powell and Cuce were credited with assists on the Elmira goal.
• Magliocco stopped 35 shots for the Purple and Gold
• The Colonels finished with three different goal scorers on their trio of tallies, Murphy, Heisinger and Sean Nelson.
• Kup finished the night with a game-high two points, both of which were assists.
• Anthony Trujillo was also credited with an assist on the final goal of the night.       
• Sinclair matched Magliocco in net with 35 saves of his own.

 
News and Notes

• Elmira falls to 5-9-1 on the season.
• Tonight's contest was EC's first loss to Curry in the programs' seven meetings.
• The Soaring Eagles still hold a 4-1-2 lead in the all-time series.
• Theodoulou's goal was his tenth point and his fifth goal of the season.   
• Cuce's assist extends his team-leading point total to 17.  
• Cuce now ranks tied for 13th in the nation in freshman scoring with 1.13 points per game.
• When looking at assists, Cuce sits tied for 31st in the country with 0.87 assists per game.
• With his own assist, Powell climbed to second on the team with 15 points on the year.

 
Up Next
The Soaring Eagles return to action tomorrow night with a non-conference bout against Salve Regina University. The matchup at the Murray Athletic Center begins at 7:00 p.m.