ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- The Elmira College men's ice hockey team earned an all-important early-season United Collegiate Hockey Conference (UCHC) victory on Friday night with a 5-2 triumph over Nazareth College. With the win, the Soaring Eagles even their record on the year at 3-3-1 (3-2-0 UCHC), while the Golden Flyers drop to 2-3-1 (2-2-0 UCHC).
 
A quick look at the box score will show a tightly contested game, as Elmira held a slim, 32-31, lead in shots on goal. Nazareth was 2-for-5 on the power play, while the Purple and Gold were 1-for-4.
 
The Golden Flyers jumped out to a one-goal lead at 6:01 in the first period on a power-play goal by Zander Pryor. Nazareth clung to its 1-0 advantage for the remainder of the first period, but the second stanza proved to be a different story.
 
Special-teams play produced Elmira's first goal of the night, as Connor Powell '20 netted a power-play goal at 7:52. Spencer MacLean '21 began the scoring play by winning a puck battle behind the cage and passing it out to the blue line to Harry Kramer '20. From there, Kramer carried the puck to the point before sliding it over to Powell, who was set up just atop the right faceoff circle. Powell took the puck and wrapped a wrist shot that whizzed just under the armpit of Nazareth's starting netminder, Sean Kuhn, for the goal.
 
From there, Nazareth went on the power play twice, which included a 5-on-3 opportunity, but the Elmira penalty-kill unit denied the Golden Flyers to keep the game knotted at 1-1.
 
Elmira's aggressiveness on the forecheck produced its second goal of the night. Following a turnover in the Nazareth defensive zone, Christian Lloyd '20 collected the puck and fired a shot towards the cage. Lloyd's attempt was re-directed by MacLean in the slot and into the net for the go-ahead goal at 15:16.
 
The Soaring Eagles carried their lead into the final intermission and eventually added to it at the 9:19 mark of the third period. A solid defensive effort once again setup the scoring play, as a poke-check from Powell in EC's defensive zone created a 1-on-1 rush for Nick Ford '20. Ford went coast-to-coast, beating one Nazareth defender, before finding the top shelf for the eventual game-winning goal.
 
EC seemed to be on cruise control from there on out, but an interference penalty on Powell at 18:01 set up a power-play chance for the Golden Flyers, one that they connected on. Nazareth pulled its goalie at the start of the power play and the 6-on-4 advantage proved to be too much, as James McDonald tallied the extra-skater goal at 18:11.
 
Nazareth looked to even tonight's contest late in the game and pulled its goalie for nearly the remainder of the contest. That move produced goals, however, they were in favor of the Elmira men. Matthew Cuce '20 scored on the empty net at 19:44 on an assist from Alex Gagnon '23, while Patrick Schmelzinger '20 put the final nail in the coffin with an empty-netter at 19:56. Blueliners Adam Eby '21 Spencer Carter '20 were credited with assists on the Schmelzinger tally, which all but sealed a 5-3 win for the Soaring Eagles.
 
News and Notes

• Elmira has defeated Nazareth four consecutive times.
• Elmira owns a 13-5-1 all-time record against the Golden Flyers.
• Elmira has produced a power-play goal in six straight games.
• The five goals scored by Elmira is its second-highest output of the season.
• EC's starting goaltender, Chris Janzen '21, made 29 saves.
• Janzen improved to 3-1-0 on the year.
• Schmelzinger scored his second goal of the season and the fifth of his career.
• Powell logged his second multi-point performance of the season.
• MacLean produced his second multi-point game of the season.
• Ford registered his first game-winning goal of the 2019-20 campaign.
• Carter logged his first assist of the season.

Up Next
The Elmira men return to action on Saturday, November 23, when they travel to take on No. 10 nationally-ranked Utica College. The puck is set to drop at 7:00 p.m. in Utica, New York.