The Buffalo State men’s hockey team stayed hot and extended their win streak to four games with a pair of wins this past weekend against Geneseo and Brockport.

The Bengals began the weekend with a trip to Geneseo on Friday night looking to keep their winning streak going and they did so in a big way with a 7-4 win on the back of a four-point night from captain Brett Hope.

Buffalo State jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and never looked back. They got their power play going with a goal from forward Nick Berst to open the game.

“That was one of our issues a few weeks ago where we weren’t scoring goals, and now we’re scoring them,” head coach Steve Murphy said. “I can’t argue with 28 goals in the past four games. You’re going to win a lot of hockey games putting up that many.”

Goaltender Mike DeLaVergne recorded 31 saves to earn his third win of the season.

On Saturday, the Bengals faced off against Brockport in a back-and-forth contest. The Eagles got things started off with a goal just five minutes into the game, but Buffalo State answered right back with a goal of their own from forward Anthony Beaumont, his first of two.

Brockport gained the lead back on a shot from the point that squeaked by DeLaVergne for a power-play goal to make the score 2-1 with 1:07 to play in the first period. Buffalo State answered back again with five seconds to play with a shot from the point from defenseman Sean Hrivnak that tipped off an Eagle stick and into the back of the net.

“We’re staying positive; we know we can score. We had a slow start but the goals are going in so we’re feeling confident right now,” forward Taylor Pryce said. Following his nine-point showing last weekend, the junior scored the first of three Bengal goals in the first five minutes of the second period.

With that furious start, the game started to get chippy with pushing and shoving after almost every whistle, slowing the tempo of the game down and allowing Brockport to gain the momentum back.

The Eagles scored the next two goals to cut the score to 5-4 with three minutes to play in the second period.

Forward Mac Wood eased the tension for Buffalo State with a goal 21 seconds into the third period to put the game out of reach.

On that sealing goal, Wood was assisted by Hrivnak and forward Jason Zaleski who had a two-point night.

“All the boys were buzzing; we were moving our feet and had good chemistry tonight,” Zaleski said.

Murphy was happy about his team’s production from the offensive end, but had some trepidation after allowing four goals in both games.

“The thing we want to correct is now we’re giving up four goals a game,” Murphy said. “We focused so hard on defense early on in the season and we did a great job through the first four games, so I guess it’s kind of a tale of two stories here. We were playing great defense and weren’t scoring and now that has flip-flopped.”

The Bengals now have a 4-2-2 record and will set their sights next on nationally ranked St. Nobert for a pair of games this weekend at the Buffalo State Ice Arena.

Still undefeated in SUNYAC play, the Bengals have been climbing up the standings in this still-early season.

“These wins definitely give us some momentum, and it’s kind of wide open,” Pryce said. “It’s not always Plattsburgh and Oswego winning every game, different teams are coming up and I think we’re on the rise, so we’re confident.”

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