Men's Varsity Kicks off Season with Tournament Win at Bengal Classic

The Men's NCAA team kicked off their 2019-20 campaign on the road at the Buffalo State College Bengal Classic in Buffalo, New York this past weekend.

The Bulldogs opened their season against Nichols College on Friday afternoon in the first game of the tournament. Freshman Alessio Luciani would score the first Bulldog goal of the season at the 2:49 mark of the first period. Sophomore Matt Eller and senior Niko Coffman would assist. Fellow freshman Sam Ruffin would add his first goal as a Bulldog seven minutes later on the powerplay with assists from Luciani and sophomore Rex Moe. Sophomore transfer Andrew Bellant would add a shorthanded goal before the period's end with 26 seconds remaining to put the Bulldogs up 3-0.

Moe would add his first of the season on the powerplay at the 19:34 mark of the second for the only goal of the period for either team. Sophomore Austin Bottrell and Bellant would assist.

Nichols would get on the board at the 8:54 mark of the third, but senior Joey Colatarci would send home a powerplay goal two minutes later for the final goal of the game. Colatarci's tally would be assisted by freshman Zachary Heintz and senior Dino Balsamo.

Final score Friday afternoon in Buffalo would be 5-1 in favor of your Bulldogs and junior transfer Cameron Gray would pick up his first win between the pipes.

The Bulldogs would face off against the Manhattanville Valiants in the tournament championship on Saturday night.

The two teams would play twenty scoreless minutes to start the contest before a flurry of second period goals. Sam Ruffin would get the Bulldogs on the board first at the 3:06 mark of the period off of a shorthanded goal. Ruffin's goal would be assisted by Matt McNair and Matt Eller. The Valiants would answer back with a powerplay goal less than a minute later to tie things up at 1 a piece. Joey Colatarci's second of the weekend would give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead with 13:37 gone in the second period. Colatarci's goal would be assisted by Ruffin and Vinny Post. Dino Balsamo would add his first of the season at the 18:06 mark of the second period to send the two teams into the final frame with a 3-1 Bulldog lead.

The Valiants would tally a pair of goals in the final Frame to end the game in a 3-3 deadlock. After two scoreless overtime periods, the game went into a shootout to determine the winner of the tournament. The Bulldogs would win in the shootout to win the tournament, but the game will count as a tie for the team's record.

The Bulldogs travel to Marian University next weekend to take on the Sabres in an NCHA match-up. The Bulldogs open their season at home on November 15th at 7:05 pm against the Finlandia University Lions.