SHELTON, Conn. – Junior forward Matteo Peca netted his first goal of the season for Post University Men's Ice Hockey, but the Post offense continued to struggle coming out of the winter break as they fell to Buffalo State on Saturday afternoon on home ice, 4-1, dropping their second consecutive game, after allowing four goals in the third period of the affair. 

THE BASICS

Post University 1, Buffalo State 4

Post University (4-9-0)

Buffalo State (7-5-0)

HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a battle between the pipes for both senior goalie Drew Blodgett and sophomore goalie Marcus Cumberworth through the first two periods of action. Blodgett, who was making his first start since November 23rd, made 37 saves through the first 40 minutes while Cumberworth needed to make just 15 saves up to that point. 

All three of the power plays for the Bengals came in the first two periods in which they rifled off 10 shots but ended the day 0-for-3 on the power play. It was the exact same scenario for the Eagles as well who had three power-play opportunities in the first two periods in which they were unable to convert on while having six shot attempts during their 0-for-3 day. But the scoring dam would break loose in the third period for Buffalo State who rattled off four consecutive goals in the first 7:58 of the frame to take a 4-0 lead and never look back.

Only 26 seconds into the period, sophomore forward Vadim Kiriakov broke the scoreless tie with his score from freshman forward Joonas Linnavouri and then less than a minute later it was freshman forward Don Powell extending the lead with his goal from freshman defenseman Austin Micale and senior forward Joe Glamos. The rest of the scoring would be done by sophomore forward Jason Kwestel at both the 3:37 and 7:58 marks of the period, both against Blodgett, to give the Bengals even more breathing room. 

Between Kwestel's two goals, 40 total penalty minutes would be issued to both teams including two game misconducts and four major penalties as both sides picked up 20 penalty minutes and three penalties each. With things winding down in the third, Peca would find the back of the net for the first time this season with the help of freshman defensemen Eoin Reager and Aidan Canady, breaking the scoreless drought for the Eagles this weekend as Post fell 4-1 to Buffalo State. 

BY THE NUMBERS  

• Narrowly missing his second shutout of the season, Marcus Cumberworth stopped 28 of the 29 shots he faced from Post University in the win for Buffalo State 
• Making his first start since November 23rd, Drew Blodgett made 47 saves on 51 attempts for Post University as he fell to 0-4-0 in net for the Eagles this season 
• Jason Kwestel scored two goals while Joonas Linnavuori had two assists for Buffalo State in the win -- Kwestel scored the third and fourth goals of the game for the Bengals while Linnavouri assisted on the first and third goals 
• Post University falls to 0-2 in the all-time series against Buffalo State having lost on the road in overtime last year in their first-ever matchup 

WHO'S NEXT
Post University finishes what will be a five-game homestand dating back to before the December break on Wednesday afternoon against Western New England University at 1:30 PM. The Eagles are 0-5-0 against the Golden Bears in the all-time series, allowing four-plus goals in every matchup and falling, 6-1, in each of the last two.