Bears, Zurfluh blank Bengals, 5-0
POTSDAM, N.Y.-The SUNY Potsdam women's hockey team (5-11-1, 3-7-1 NEWHL) never trailed as it defeated Buffalo State (1-14-1, 0-9-0) 5-0 on Friday night. Senior forward Stephanie Dunlap (Bath, Mich./ Meijer U19 AAA) opened the scoring for the Bears as five different goal scorers gave the Bears the win over the Bengals. Sophomore goalie Ellie Zurfluh (Aravada, Colo./Team Colorado) made 19 saves for her fourth career victory and first shutout.
Dunlap scored first with assists from Sara Barrett (Tonawanda, N.Y./Niagara Jr. Purple Eagles) and Taylor Swamp (Akwesasne, N.Y. / St. Lawrence Steel) at 15:53 of the first period. Buffalo junior goalie Jessica Auge stopped all 13 of the other shots that came her way in the period to keep her team in the contest. Zurfluh stopped eight shots during the period.
Potsdam continued to pepper shots Auge throughout the second period. At 4:06, graduate student captain Alexis Clark (Niagara Falls, N.Y./ Buffalo Bisons) scored with assists from senior Makenzie Martin (Potsdam, N.Y. / Potsdam High School) and junior defenseman Alex Quinn (Potsdam, N.Y./St. Lawrence Steel). Quinn scored her own unassisted goal only two minutes later to increase the Bears' lead to 3-0. In the final minutes of the second period junior forward Emily DelleNeve (Buffalo, N.Y./Buffalo Bisons) fed junior Kaylee Merrill (Wasilla, Alaska/Anchorage North Stars) who set up senior assistant captain Ellie Cleary's (Buffalo, N.Y./Buffalo Bisons) goal to make it 4-0 at the end of the second period. Zurfluh was only forced to make five stops as the Bears kept the Bengals offense at bay.
The Bears continued to create offensive opportunities into the third period, outshooting the Bengals 21-7. At 6:03 in the third period Barrett closed the scoring assisted by DelleNeve and Cleary. Zurfluh stopped six more shots in the period to complete the season's first shutout.
Buffalo State's Auge finished with 41 saves. The Bears were 0-for-2 on the powerplay.
Potsdam is back in action on Saturday when the Bears finish the season series with the Bengals at 3 p.m.