SUNY Potsdam Athletics

David Dragone only played two seasons with the SUNY Potsdam men's hockey team, but he left a permanent mark on the program. During the 1995-96 campaign, the goaltender backstopped the Bears to their lone SUNYAC Championship. It was a long, winding road to get the Bronx native to Maxcy Ice Arena, but it was key moment in Potsdam hockey history.
 
Dragone's father told him to pick one sport to focus on growing up and he decided to go with hockey. After some trial and error, he found his way between the pipes.
 
"At that point I knew I was pretty bad as a forward or a defenseman," said Dragone. "I was awful so my father said one more position left for you to try. If not, you're going to try another sport. That was it."
 
Growing up Dragone played for travel teams on Long Island. He practiced three or four times during the week and played games during the weekend. He quickly showed his skill in goal and ended up playing for the Wisconsin Capitols of the United States Hockey League.
 
"The USHL is huge now, but back then it was still very big with college coaches," Dragone said. "One of my travel coaches was friends with the head coach at North Country, Tim Gerrish. He hooked me up with him and that's how I went to North Country."
 
Despite being from one of the largest metropolises, there was no culture shock for Dragone when he decided to play for North Country Community College for the 1993-94 season.
 
"Before I went to North Country I probably was in Lake Placid about 30 times," said Dragone. "I went to CanAm camps in Lake Placid. My parents and I were very familiar with the area so there was no adjustment for me there at all. I love it up there. I was just telling my wife, if I could move to Lake Placid tomorrow, I would."
 
There was, however, something new and unusual that Dragone experienced early in his career with the Saints.
 
"In the beginning there was an adjustment (to college hockey)," Dragone said. "When I got there I wasn't the starter. The first couple of games I wasn't even dressing. I was sitting in the stands. That was a huge shock to me. That had never happened to me before. But as the season went along, the practices, this and that, I started playing more and by the end of the season I was the No. 1 going into my second year."
 
NCCC was talented when he got there, but they were loaded for his sophomore season. The Saints were ranked No. 1 in the nation for the last half of the year. In the National Tournament NCCC swept SUNY Canton, North Dakota State at Botineau and Community College of Rhode Island to win the National Championship. Dragone was in goal for the victories over Canton and NDSB. When the dust settled, he was the nation's leader in goals-against-average and save percentage and a first team National Junior College Athletic Association All-American.
 
As his tremendous sophomore season wound down, Dragone was looking toward the next step in his collegiate career. He was seriously considered by Division I schools Dartmouth, Army, Michigan and especially Wisconsin.
 
"I'll always remember Jeff Sauer from the University of Wisconsin came to see me," said Dragone. "That was a dream come true because I lived in Wisconsin and I loved it. But there were two things. One, he wanted me to redshirt when I transferred. I didn't want to do that. And two, I wasn't promised I'd be a starter after that."
 
Dragone had already met Potsdam Hall of Fame Coach Ed Seney and his then assistant Keith Clark and they made a good impression on him.
 
"I had all these schools looking at me," Dragone said. "When it came down to it, I really, really enjoyed Ed Seney. I could tell right off the bat that he cared about the person. He didn't just care about the player. He's what really made me fall in love with Potsdam. I also looked at who was coming back for the next season (95-96) and the direction they were headed in. I also knew (Bears Hall of Famer) Steve Naughton because we're kind of from the same area. He's from Queens. We grew up playing hockey against each other. It was little things like that, that just pieced it together."
 
Dragone says it wasn't just the talent that made the 1995-96 Potsdam hockey team, which earned its own spot in the Bears Hall of Fame in 2013, it was the character and culture.
 
"Everybody on that team was great," said Dragone. "I had met them on two recruiting trips the year before. They were just really nice guys. All the guys were there with open arms. They accepted all the new recruits and freshman, no matter whether they were going to play or sit. All the veteran players on that team made it easy for us to adapt. Daryn McLean especially. That was one of the reasons why he was a team captain. He talked to you whether or not he knew you were going to be a starter or the 20th guy on the team. He was really open."
 
Dragone didn't watch any games in Maxcy from the stands. He was the Bears' starter from the season's first drop of the puck. The team got off to a torrid 7-0 start to set the school record. Potsdam had its momentum briefly and thoroughly stopped with a 9-1 loss to defending National Champion Middlebury on Nov. 28. However, Dragone and company used the defeat for motivation and bounced back and swept Geneseo and Brockport the next weekend for a 9-1 start to the year.
 
On Dec. 8., the Bears, who were ranked No. 2 in the East Region at the time, entered Stafford Ice Arena for Dragone's first of many memorable showdowns with the Plattsburgh Cardinals. Despite two goals from Naughton, another from McLean and 41 saves from the goaltender, Plattsburgh came away with a 6-3 win. The following evening, Norwich edged the Bears 5-4 and Potsdam headed into winter break at 9-3.
 
The Bears opened 1996 at Middlebury's Holiday Classic on Jan. 6, by dispatching Amherst 5-1. The victory earned them another crack at the champs on their home ice. The Panthers edged the Bears 1-0 in a tightly contested rematch. Dragone made 43 saves to earn the tournament's most valuable player award.
 
With consistent play between the pipes, Potsdam won seven of its final 10 regular season games and headed into the SUNYAC Playoffs as the No. 2 seed with an 11-3 conference mark. The Bears hosted Oswego State in the quarterfinals on Feb. 23-24. In game one, Potsdam dominated for about 45 minutes and led 3-2 after the first period. However, the Lakers took advantage of a Bears lapse to capture a 7-4 win. Bolstered by a strong Dragone performance the next night, Potsdam evened the series with a 5-4 victory. Oswego only needed a tie to capture the series and they drew even with the Bears with under two minutes remaining.
 
"Coach called a timeout and set up a play," Dragone said. "He told me to look for him to call me over. It was about a minute and change left and I started going to the bench. We scored before I even got there. I didn't even see the goal. I remember looking at everybody on the bench and they raised their hands and started going crazy. Then I turned and saw everybody jumping on Pete Chandler who scored that goal for the 5-4 win. I remember being so happy that I jumped up in the air going back to the net and I fell on my butt."
 
Chandler scored the game-winner with 55 seconds left in game two.
 
"When we got back into the locker room, it was almost like we won the game and the series," said Dragone. "Everybody was going nuts. And of course, him being the captain he is, Daryn McLean calmed us all down and said 'Hey, we haven't won a thing yet.' We refocused and we played that mini-game."
 
The 15-minute mini-game was scoreless, thanks in part to nine more saves from Dragone. That forced a 10-minute sudden death overtime period. With 6:40 left, Tony Matczynski finally put away the Lakers to give the Bears a berth in the finals.
 
In the SUNYAC Championship, Potsdam headed back to Plattsburgh. The Cardinals had swept the season series and hadn't lost to the Bears in just over 10 years. None of the history fazed Dragone.
 
"We kept hearing all year that Potsdam had some ridiculous losing streak to Plattsburgh," Dragone said. "I remember I told one of their reporters, I don't care what the streak is, I've only lost to them twice. And neither did anybody else. I remember saying in the locker room before the game the streak only means they're due to lose to us."
 
On the bus ride to Stafford, Seney sent his players a subtle message.
 
"Coach put on the movie Hoosiers, which now happens to be one of my favorite movies because of this," said Dragone. "You could hear a pin drop on the bus because everybody was watching the movie and everybody was so intense. Everybody knew what was at stake. We went into that weekend, I don't know maybe because of the Oswego series, very, very confident, knowing, not thinking, that we could beat them."
 
The Bears didn't beat the Cardinals in game one, but they scored two goals in the final 15 minutes to earn a 4-4 tie and snap a 25-game losing streak to Plattsburgh. Dragone and his teammates were intensely focused heading into game two.
 
"We all knew what we had to do," Dragone said. "We all knew we could win the series. In the locker room before the game if anybody said two words, that was a lot. Everybody was loose, but everybody was focused beyond belief. I had never been in a locker room like that my entire career before that game. Everybody knew what was going to happen. Everybody knew what their job was. Nothing had to be said. Nothing."
 
Potsdam led early, but Plattsburgh rallied for a 3-3 tie at the end of regulation. That set up another non-sudden death mini-game.
 
"It was probably the most entertaining game that I've ever played in," Dragone said. "It was back and forth. I remember going to the bench during a timeout and the guys had their heads down, just taking as much water as they could. Everybody was tired, but nobody was giving up."
 
The Cardinals outshot the Bears 13-7 in the extended contest.
 
"It was to the point where I was looking at Mike Peters with maybe six minutes left and saying I don't know if we can hold them off this long," said Dragone. "It's a long time. Then I remember
Andrew Schofield coming down my right side. He took a snap shot above the circle and the puck going between (Cardinal goalie) Pat O'Neil's chest and blocker. I remember thinking that the puck was sneaking through and sure enough it went in. Our fans erupted. It was crazy. I think from the time he scored that goal until the buzzer sounded, the puck didn't leave our zone. It was mayhem."
 
Andrew Schofield scored with 5:33 left in the mini-game and Dragone slammed the door.
 
"Finally, that buzzer sounded and all six of us that were on the ice for that final faceoff just dropped to our knees," Dragone said. "We didn't really jump around because we were so beat. It was awesome. It's something that I think about every day."
 
The Bears' first SUNYAC Championship gave them their first NCAA Tournament berth against RIT the next weekend. Nerves and some fatigue cost Potsdam in a 6-3 loss in game one. A bad bounce in game two turned the tide in the Tigers' favor and they closed out the series 5-3.
 
"I think we were tired because the two weeks before we played a lot of hockey between mini-games and overtimes," Dragone said. "I think we were all maybe a little mentally shot, but at the same time that's no excuse. It was a good experience."
 
The Bears ended the season with an 18-10-2 record. Dragone went 15-9-2 with a .895 save percentage and a 3.41 goals-against-average. He was rewarded for his efforts with a selection to the All-SUNYAC first team.
 
"He carried us and made big saves when we needed them," said Seney. "He was very competitive. We knew we could win with him. He made huge saves in the mini-game against Plattsburgh. I've been coaching for 36 years and he's one of the best I've had."
 
Entering the 1996-97 season, the Bears had a strong returning core, including their starting goaltender, but there were also some big holes after graduation.
 
"We lost Daryn McLean, Tony Matczynski, Jeff Johnson, Colby Van Tassel, Jay Parris," said Dragone. "We lost a bunch of key guys. Forget about what they could do on the ice. Guys that were just leaders on and off the ice."
 
Potsdam battled its way through the year. The Bears finally routed Plattsburgh 8-3 in Maxcy on Dec. 11, largely due to Steve Naughton's record six goals. Still after a 2-2 draw at Brockport on Jan. 31, they found themselves 8-9-2. The next night Potsdam doubled up Geneseo 4-2 to begin a five-game-winning streak. The run ended with a 4-1 loss at Plattsburgh on Feb. 22, but a 9-3-2 conference record earned them the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament and another trip to Plattsburgh for the playoffs. The Cardinals made sure there was no repeat of the 1996 magic and swept the series by 6-2 and 7-4 scores.
 
That season, Dragone was 12-11-2 with a 3.81 goals-against-average and a .886 save percentage, good enough for a spot on the All-SUNYAC second team. In 54 career games with the Bears, he posted a 29-20-4 record with a 3.38 goals-against-average and a .891 save percentage. His play earned him a spot in the ECAC All-Star Game at the University of Vermont along with multiple Division I players, including future NHL stars Tim Thomas and Martin St. Louis.
 
"Every time I see Martin St. Louis play, I understand why he is where he is," Dragone said. "We had to practice that Saturday. It was about a 45-minute skate. He came up to me and said would you mind staying on the ice to help me work on some things. I said absolutely, whatever you need. We were on the ice, just me and him, for about another hour and 45 minutes. That was a great experience."
 
Dragone played a strong second period in the all-star game and signed with an agent soon after. He played with the Wheeling Nailers of East Coast Hockey League the following season. His first coach in pro hockey was Peter Laviolette, who won a Stanley Cup at the helm of 2006 Carolina Hurricanes and currently coaches the Nashville Predators. He spent two years with the Nailers before moving to play in the West Coast Hockey League for another two and a half seasons.
 
After he retired from professional hockey, he returned home to begin a career as an iron worker.
 
"I've been doing that ever since, almost 20 years now," said Dragone. "We're working on a complex now where we're doing four buildings. We just finished one that is 65 stories. Now we're starting one that's going up 82 stories."
 
Like slap shots, heights don't bother the former Bear, though the weather occasionally gets to him.
 
"There's so much safety involved now that you'll only get hurt if you don't follow the rules," Dragone said. "I've got to tell you, maybe it's because I loved being up North so much, cold weather I don't mind. Working in the heat, I can't stand it. It's been disgustingly hot this summer."
 
On Sept. 2, Dragone and his wife Jennifer celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary in Rhode Island.
 
His work schedule prevents him from playing in adult hockey leagues, but he stays in the game through coaching. Dragone coaches his Bantam level Westchester Vipers of the Hudson Valley Hockey League.
 
He will be inducted into the Bears Hall of Fame this Saturday night.
 

David Dragone (center) receives his Hall of Fame Plaque with AD Jim Zalacca and Hall of Fame Coach Ed Seney (left).