BUFFALO, N.Y.—Senior assistant captain Dylan Vander Esch (San Jose, Calif./Hartford Wolfpack) scored twice late and added an assist, but the SUNY Potsdam men's hockey team (10-11-5) fell 4-3 at Buffalo State (17-6-3) in the first round of the SUNYAC Playoffs. Senior captain Kyle Thacker (Mississauga, Ontario/North York Rangers) also scored for the Bears and senior goalie Brendan McMenimen (Merrimack, Mass./Islanders Hockey Club) finished with 26 saves.
 
Potsdam was able to create some pressure early in the contest on two power plays, but weren't able to beat Bengals goalie Ian Sylves. Buffalo State earned its first full length power play at 14:45 and grabbed the first lead of the contest. Zach Nieminen fired a shot through a crowd from between the faceoff circles to make it 1-0 at 16:36. McMenimen made 11 saves in the first period and Sylves stopped all 12 shots he faced.
 
The Bengals were sent to the box at 4:56 of the second period and 12 seconds later, the Bears tied the game. After receiving a pass from sophomore forward Tyler Young (Massena, N.Y./Kanata Lasers) at the right point, Thacker ripped a high shot into the top of the net at 5:08. Vander Esch (San Jose, N.Y./Hartford Wolfpack) recorded his 99th career point on the play with the second assist. The tie lasted only 47 seconds as Vadim Vasjonkin put Buffalo State back in front at 5:55. After matching roughing calls resulted in four-on-four hockey, the Bengals struck again. Zach Remers broke in all alone and made it 3-1 at 13:31. Buffalo State took the 3-1 lead into the second intermission.
 
The teams went all out in a wide open third period. Vasjonkin made it a 4-1 Bengals lead at the 8:12 mark and Buffalo State looked like they had just about put the game away. However, Vander Esch made it 4-2 with a power-play goal to reach the 100-point plateau at 9:35. Sophomore defenseman Sean Winikates (Phoenix, Ariz./Philadelphia Jr. Flyers) and senior forward Joey Gilhooly (Brooklyn, N.Y./New York Bobcats) each assisted on the goal. Time continued to tick away, but Potsdam wasn't finished. With 1:50 remaining, Thacker set up Vander Esch's second of the night to get the Bears within one. Potsdam pulled McMenimen 10 seconds later and the Bears hovered around Buffalo State's crease for much of the remainder of the game. Sylves made two huge saves in the final 100 seconds to preserve the win.
 
Sylves' 28 saves earned him the victory. Potsdam was 2-for-5 on the power play and the Bengals went 1-for-4. Buffalo State will now face SUNY Geneseo in the semifinals.
 
Vander Esch completes his impressive career with 101 points. He ranks seventh on the program's goals scored list with 62. Vander Esch consistently scored in bunches for Potsdam, notching six career hat tricks and 27 multipoint games.
 
McMenimen finishes his career with 19 wins to tie him for fourth place on the program's wins list. He is fifth in program history with 1555 saves, second in save percentage at .904 and third in goals-against-average with 3.25.
 
The contest also marks the end of the careers of Thacker, Gilhooly, Jake Martin (Montreal, Quebec/Concordia) and assistant captain Sean Kacerosky (Kendall Park, N.J./New York Bobcats).