Lost Weekend
Xpress Fall In Overtime To Cap Winless Three Days
After playing well for long stretches in losses to Metro and Toledo on Friday and Saturday, Southern Tier was hoping to salvage a two-point weekend with a win over Roc City on Sunday afternoon at Northwest Arena.
The Royals’ Brandon Corey and Nicholas Sesock had other ideas.
Corey, the NA3HL’s eighth-leading scorer, had two goals and two assists while Sesock, a 17-year-old netminder from Goodrich, Michigan, made 46 saves as Roc City scored with 1:08 remaining in overtime to hand the Xpress a 4-3 loss.
“Brandon’s an unbelievable kid and unbelievable player. … He carries the load,” Roc City coach Brad Wheeler said. “He’s smart. … He wants that puck when the game’s on the line.”
Southern Tier (12-16-3) trailed for much of the afternoon, but was able to tie the game with a pair of late third-period goals. Late in the 3-on-3 extra session, Corey put the game away.
Although he stands just 5-foot-6 and weighs 148 pounds, the Rochester native’s relentless forecheck created an overtime turnover deep in Xpress territory. Corey then skated the puck behind the net before finding Peter Izzo open to the left of Southern Tier goaltender Ryan Pascarella. Izzo converted the chance with a laser over Pascarella’s glove hand for his 21st goal of the season, giving Corey his 29th assist.
“I was trying to match speed against (Corey) and they were throwing him out every other shift,” Southern Tier coach Brian Ramm said. “We had a breakdown in the corner, rather than staying with him we released on him, and then he was able to set up behind the net and find a guy.”
The Royals (13-18-2) likely would’ve never been in that position if not for the stellar play of Sesock, who made 13 saves in the first period and 13 more in the second before turning aside 20 of 22 Xpress shots in the third.
“He wanted this game and we gave it to him,” Wheeler said. “He came out and did a great job.”
It was the third game of the weekend for Sesock, who traveled with the Batavia-Notre Dame high school team to northern New York for games Friday and Saturday night before returning to the Rochester area and catching the Royals’ bus Sunday morning.
Southern Tier looked to be out of the game, trailing 3-1 midway through the third period, but defenseman Jacob Zwieg took matters into his own hands. The 18-year-old Jamestown native dropped the gloves with Roc City’s Brian Nowicki at the 7:34 mark bringing both benches and the crowd to life.
“We’re the away team,” Wheeler said, “they do well in the fight, it’s going to turn the momentum a little bit.”
The Xpress responded almost immediately as Matthew Crosby received a pass from Cameron Pries in the high slot and feathered a shot through traffic that eluded a screened Sesock less than a minute after the fight.
“There’s nothing wrong with a good fight. I think there’s a time and place for it. We were down by a couple of goals and it was a good time and place,” Ramm said. “It got the guys moving and got them charged up. … When you are able to do something like that to give your team a boost, it serves a purpose.”
Southern Tier kept up the pressure and tied the game five minutes later. Joshua Malin found Luke Grossman alone, again high in the Roc City zone, and the Xpress captain fired a low shot toward Sesock that he was not able to corral. Hunter Kepple pounced on the rebound and slid the puck into the back of the net for his eighth goal of the season that would eventually send the game into overtime.
“Coming back from 3-1 and tying it up, going to overtime, the kids showed a lot of character,” Ramm said. “We gave up a first-period lead two nights in a row. Trying to dig ourselves out of a hole all game, we just can’t do it.”
Roc City led 2-0 less than 10 minutes into the first period as Zach Buchholz scored his seventh of the season from Corey on the power play before Corey won a faceoff going toward the net and beat Pascarella clean for his 41st goal of the season.
“We went over faceoff coverage before the game and told them exactly what we wanted to do. We just blew our assignments,” Ramm said. “Things like that, those are the mistakes that are hurting us the most. … We’ve got to do a better job of putting the puck away, but at the same time we can’t make those little mental mistakes.”
The Xpress answered back with less than four minutes remaining in the period as Roc City turned the puck over to Jacob St. Andre while playing 4-on-4. St. Andre then found Devin Laird who sent Tristan Mock in alone on Sesock down the left wing. Mock put a nice move on the goaltender and beat him with a backhand high to the glove side for his fifth goal of the season.
“We had 138 shots this weekend and scored four goals total. We had 40 shots on (undefeated) Metro, which tells you how well they were playing,” Ramm said. “Saturday and (Sunday) were just bad first periods and trying to make up for it in the second and third. We have to start better.”
Corey gave the Royals their two-goal lead back in the second period as he finished serving a penalty and waited at the far blue line until Izzo found him with a long breakaway pass that he converted for his 42nd goal of the season.
“He just sat there and let his team try to work it out and get possession,” Ramm said. “He goes on the fast breaks like that a lot.”
NOTES: Southern Tier was 0 for 6 on the power play while Roc City was 1 for 6. … The Xpress return to action Friday at 8 p.m. at Wooster before a home game Saturday at 7 p.m. against the same Oilers.
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