Buffalo State’s men’s and women’s ice hockey teams each posted school record-setting seasons a year ago, and both are receiving early attention in the D3Hockey.com national preseason polls, with the men earning the No. 14 spot in the Top-15 poll, while the women are receiving votes in the Top-10 poll.
The men’s team, led by second-year head coach Steve Murphy, set a school record for wins last season finishing 15-7-4 and advanced to the SUNYAC semifinals for the fifth-consecutive season.
The Bengals will be backstopped again this season by first team All-SUNYAC goalie Mike DeLaVergne (Pawling/Pawling) who enters his senior season with a school-best .926 career save percentage and a 2.31 goals against average. Senior Taylor Pryce (Newmarket, ON/Cardinal Carter) will be a leader of the Bengals’ offensive attack. A third team All-SUNYAC pick a year ago, he led the team with 15 goals and 30 points last season and has 69 points (27 goals and 42 assists) in 77 career games. In addition to a solid core of returners, Murphy has brought in 13 newcomers in his first full recruiting class.
On the women’s side, the Bengals are in the receiving votes category, putting them the equivalent of 13th in the preseason poll. The Bengals also had a record-setting year in 2015-16 under head coach Candice Moxley, finishing 18-8-0 overall and hosting an ECAC West playoff game for the first time in the history of the program.
The Bengals return 12 of their top 13 scorers from last season, including honorable mention All-ECAC West selection Erin Gehen (W. Seneca/W. Seneca West) who tallied 17 goals and 10 assists during her sophomore season. Also returning is junior goalie Justine Silva (Baldwin Park, CA/Arroyo) who was the league’s Co-Defensive Player of the Year last season with a school-record .941 save percentage and a 1.68 goals against average.
The men’s team will open its season against Fredonia at the Ice Arena on Nov. 4 at 7 p.m.
The women’s squad will open at home this weekend as the hosts of the Buffalo State Bengals Invitational. Buffalo State will play Plymouth State on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and will take on Nichols College on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
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