Hamilton College avoided the shutout with a power-play goal late in the third period, but the Continentals lost 3-1 against the SUNY Cortland Red Dragons in non-conference action at Cortland's Alumni Arena on Saturday night.

SUNY Cortland opened the scoring late in the first period. Sean Perichak rushed up the right-wing side and dropped the puck back for Martin Lavallee who held it for a moment before passing it to Alex Storjohann in the center. Storjohann deked around a defenseman before he snapped the puck to the crossbar above Sean Storr '22 for a bardown goal with 2:14 left. Storr finished with 20 saves in his first action in goal since Dec. 7.

Shortly after the goal, Hamilton (5-7-4 overall) took the first penalty of the game at 17:55. The Continentals nearly killed the penalty, but Perichak intercepted a Hamilton clearing attempt and carried it around to the right-wing corner. He passed to the center where Storjohann collected the puck. Storjohann quickly fired the puck to the upper-right corner of the net with a second remaining on the power play and six to go in the period for his second goal of the game.

The second period came and went with no changes on the scoreboard. Hamilton had three power-play chances during the period. 

The Continentals finally cut their deficit in half with a goal on another power-play chance with 2:48 left in the third period. Hamilton took the opportunity to pull Storr for a two-man advantage after the boarding call. With six skaters on the ice, Hamilton dodged the shutout. Fred Allaire '23 rushed through traffic to the front of the net where he quickly passed the puck to Nick Ursitti '20. Ursitti sped past goaltender Nick Modica (32 saves) and knocked the puck in under his stick as he was getting back into place. Ursitti leads the Continentals with seven goals and Josh Labonte '21, who had the secondary assist, tops the team with six helpers.

Cortland (9-7-1) restored its two-goal lead on an empty-net tally by Tommy Ritchie with 1:07 left in the third. Hamilton held a 33-23 shot advantage including 16-7 in the final period. Justin Felhaber '21 won 11 of 17 faceoffs for the Buff and Blue.

The Continentals will play again on Friday, Jan. 31 against NESCAC rival Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., at 7 p.m.

-- Recap by Amanda Ghiloni '22