JOHNSON, Vt. – Johnson State College wrapped up their regular-season schedule on Sunday falling short in the non-conference contest with visiting SUNY Canton 15-10. The Kangaroos raced out to a 7-1 lead after one period and kept the Badgers at bay for the remainder to improve to 4-6 overall. Johnson dips to 4-8 overall, 3-6 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) and will await the pairings for the NAC post-season tournament.
Canton was led by freshman Jason Thompson (Massena, N.Y./Salmon River) and his five-goal, three-assist effort while junior Pat Connelly (Chittenango, N.Y./Chittenango) recorded four goals and an assist. Freshman Trevor Wight (Clearwater, Fla./Portage) had three goals and assist and sophomore Alex Tibbles (Evans Mills, N.Y./Indian River) had two scores and two helpers for the 'Roos. Freshman Taylor Caswell (Potsdam, N.Y./SUNY Potsdam) and freshman Rob Gleason (Vestal, N.Y./Vestal) both had had three assists for Canton. Freshman James Kane (Jamison, Penn./Central Bucks) had a single goal and freshman Tony Carden (Franklin, Mass./Franklin) had one assist.
Johnson saw senior Alex Petti (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) tally five goals becoming the school's all-time leader in goals scored in doing so. Classmate Justin Nelson (Lakeville, Mass./Bishop Connolly) (pictured) had two goals and two assists while freshman Nash Garceau (North Haven, Conn./North Haven) had two scores. Senior Justin Connolly (Jeffersonville, Vt./Lamoille) had a goal and dealt out a pair of assists and sophomore Matt Dekens (Johnson, Vt./Lamoille) had one assist.
Canton's Corey Spuck (Rochester, N.Y./Rush Henrietta) earned the win in the cage for 'Roos making 15 saves while his counterpart Zach Jerome (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) stopped 13 shots in the losing effort.
Canton rolled to that early 7-1 lead behind only 10 shots displaying a very efficient shooting effort. Thompson accounted for three of his goals in the opening period while Connelly netted a pair.
The remainder of the game was very competitively played though Johnson could not close the gap closer than five goals following the domination of the opening period by the visitors.
For the game Canton held a 44-38 groundball advantage to go with a 44-37 edge in shots.
Johnson will find out where they will travel to for the NAC quarterfinals on Wednesday night with the final set of conference games slated for the 25th. Canton will move on to face Lyndon State College in Lyndon Center next Saturday at 1:00 pm.