PLATTSBURGH — The Plattsburgh State men’s hockey team was in need of two important SUNYAC wins over the weekend.
The Cardinals, however, got only one and the loss affected the SUNYAC standings more than the win did.
Plattsburgh escaped Cortland on Friday with a 5-4 win, but suffered a 4-3 setback at rival Oswego on Saturday.
What it means is that Plattsburgh (17-4-2, 10-3-1) is currently locked into third place behind first-place Geneseo (13-2) and second-place Oswego (12-3) in the conference standings.
The only way the Cardinals can get to second place is if they win their two remaining games at home this coming weekend against Buffalo State and Fredonia and have Oswego lose its final game at Cortland.
If the standings stay the way they are, the Cardinals would host a SUNYAC Tournament quarterfinal and a victory would send them back to Oswego for the semifinals.
OSWEGO 4
PLATTSBURGH 3
A.J. Ryan’s goal at 15:28 of the third period broke a 2-all tie and put the Lakers ahead to stay. Matt McQuade then gave Oswego a 4-2 advantage at 16:20 before Bennett Stockdale drew the Cardinals closer at the 17:47 mark.
Luke Jirousek’s power-play goal at 7:05 of the first put the Cardinals ahead, only to have the Lakers rally for a 2-1 lead on goals by Drake Semrad and Tyler Flack later in the stanza.
It remained that way until 5:49 of the third period when Ryan Butler’s goal pulled Plattsburgh even, at 2-all.
“Oswego did a good job clogging the middle,” Plattsburgh head coach Steve Moffat said. “They forced us to dump in pucks and they were able to break out. We didn’t do a good job with that in the first period but better after that.
“Their goalie made a couple of big saves and we didn’t take advantage of a couple of the opportunities we had.”
Eli Shiller stopped 24 of 28 shots in the Plattsburgh nets and Cal Schell made 21 saves on 24 shots for Oswego.
“It was a whiteout game, senior night for them and a big rivalry,” Moffat said. “There was a big crowd there and their players had a ton of energy.
“But I thought we did a good job taking out their crowd for long stretches in the game. We were only a shot away when it was 2-2. We just need to tighten up our defense.”
PLATTSBURGH 5
CORTLAND 4
CORTLAND — The Cardinals trailed 3-2 after one, tied it in the second on a power-play goal by Tio D’Addario and took a 5-3 lead in the third on another goal by D’Addario and a power-play marker by Stockdale.
The Red Dragons, fourth in the SUNYAC standings, cut their deficit to a goal with 30 seconds left.
“We started out great with a 1-0 lead just a minute and a half into the game,” Moffat said. “We had an unbelievable shift. But we didn’t play that way after that. We had back passes and weren’t getting the puck in deep.
“We took a penalty that even though they didn’t score on it gave them momentum and put us on our heels. I give Cortland credit. Even though they might give up a goal, they don’t change their style of play and they keep coming at you.”
D’Addario’s first goal of the game pulled the Cardinals even in the second period.
“We played more our game in the second period,” Moffat said. “We were able to get a power play and fortunate enough to score on it.
“We then played well in the third, but we did some foolish things in the last couple of minutes.”
Adam Tretowicz and Ryan Bonfield scored first-period goals for the Cardinals and Jacob Hearne ended up 23 saves in the Plattsburgh nets.
“We got outshot in the first period and that’s one of the few times this season that has happened,” Moffat said.
—
Friday
Plattsburgh 5, Cortland 4
PSU;2;1;2;—;5
Cort;3;0;1;—;4
First period- 1, PSU, Tretowicz (Bryer), 1:18. 2, Cort, Facchini, 12:33. 3, PSU, Bonfield (Bellina), 13:12. 4, Cort, Seitz (Kyrkostas, Clouden), 16:45. 5, Cort, Kyrkostas (Przstawski, Boak), 18:21.
Second period- 6, PSU, D’Addario ppg (Ring, Bulger), 7:48.
Third period- 7, PSU, D’Addario, 3:11. 8, PSU, Stockdale ppg (Ring, Lanyi), 17:06. 9, Cort, Serio (Seitz, Donegan), 19:30.
Shots on goal- PSU, 38-27.
Saves- Hearne, PSU, 23. Mobley, Cort, 33.
—
Saturday
Oswego 4, Plattsburgh 3
PSU;1;0;2;—;3
Osw;2;0;2;—;4
First period- 1, PSU, Jirousek ppg (Bryer), 7:05. 2, Osw, Semrad (Symons, Grimshaw), 9:34. 3, Osw, Flack (Gatto), 13:42.
Third period- 4, PSU, R. Butler (Hogg), 5:49. 5, Osw, Ryan (Warmuth), 15:28. 6, Osw, McQuade (Francis), 16:20. 7, Osw, Stockdale (D’Addario), 17:47.
Shots on goal- Osw, 28-24.
Saves- Shiller, PSU, 24. Schell, Osw, 21.