PLATTSBURGH — The Plattsburgh State men’s hockey team ended the non-conference portion of its schedule on a positive note on the road Saturday night.
Colin Callanan’s power-play goal with 1:29 left in the first period broke a 1-all tie and gave the Cardinals (10-7-1) a 2-1 win over Amherst College (7-8-1).
Plattsburgh returns home to host Canton on Friday at 7 p.m. and rival Oswego on Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Stafford Ice Arena.
“This was a good win for us,” Plattsburgh head coach Steve Moffat said. “It’s a tough place to play, a four-hour drive and wasn’t an easy game.
“They (Amherst) lost a close game at a good Hamilton team the night before and I knew they would be hungry for a win.”
All the game’s scoring was done in the first period Saturday night.
Aaron Catron gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead just 2:08 into the game, with Kevin Weaver-Vitale and Vlad Pshenichnikov assisting.
The Mammoths, however, didn’t wait long to draw even when Zachary Murray scored from in close at 4:23.
It remained 1-all until late in the period. Callanan put the Cardinals ahead to stay, with Patrick Cole and Pshenichnikov getting assists.
Plattsburgh was then able to hold on the rest of the way.
“We did the things we needed to do, like blocking shots and getting the puck out,” Moffat said.
“It opened up some in the third period, but both teams played good defense and there were limited Grade A scoring chances for both teams. We also did a good job on the penalty kill, holding them scoreless.”
Jacob Hearne stopped 24 of 25 shots in the Plattsburgh nets and Andrew Palena 23 of 25 for Amherst.
“We’ve been playing pretty good hockey,” Moffat said. “We have to make sure we keep pucks out of our net and the guys have bought in.
“We’re not going to score six or seven goals in a game very often and we need to keep it close. Sure, this was a good win for us entering this coming weekend in the conference.”
Plattsburgh has a 5-2-1 record thus far in the second semester.
The Cardinals have seven SUNYAC games remaining, four at home (Canton, Oswego, Buffalo State and Fredonia) and three on the road (Morrisville, Cortland and Potsdam).
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Plattsburgh 2, Amherst 1
PSU 2 0 0 — 2
AC 1 0 0 — 1
First period- 1, PSU, Catron (Weaver-Vitale, Pshenichnikov), 2:08. 2, AC, Murray (Velocci, Luca), 4:23. 3, PSU, Callanan ppg (Cole, Pshenichnikov), 18:31.
Shots on goal- 25-all.
Saves- Hearne, PSU, 24. Palena, AC, 23.