PLATTSBURGH — Plattsburgh State men’s hockey head coach Steve Moffat believes in his team and said the best is yet to come.
But for now, the Cardinals continue to struggle more than they would like.
The Cardinals, playing in their first two home games of the season over the weekend, dropped a 3-1 decision to defending SUNYAC Tournament champion Cortland on Friday night at the Stafford Ice Arena before skating to a 4-1 win over Morrisville on Saturday night in conference play.
The weekend left Plattsburgh at 3-3 overall and 2-2 in SUNYAC play.
The Cardinals return to the ice this coming weekend and it will be a challenge in the annual LayerEight Shootout, being held at Middlebury College this year.
In Friday’s first round, Plattsburgh plays rival Norwich University at 4 p.m., with host Middlebury taking on Marian, Wisc. University at 7 p.m.
FRIDAY
CORTLAND 3
PLATTSBURGH 1
The Red Dragons (4-2, 2-1) ended the Cardinals’ season a year ago in the SUNYAC Tournament championship game in overtime at the Stafford Ice Arena.
Plattsburgh, however, was not up to the challenge.
“We didn’t come out well and I was disappointed with our lack of energy,” Moffat said.
The Cardinals did take the early lead in the game when Joshua Belgrave scored a short-handed goal, off a Jake Lanyi assist, at 8:03 of the first period.
But Cortland rallied to take a 2-1 advantage after one when Nate Boak tallied at 12:27 and then Nathan Garnier, shortly after, at 14:29.
Garnier’s second goal of the game, a power-play marker at 13:53 of the second period, closed out the scoring in the contest as neither team found the back of the net in the third.
“We had zero energy,” Moffat said. “You could see it on the bench. We’re down by two goals in the third and didn’t shoot the puck.”
The Cardinals managed just 22 shots on goal with Ronan Mobley making 21 saves for the Red Dragons. Jacob Hearne stopped 24 shots for Plattsburgh.
Plattsburgh managed to keep Cortland’s high-powered line of Nate Berke, Domenic Settimo and Colby Seitz from getting a point in the contest, but the freshman Garnier was a standout.
The Cardinals were missing the services of forward Luk Jirousek and defenseman Brannon Butler, which didn’t help any.
“Those are a couple of big players for us,” Moffat said. “But we have no excuses — we played with a lack of emotion.
“I still believe in this group. We’re going through a difficult stretch right now, still learning and still searching for our identity. We started six first-year forwards and one first-year defenseman tonight. We’ll get better.”
SATURDAY
PLATTSBURGH 4
MORRISVILLE 1
The Cardinals took care of business against the Mustangs (1-7, 0-4), who are currently on the bottom of the SUNYAC standings.
Tio D’Addario, off a Belgrave assist at 6:05, and Colin Callanan, from Brody Spencer-Ha at 7:09, gave the Cardinals an early 2-0 lead.
“We had a good start to the game,” Moffat said. “We wanted to come out and play physical, and with urgency and passion.
“We responded well from last night.”
The Cardinals held on to their 2-0 advantage as neither team was able to score in the second stanza.
“I think they (Morrisville) may have lulled us to sleep some in the second period,” Moffat said. “But for the first 40 minutes of the game, we spent probably 30 minutes in their zone.”
The third period got a little interesting. Jake Sacratini put the Cardinals up 3-0 at 3:44 with a power-play goal, assisted by Kevin Weaver-Vitale and Jack Ring.
But then Plattsburgh took an ill-advised five-minute major for a hit to the head and Morrisville got on the board at 9:03 on Evan Fraccaro’s power-play marker.
“I want us to be aggressive, but we can’t be taking five-minute majors,” Moffat said.
The Cardinals’ however, got the goal right back 39 seconds later on a short-handed tally by Ryan Poorman, assisted by Riley Sutherland.
Hearne made 11 saves in net for Plattsburgh, which ended up with a huge 43-12 advantage in shots on goal. Grant Linville was busy in the Morrisville nets with 39 stops.
“We played pretty good hockey for 60 minutes,” Moffat said.
The Cardinals did lose Belgrave when he was helped from the ice following an injury and did not return.
“We have some key guys out right now and we have two weeks left before the break,” Moffat said.
—
Friday
Cortland 3, Plattsburgh 1
Cortland;2;1;0;—;3
Plattsburgh;1;0;0;—;1
First period- 1, PSU, Belgrave shg (Lanyi), 8:03. 2, Cort, Boak (Kyrkostas), 12:27. 3, Cort, Garnier (Brophy, Hyde), 14:29.
Second period- 4, Cort, Garnier ppg (Christiano, Legault), 13:53.
Shots on goal- Cortland, 27-22.
Saves- Mobley, Cort, 21. Hearne, PSU, 24.
—
Saturday
Plattsburgh 4, Morrisville 1
Morrisville;0;0;1;—;1
Plattsburgh;2;0;2;—;4
First period- 1, PSU, D’Addario (Belgrave), 6:05. 2, PSU, Callanan (Spencer-Ha), 7:09.
Third period- 3, PSU, Sacratini ppg (Weaver-Vitale, Ring), 3:44. 4, Morr, Fraccaro ppg (Allan, Carlile), 9:03. 5, PSU, Poorman shg (Sutherland), 9:42.
Shots on goal- Plattsburgh, 43-12.
Saves- Linville, 39. Hearne, PSU, 11.