PLATTSBURGH — The weekend couldn’t have gone better for the Plattsburgh State women’s hockey team.
The Cards split between the road and the friendly confines of home ice, outsourcing both Canton and Buffalo State by a combined score of 7-1.
The weekend left the team 4-1-1 overall and 3-1-1 in the SUNYAC, leaving the Cards in second place in the conference behind Oswego.
Plattsburgh State now gets the week off to work on improving as they prepare for the Cardinal/Panther Classic, which begins Saturday at Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.
The opening game is set for 3 p.m. at PSU hosts St. Norbert College (Wi), followed by Middlebury and Endicott facing off at 6 p.m.
The consolation and championship games will be played at 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., Sunday, respectively.
FRIDAY
PLATTSBURGH 3
CANTON 1
CANTON — It might have been four games, but first-year forward Kayson Ruegge recorded her first career goal early in the second period to get the Cards going.
A weight was lifted off her shoulders.
“It feels really good,” Ruegge said. “It’s motivating and it’s exciting to just finally get on the board.”
Plattsburgh wouldn’t score again until the third period when Ciara Wall netted a power play goal with the help of Mattie Norton and Ruegge.
“Canton’s always a tough place to play, and they’ve got excellent, excellent goaltending,” PSU head coach Kevin Houle said. “They’ve got some really good players up front as well.
“I thought we again made the plays when they mattered. But, at times we make mistakes that are going to cost us. They didn’t then but they will sooner or later. We’ve got to clean that up, especially the turnovers.”
Kate Conlon would add the third goal for the Cards a minute after the Kangaroos closed the gap to 2-1.
Conlon, also a first-year student, currently leads the team with three goals scored. It’s been a mix of under and upperclassmen that have stepped up to help lead the offensive charge for the Cardinals.
“Absolutely, the (first-years) have to contribute, and you’re starting to see that now,” Houle said. “We have some upperclassmen that are playing well but just not putting the puck in the net but still playing well.
“If we can get everybody to strap in and we have to be able to coach to win these games. We can’t give up leads like we did against Oswego. We’re working hard and it was a solid weekend.”
SATURDAY
PLATTSBURGH 4
BUFFALO STATE 0
PLATTSBURGH — The score tells one story, but the gameplay tells another.
“I thought we were sloppy, especially in that first period,” Houle said. “I thought we gave them a lot of chances, even though it didn’t show up on the shots on that, you know, turn the puck over, or pinching at the blue line when we shouldn’t. So, you know, I thought we cleaned it up as the game went on.
“We’re not playing with confidence. And the first part of the third period, they came out strong, and we were able to keep them at bay and obviously get that third goal and then eventually the fourth, and have that breathing room. Solid effort, but certainly a lot of things we work on, from my perspective.”
Ruegge, who was named SUNYAC Rookie of the Week, opened the scoring again in the first period. Teammate and first-year Tessa Morris gave some breathing room moments later as she pushed the lead to 2-0, scoring her first career goal.
After the game Morris said the team is starting to gain confidence as the goals come.
“Yeah, I think this game was a big step in confidence for us,” she said. “We’ve been kind of struggling with goals, but just getting put to the net.
“Now we move onto the (Cardinal/Panther Classic) and then Morrisville. We’ve been getting better each game.”
Mae Olshanky, who scored with a defender on her back in the third period, said the team has been striving to just fire pucks at the net and see what happens. Posts are hit, rebounds are made and goals can happen.
“I think we’re kind of buzzing the entire game,” she said. “I think we had a lot of really good opportunities that they’re kind of just going wide or hitting a couple posts too.
“But yeah, I think we were kind of just knocking on the door the entire game, and then luckily, we got those two within like, a minute of each other.”
The followup to Olshanky’s goal was Conlon netting her second in two days to close out the scoring for the second time.
Now the Cardinals turn to a familiar tournament, this time as hosts, Saturday.
“We won this tournament last year, so we certainly want to go in and win it again,” Olshanksy said. “Luckily, we’re hosting this year, so we get to practice on our home ice all week and get to play on our home rink, which is always fun.
“We’ve been on the road for the last few weeks, so it’s always great to play at home.”
Houle added that while the team has things to work on, they can look to their tie against Oswego on what to pull from in how to play.
“We have to raise the level of our game and play and play mistake free hockey as best we can,” he said. “We want to play physical, play fast and not overthink it. Sometimes we hold onto the puck too long or don’t move it quick enough. I saw that (Saturday) and certainly yesterday as well.
“I thought against Oswego, we played fast, we played hard, moved the puck and we were in their face. Even though we gave up the lead, it’s our best effort of the year. We have to play that type of game.”
—
FRIDAY
Plattsburgh State 3, Canton 1
PSU;0;1;2;-;3
CAN;0;0;1;-;1
Second Period- 1. PSU, Ruegge (Cho) 3:48.
Third Period- 2. PSU, Wall, PP (Norton, Ruegge) 9:01. 3. CAN, Pavlasova, 11:47. 4. PSU, Conlon (Francis, Balfour) 17:42
Shots- Plattsburgh State, 36-18
Saves- Lewis, PSU, 17. Lenihan, CAN, 33
—
SATURDAY
Plattsburgh State 4, Buffalo State 0
PSU;2;0;2;-;4
BSU;0;0;0;-;0
First Period- 1. PSU, Ruegge, PP (Norton, Yoo) 13:37. 2. PSU, Morris (Forsyth) 15:41.
Third Period- 3. PSU, Olshansky (Orr) 11:05. 4. PSU, Conlon, 12:12.
Shots- Plattsburgh State, 32-9
Saves- Auge, BSU, 28. Lewis, PSU, 9.