PLATTSBURGH — The Plattsburgh State men’s hockey team is back from its first-semester break and returns to the ice today and tomorrow, hosting the annual Comfort Inn Complex Winter Classic.
Today’s opening-round schedule has Amherst College vs. Suffolk University at 3:30 p.m., followed by the Cardinals against Wesleyan University at 7 p.m.
The consolation and championship games are set for Saturday at 3:30 and 7 p.m., respectively.
“It’s a really good tournament, and we’ve had a long break with the players excited to get back,” Plattsburgh head coach Steve Moffat said.
“The tournament sets the tone for the second semester.”
Plattsburgh (6-4 overall, 3-3 SUNYAC) ended the first semester with two 4-3 overtime conference wins at Fredonia and Buffalo State. It wasn’t a great opening semester for the Cardinals, but it could have been worse.
“Our overall effort was an A in the first semester, but our results were a B,” Moffat said. “We lost a conference game at home (to Morrisville) and didn’t play that well against Middlebury in the LayerEight Shootout.
“We could have played better in the first semester, but we can take from it what we learned as a team.”
Wesleyan competes in the NESCAC and is 2-5 overall, including 2-2 in the conference. Two of the Cardinals’ losses have come against ranked teams, No. 5 Hamilton and No. 11 Endicott.
“Wesleyan is a good team that is well coached,” Moffat said. “It’s always a battle when we play them. We played them to a 2-all overtime tie last season at Wesleyan.”
Amherst is the other team in the tournament competing in the NESCAC. The Mammoths are 3-4-1 overall and 1-4 in the conference. But one of the Mammoths’ wins was an impressive 3-0 non-conference victory over Geneseo.
The Suffolk Rams are from the Conference of New England and have a 5-3-1 overall record and 5-1-1 CNE mark. The Rams own a 4-1 win and a 2-2 overtime tie with nationally-ranked Endicott to their credit this season, the only blemishes on Endicott’s record thus far.
Suffolk University is coached by former NHL player Shawn McEachern.
“We have a good mix of teams in the tournament,” Moffat said. “We got back to practice on Saturday and have only played 10 games this season. This will be a good measuring stick for us. We’re still figuring out our team after some illness and injuries in the first semester.
“Historically, we do a pretty good job in the second semester. Our goal is always to get better. We have more depth on the team this season, and that makes for better competition in practice.”
The Cardinals dropped a 4-2 decision to the nationally-ranked University of New England in last year’s Winter Classic championship game.
CANCER FUNDRAISER
The Plattsburgh State men’s hockey team, along with the Plattsburgh Junior Cardinals (10U and 12U teams), will join the Face Off Against Cancer Fundraiser, which will be held this month at the Stafford Ice Arena.
There will items to be sold, including t-shirts, and raffles to be held. The majority of the money raised will go to the Fitzpatrick Cancer Center.