PLATTSBURGH — Through three games at home, the Plattsburgh State women’s hockey team has outscored opponents 10-0.
That includes a 4-0 win over William Smith College and 1-0 over Buffalo State, Friday and Saturday respectively, in SUNYAC openers.
“I think overall, we’ve been very strong, and we have a good group,” Cardinal defender Adriana Urban said. “There’s a lot of upperclassmen, and a good mix of underclassmen. Everyone’s starting to find their place, step up and get on top of the puck.”
Plattsburgh (3-1, 2-0) moved up to No. 6 in the USCHO.com Division III Women’s Ice Hockey poll with the wins.
Saturday’s game was a little tighter than head coach Kevin Houle would have liked, but the Cardinals own a lifetime 57-0-1 series mark against Buffalo State.
“I thought Buffalo State did a great job,” Houle said. “We’re in the right spots and played real ard did a great job on their forecheck and in their own zone. They gave us fits, but we were able to protect the score first, which was big. I thought we played better as the game wore on.”
One area that hurt the Cardinals was in the power play. Combined between the two games, PSU went 0-8 with the advantage.
“I think having the power plays hurt us because we just couldn’t gain much momentum just making bad decisions,” Houle said. “Simple as that, you have to do better on the power (play). To get that many opportunities, you have to take advantage of a couple.”
Against the Herons, the Cardinals had balanced scoring across all three periods.
Sophomore Kayson Ruegge recorded her first goal of the campaign against William Smith, followed by the first collegiate goals for Riley Keller, Bailey MacKellar and Piper Smith.
MacKellar’s may have been the nicest of the bunch as she took the puck from end-to-end, slicing through the Heron defense to push the lead to 3-0.
“So, you know, sort of some positives. I mean, yesterday we just, we just seemed to be in the right place all the time,” Houle said.
“Maybe it was a little too easy for us, but, you know, the effort was excellent. Tonight, just Buffalo State did a really nice job of being in the right place.”
Urban agreed, saying Friday’s game could be more entertaining than a grind it out game against the Bengals.
“I think it just depends,” she said. “I mean this: Some of these games are slower. I think a fast pacer game with a lot of passing, shooting, whatever, like, it’s a lot better than, like, these types of games.”
Up next for the Cardinals this weekend are road games against Morrisville and Cortland.
Plattsburgh State remains on the road the following weekend to take part in the Panther-Cardinal Classic, hosted by Middlebury. The Cards first game will be against two-time defending national champion University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
The championship or consolation game will be played Nov. 30.
“I think we’re all right, you know,” Houle said. “I think, playing well, we’re creating opportunities. I think we’ve got to be smarter at times and take care of the puck better, get the puck up ice. Like I said last night, we moved the puck so well, you know, I think we thought it would be easy tonight.
“Sometimes you just have to get rid of the puck and not hold on to it and give them opportunities … Just get the puck to open space — safe space — instead of holding on to it and letting them take the puck from you and creating offense off of that. We have to figure it out.”
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Friday
Plattsburgh State 4, William Smith 0
WSC;0;0;0;-;0
PSU;1;2;1;-;4
First Period- 1. PSU, Ruegge (Forsyth), 8:13
Second Period- 2. PSU, Keller (Fessette), 4:49. 3. PSU, MacKeller, 9:28
Third Period- 4. PSU, Smith (Keller, Conlon), 16:28.
Shots- Plattsburgh State, 57-13
Saves- Lewis, PSU, 13. Iwicki, WSC, 53
—
Saturday
Plattsburgh 1, Buffalo State
BSU;0;0;0;-;0
PSU;1;0;0;-;1
First Period- 1. PSU, Ruegge (Puc, Forsyth) 8:41
Shots- Plattsburgh State, 34-12
Saves- Lewis, PSU, 12 Todd, BSU, 32