Plattsburgh, Amherst Rematch Set for Cardinal Classic Championship
Box Score
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (Dec. 28, 2012) – With just a one goal lead after the first 40 minutes, the nationally-ranked no. 8 Plattsburgh State men’s hockey team scored three times in third period to skate to a 5-1 win over Wesleyan University in the second game of the 2012 Buck Supply and Hynes Electric Cardinal Classic Tournament at the Stafford Ice Arena.
After a slow start by both teams, Alex Jensen took a pass from Paul Puglisi and carried the puck into the neutral zone before finding Kevin Emmerling with a cross-ice pass. Emmerling’s shot deflected off a Wesleyan defender and past goaltender Glenn Stowell to give Plattsburgh a 1-0 lead with 2:27 left in the first period.
Plattsburgh State (8-3-1, 6-1-1 SUNYAC) opened the second period with Dillan Fox’s first collegiate goal at the 6:18 mark to put the Cardinals up 2-0. Michael Cassidy picked up the puck off the faceoff and carried it behind the Plattsburgh net before passing it up to Emmerling. Emmerling fed the puck to Fox who fired a shot from inside the blue line that was stopped by Stowell’s left pad but trickled over the goal line for Plattsburgh’s second of the evening.
Wesleyan (4-4-1, 1-2-1 NESCAC) took the wind out of Plattsburgh’s sails with 1.9 seconds left in the second when Keith Buehler knocked the puck past Mathieu Cadieux off a scrum in front of the net to cut the Plattsburgh lead to 2-1 at the end of the period. Donald Kleckner and Nick Craven picked up assists on Buehler’s fourth of the year.
Plattsburgh quickly answered back with just 19 seconds gone in the third period when Andrew Smith took a pass in front from Nick Jensen down low and buried it for the first of his career. Plattsburgh added a power-play at the 12:42 mark when Jared Docking poked home a wrap-around pass from Luke Baleshta to give the Cardinals a three-goal lead.
Jensen added an insurance goal with 2:24 remaining in the game for his fourth of the season.
Plattsburgh State finished the evening with 34 shots on goal while Wesleyan had 25. Plattsburgh went 1-for-3 on the power play while Wesleyan was 0-for-3.
Cadieux stopped 24 of the 25 shots he faced to improve to 5-3-1 on the year for Plattsburgh. Stowell recorded 29 saves in the loss for Wesleyan.
With the win, Plattsburgh will draw Amherst in the championship game Saturday night at 7 p.m. Plattsburgh and Amherst last met in the NCAA Quarterfinals this past March, with the Lord Jeffs knocking the Cardinals out of the tournament with a 3-1 win.
Wesleyan will face Elmira in the consolation matchup at 4 p.m. Elmira dropped a 5-1 decision to Amherst in the opening game of the tournament.
Cardinal Classic Game One: Amherst 5, Elmira 1
Box Score
Elmira appeared poised to be an even match for nationally-ranked No. 11 Amherst College, but two quick goals set the tone for the Lord Jeffs in a 5-1 win over Elmira in the opening game of the 2012 Buck Supply and Hynes Electric Cardinal Classic Tournament at the Stafford Ice Arena.
The Soaring Eagles (5-7-0, 2-4-0 ECAC West) carried much of the play through the first six minutes before Amherst’s Brian Safstrom tapped the puck past Elmira’s Darren MacDonald at the 7:44 mark of the first period to give the Lord Jeffs a 1-0 lead. Topher Flanagan took a feed from Nick Brunette just 1:06 later to make it 2-0 in favor of Amherst (6-3-1, 4-2-0 NESCAC).
Elmira came within one at 12:49 when Mark Morikawa buried a give-and-go with Brian Depp to make it 2-1 after one period.
Johnny Van Siclen tallied his sixth of the year on an Amherst power-play at 8:02 of the middle stanza with a setup from Mike Moher and Conor Brown. Thirty-two seconds later, Dylan Trumble deflected James Hawkrigg’s shot from the blue line to put the Lord Jeffs up 4-1.
Daniel Merenich added an insurance goal at 10:22 of the third to round of the scoring for the afternoon matchup.
Amherst held a 39-32 advantage in shots on goal, while going 1-for-3 on the power play. Elmira went 0-for-3 with the man advantage.
Dave Cunningham made 31 stops for the Lord Jeffs to earn the win before giving way to Danny Vitale for the final 3:19. Vitale did not face a shot. Elmira’s Darren MacDonald turned away 34 shots in the loss.
