Boxscore
BROCKPORT, N.Y. - The Plattsburgh State men's hockey team (15-3-4, 10-2-1 SUNYAC) received a surprise of the unpleasant kind Friday night, suffering a 4-2 upset by The College at Brockport (8-12-3, 4-8-2 SUNYAC) in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) matchup. The loss snaps Plattsburgh's 14-game unbeaten streak which dated by to Nov. 26.
Plattsburgh jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Kyle Taylor scored a power-play goal on a rebound off a shot by Paul Puglisi with just 3:48 gone in the opening period. Kyle Kudroch also picked up an assist on the goal. But the lead was short-lived as the Golden Eagles answered back just 59 seconds later when James Cody scored his first of three goals on the night. Cody got the puck off a face-off win by Adam Shoff and fired a shot from the upper slot to tie it up.
The Cardinals grabbed a 2-1 lead at the 9:23 mark of the first when Kudroch buried his own rebound. Taylor and Brandon Beadow were credited with assists on Kudroch's team-leading ninth goal of the year.
Midway through the second period, Plattsburgh surrendered the lead again when Cody scored his second of the night from Shoff and Ian Finnerty. That was just the beginning of the Cardinals' struggles as Plattsburgh's Jake Mooney and Matt MacLeod were whistled for back-to-back penalties following the game-tying goal, giving Brockport a 5-on-3 power-play for 1:29.
Nick Panepinto scored the go-ahead goal for Brockport at 17:02 in the third period from Brendon Rothfuss and Mike Hollander. Cody added an empty-net goal at 18:24 to complete the hat trick and give the Golden Eagles a two-goal lead in the final minutes of the game.
The Cardinals, who outshot Brockport 39-26, were not without opportunities. In the second period, Plattsburgh had two short-handed breakaways - one by Mooney and one by Taylor, but Brockport goaltender Oliver Wren denied both chances. Wren finished the night with 38 saves. Plattsburgh's Mathieu Cadieux recorded 22 saves in the loss.
Plattsburgh will look to bounce back tomorrow night at Geneseo in a conference game set for 7 p.m. With tonight's loss, the Cardinals fall three points behind SUNYAC leader Oswego with three games left in the regular season.
