Boxscore and Play-by-Play
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - For the second consecutive year, the Plattsburgh State women’s hockey team (18-6-3, 15-1-2 ECAC W) could not get past R.I.T. (25-1-1, 16-1-1 ECAC W) in the ECAC West Championship game. The Tigers defeated the Cardinals 2-1 at the Ritter Arena Sunday.
The Cardinals will now face an anxious wait to see if they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. Tournament selections will be announced tomorrow at 10 a.m. on www.ncaa.com.
Just like the two previous meetings between the teams earlier this year, it was an extremely physical and tight affair. The Tigers got on the board just 2:10 into the game while on the power-play. The Cardinals were called for having too many players on the ice and Kolby McCrea needed just seven seconds in a man up situation to finish a scramble in front of the net. Ariane Yokoyama and Kourtney Kunichika were credited with assists on the play.
The rest of the first period was a typical one between these two teams, although R.I.T. seemed to edge most of the quality chances after gaining confidence from their goal. It wasn’t until McCrea was called for elbowing with 15:06 gone in the period that the Cardinals began to assert their dominance. Despite peppering the R.I.T. net with shots, the Cardinals could not find a way through on the power-play, but they kept the Tigers in their own end for the remainder of the period.
The strong finish to the opening stanza gave the Cardinals an edge in the next period as they dominated the majority. The Tigers only managed two shots in the entire second period as the Cardinals began to probe and look for opportunities. That opportunity came at the 11:54 mark when Mia Favretto lined a shot from inches inside the blue-line and the puck was tipped in by Emma Rutherford to tie the game at 1-1. Jenny Kistner also assisted on the goal. The Cardinals continued to press, but Tigers goalie Laura Chamberlain was equal to the challenge. Chamberlain made nine saves in the second period to keep the Cardinals at bay and it proved to be important as the Tigers snatched the game-winner at the second period buzzer. With a minute left to play in the period Ashton Hogan was called for hitting from behind and the impressive Tiger power-play unit took to the ice. The Cardinals were close to seeing out the period, but at the 19:59 mark Kunichicka nicked the puck into the back of Aveson’s net to give the Tigers the lead for good.
The Cardinals tried to up the pressure in the third period, but the Tigers held strong. The Tigers finished 2-for-4 on the power-play and they successfully killed all six of Plattsburgh’s power-play attempts. The Cardinals out shot the Tigers 27 to 21, but they could not find a way past Chamberlain for a second time.
Kim Schlattman was named tournament MVP, while Plattsburgh’s Allison Era and Jenny Kistner were named to the All-Tournament team. Chamberlain, McCrea and Kunichika rounded out the rest of the All-Tournament team.
