MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Plattsburgh State men's hockey team took its perfect record to Middlebury, Vt. looking for back-to-back PrimeLink Great Northern ShootOut championships, but Friday night would not treat the Cardinals kindly losing to Norwich 5-1.
In an up and down first period the game remained scoreless as Norwich outshot the Cardinals 14-6.
A big part contributing to that shot advantage was the Cadets having a 5-3 power-play for a minute thirty-six with less than five minutes remaining in the first period.
However, sophomore goaltender Brady Rouleau remained relaxed as he kept all the shots he faced from hitting the back of the net.
The second period belonged to Norwich as they continued to outshoot Plattsburgh State 10-3 in the middle stanza, but unlike the first period the Cadets converted three of them into goals.
The first goal was scored by Austin Surowic as he scored his third of the season 5:44 into the second period.
The next two goals would be by two Cadets both playing in their first games of the season.
At 11:41 sophomore William Pelletier put one bar down over the glove of Rouleau. He received a pass from Dean Niezgoda before skating down the left side and sniping one top-shelf.
Pelletier's fellow line-mates would account for the third goal when Payton Baldiellez and Justin Charbonneau would skate into the Plattsburgh State zone and convert on a 2-1 opportunity. Baldiellez coasted in down the right side sending a pass to Charbonneau across ice in the slot beating an outstretched Rouleau as he tried to slide over in time.
Much like the second period, the Cardinals did not get off to the start of the third period as they wanted.
Plattsburgh State conceded a fourth-straight goal early when Brendan Boyce was hooked picking up a penalty while slipping the puck five-hole under Rouleau at the same time.
With the Cadets on the power play, Norwich would make it 5-0 forty seconds later when Surowic picked up his second goal of the goal on a cross ice pass from senior defenseman Bryce Currier.
Plattsburgh State would finally stop the bleeding ending the Cadets shutout when Anthony Calabrese scored his second goal of the season with just 7:51 remaining in regulation.
Calabrese carried the puck up to the blue-line before sliding it over to Connor Toomey. Toomey would send a slap-shot from the left point that would connect with a streaking Calabrese in front of the net, tipping it by freshman goalie Braeden Ostepchuk.
Ostepchuk made 22 saves and improved to 4-0-0 on the season. Rouleau suffered his first collegiate loss making 24 saves on 29 shots in 44 minutes of action. Freshman Ryan Hubbard came in after the Cardinals conceded their fifth goal making five saves.
Plattsburgh State is now 7-1-0 (7-0-0 SUNYAC) losing its first nonconference game of its season. The Cardinals will play host Middlebury Saturday at 4 p.m. in the third-place game of the PrimeLink Great Northern ShootOut.
Meanwhile Norwich remained unbeaten at 7-0-0 and will play in the championship game against Concordia (Minn.) at 7 p.m.
