PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's hockey team and the Amherst Lord Jeffs each had trouble beating two red hot goalies Saturday night in the Cardinal Winter Classic Championship game as the game ended in a nil-nil tie before Amherst for the second-straight night prevailed in a 1-0 shootout.
 
While the scoring was down the action was plentiful as each team went up and down creating handfuls of scoring opportunities throughout the game. Yet it was the two goalies that stole the show as neither buckled through 65 minutes of play.
 
Lord Jeffs goalie Danny Vitale stopped all 38 shots he faced including five in the overtime period. Plattsburgh goaltender Spencer Finney finished with his own clean sheet making 31 stops in the process.
 
The red light was only used once when Amherst's Daniel Merenich scored the lone shootout goal for the Lord Jeffs in the second round to capture the 2015 Cardinal Winter Classic.
 
Amherst (6-2-2) finished the weekend 0-0-2 with two shootout wins to claim this year's title.
 
Plattsburgh (10-2-1) played to its first tie of the 2014-15 season and will face a quick turnaround as they welcome #2 Norwich to the Stafford Ice Arena Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a rematch of this year's first round game of the PrimeLink Great Northern ShootOut that saw the Cadets dismantle the Cardinals 5-1.
 
NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE vs. UTICA
 
Earlier in the Cardinal Winter Classic consolation game the Pioneers defeated the Pilgrims 4-0.
 
The game was scoreless through the first two minutes before Utica would score two goals in each of the next two periods.
 
Louie Educate accounted for three of the four goals as he scored two and had the primary assist on another.
 
Midway through the second Justin Hogan slid a pass from the left dot to Educate in the slot before he sent a one-timer home.
 
The pioneers would strike again with just over a minute left in the second when Kyle Lajeunesse deflected an Educate shot beating Pilgrims goaltender.
 
In the third Kevin Valenti scored five-hole after receiving a pass from Trent Samuels-Thomas that went through the crease.
 
Educate would tally one more to make 4-0 on a 5-3 power-play. The senior forward rifled a slap-shot from the top of the left circle hitting the top right corner of the net.
 
Utica goalie Cory Simic finished with a 30 save shutout as New England College goaltender Brett Kilar made 28 saves on 32 shots.
 
Utica (6-5-3) went 1-0-1 in the tournament as New England College (3-7-2) failed to register a goal in either game, dropping both.
 
2015 CARDINAL WINTER CLASSIC ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM:
Forward – UTICA #25 Louie Educate
Forward – PLATTSBURGH #9 Paul Fregeau
Forward – AMHERST #9 Mike Rowbotham
Defenseman – PLATTSBURGH #15 Ayrton Valente
Defenseman – AMHERST #13 Aaron Deutsch
MVP – Goalie – AMHERST #29 Danny Vitale