NORTHFIELD, Vt. – The second ranked Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team squared off with No. 7 Norwich for the PrimeLink Great Northern ShootOut Championship Saturday night, topping the Cadets 6-5 in an overtime thriller.
Norwich jumped out to a 2-0 advantage in the opening half of the first period.
First was Kevin Salvucci roofing a shot over the glove of Cardinal goalie
Spencer Finney.
Cadet defenseman Connor Evangelista was a the recipient of a lucky bounce when his shot was saved by Finney but the rebound bounced off a Cardinal skate and through the five-hole of the Plattsburgh State goalie.
The Cardinals found some life in the end of the first. Senior forward
Dillan Fox picked up the puck in the neutral zone and carved up the Cadet defense before a quick deke past goalie Ty Reichenbach made it a 2-1 game.
Kevin Emmerling netted the equalizer with 0.4 seconds remaining in the first when he got on the end of a rebound from an
Anthony Calabrese shot. After a shaky start to the contest the Cardinals were able to end the first all knotted at two goals each.
Plattsburgh State picked up where it left off to start the second period when
Ayrton Valente received a cross ice pass from
Matt Quilty to take the lead 3-2 over the Cadets.
It did not end there for the Cardinals, two more goals would come from
Michael Radisa and
Pat Egan to give Plattsburgh State a 5-2 lead.
Radisa received a pass in the crease from
Cole Stallard and beat Reichenbach for the fourth Cardinal goal.
Egan's goal came on a pass from the left side by Stallard and
Kyle Hall. Egan collected the puck and ripped a shot glove side to give the Cardinals the largest lead of the game.
The comfortable three goal lead would soon be irrelevant as Norwich found ways to claw at the Cardinal lead.
Cadet forward Justin Charbonneau connected on a scramble in front of the Plattsburgh net for Norwich's third goal.
It was Norwich again tallying to cut the Plattsburgh lead to one. Finney made the initial save on a Cadet shot, however, Salvucci would pick up the loose puck and beat Finney for his second of the game.
With roughly seven minutes remaining in regulation, Nick Pichette hauled in a pass in front of the Cardinal net and dragged the puck in front of Finney before tucking it inside the post.
For the second game this season the Cardinals were headed to overtime.
PrimeLink this year was highlighted by the implementation of new overtime rules. The experiment consisted of a seven minute overtime period of four on four for the first four minutes before switching to three on three for the remaining three minutes. However due to NCAA rule, if the overtime exceeded more than five minutes, it was officially be declared as a tie.
Cardinal forward
Dillan Fox didn't want to tie. With 4:15 gone in overtime,
Luke Baleshta sent a cross ice pass that Fox sent back across the net for the game winner.
The OT winner sealed the Cardinals as the 2015 PrimeLink Great Northern ShootOut champions as they improve to 8-0-0.
The Runner up Cadets fall to 7-2-0 on the season.
Fox earned Tournament MVP honors, while Valente and Quilty picked up All-Tournament nods. Stallard collected the All-Rookie award with his three point weekend.
With the loss, it becomes the first time Norwich has lost the Primelink championship at home.
Next weekend the Cardinals are on the road to close out 2015, but will return home in early January to host the Buck Supply/W.B. Mason Classic.
