PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's hockey started its journey in the SUNYAC Tournament with a semifinal matchup with Brockport Golden Eagles on Saturday defeating the Golden Eagles, 7-5.
 
The Cardinals got on Brockport early and often in the first period beating Golden Eagles goaltender Aaron Green four times.
 
Senior, Connor Toomey got the Cardinals going with a filthy goal 1:14 into the game. The Billerica, Mass., native split the defense brining the puck between his own legs before deking Green beating him top shelf to cue the horn for a 1-0 Cardinal lead.
 
Just over three minutes later Dillan Fox would trickle one by the right pad of Green from the slot making it 2-0 within the first five minutes of the game.
 
Brockport would answer though just 36 seconds later as senior defenseman Bobby Chayka would rip one from the left point past Cardinals goalie Brady Rouleau.
 
Plattsburgh State would tally the next two goals, first by Mark Constantine before Toomey would score his second of the game.
 
On the power play, Constantine would collect a shot that bounced off the board by Preston Kaye near the left goal line and then send one by the blocker of Green.
 
Toomey would tuck in his second with a mere 33 seconds remaining in the first period. The senior raced down the left boards beating the Brockport defenseman before cutting into the crease and beating Green.
 
The Golden Eagles would stay resilient all night scoring three-straight in the second period to tie the game 4-4 going into the third. Brockport was led by their seniors Chayka and Troy Polino who would account for all three goals in the middle stanza.
 
Chayka would tally the next two goals giving him a hat trick on the night. For his first goal, the defenseman would fly down the right hand boards sniping one by the glove of Rouleau right inside the post.
 
The Hardwich, N.J., product would follow that up with an absolute laser of a shot that came short-handed. Chayka would carry the puck into the Plattsburgh State zone firing one from the left circle far side again beating Rouleau glove-side to make it 4-3 Cardinals.
 
Polino would score two minutes later from a shot in the slide over the mitt of Rouleau to not the game at 4-4 with 2:09 remaining in the second period.
 
However, coming out of the third period the Cardinals would pick up a quick power play leading to another Mark Constantine power goal just 1:30 in. The goal was setup with a nice cross ice pass on the goal line from freshman Brandon O'Quinn. O'Quinn sent a pass right on the tape of Constantine who was stationed right on the left doorstep of the crease before taping it home.
 
Connor Gorman would join the action with a power play goal of his own. The junior from Shrewsbury, Mass., would play give and go with Rich Botting before slinging one short side off the post and in to give the Cardinals a 6-4 advantage.
 
Brockport would make things interesting again scoring with 5:52 left in the game as Chris Luker would convert on the power play that ranked 9 in the country coming into Saturday. Luker took the puck in between the circles beating Rouleau top corner glove side.
 
Michael Cassidy would provide the insurance goal burying an empty netter with 1:46 remaining in the game for his 12 of the season.
 
Rouleau finished the night with 15 saves on 20 shots while Green ended with 34 saves on 40 shots.
 
With the win No. 1 Plattsburgh State moved to 19-5-2 and will host the SUNYAC Championship game on Saturday against No. 2 Oswego State at 7 p.m.