HARTFORD, Conn. – In addition to being the first time the Plattsburgh State men's hockey team laces up its skates for NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Tournament action since 2011-12, Saturday also marks the first time in program history that the Cardinals will take on Trinity outside of the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.

The No. 3-ranked Cardinals will roll into the Koeppel Sports Center armed with a 20-5-2 record while the Bantams counter with a seventh-ranked squad which owns a 2015 mark of 22-3-1. The stakes of the game, which is slated to begin at 7 p.m., include a trip to Minneapolis, Minn., next weekend as one of the last four teams standing in Division III hockey.

Saturday's big-time tilt will mark just the third time in the past decade that the Cardinals and Bantams have locked horns. Each of the previous two rounds of non-conference collegiate hockey warfare have gone the way of Plattsburgh State.

The Cardinals demolished the Bantams in their most recent confrontation, coasting to a 9-0 triumph in the championship game of the Cardinals Classic on January 2, 2010. On the final day of 2005, Plattsburgh State racked up a 4-1 victory over the Bantams at that same venue.

Plattsburgh State and Trinity slugged it out for the first time on January 2, 1998, and the Cardinals won that one, too, by a 5-0 final score.

Scouting the Cardinals: Plattsburgh State is still riding high off of its 2-1 2015 SUNYAC Championship win over longtime nemesis Oswego State which gave it an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament. From there, the Cardinals received a first-round bye which allows them to skate into Hartford with the nation's second-longest unbeaten streak (seven games) in tow.

Balance on the offensive end has been one of the primary ingredients in the Cardinals' recipe for success this season as the team boasts six players who have amassed 19 or more points through the course of 2015. Leading the charge from an offensive standpoint is final-year man Connor Toomey. The All-SUNYAC Second Team member who hails from Billerica, Mass., has racked up a team-best 31 points (12 goals, 19 assists).

A potent goal-producing offense (4.22 per game) which ranks eighth among all of the 79 Division III squads coupled with a scoring defense which allows a paltry 2.04 goals per tilt (seventh in the nation) has put the Cardinals in a position to make a return trip to the NCAA Semifinal round.

Backstopping the Cardinals during their recent hot streak has been Brady Rouleau. The Fort Macleod, Alberta, product has gone 12-5-1 between the pipes this season and owns a save percentage of 90.8.

Scouting the Bantams: Almost a mirror image of their foes from the Empire State, Trinity rankes 10^th among Division III hockey teams in scoring offense (4.23 goals per game) and fifth in scoring defense, surrendering just 1.81 goals per skirmish.

Saturday marks just the second time ever the Bantams will be taking part in an NCAA Tournament game on their home ice after they took out Nichols 4-2 in a first-round battle on March 14. 2015 is appearing in the NCAA Tournament for just the fourth time in program history, and has a pair of top-20 scorers leading the charge.

Ryan Cole (15-21=36) and Michael Hawkrigg (14-20=34) rank 14^th and 18^th in the nation respectively in scoring and are two integral pieces for the Bantams' highly effective power play. Entering Saturday's tilt, only four teams in the nation are able to boast about a better power play percentage than the Bantams who have scored on 27.1-percent (29-for-107) of their attempts.

Only one other man in Division III hockey has pumped in more power play goals than Trinity sophomore Sean Orlando who has amassed 10 in 26 tilts. Taking up residence between the Bantams' pipes is Nathaniel Heilbron whose puck-stopping prowess has the junior ranked 12^th in goals against average (1.95 per game).