College Hockey Stats Box Score

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team fell by a 7-4 final against No. 8/8 SUNY Geneseo on Saturday evening at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action.
 
Geneseo is ranked at No. 8 in both the USCHO.com Division III Men's Top-15 Poll and the D3hockey.com Men's Top-15 Poll.
 
The Knights, who are tied with Oswego State for the SUNYAC lead, outshot the Cardinals by a 37-32 margin and went 2-for-4 on the power play. Plattsburgh State went 1-for-2 with the extra attacker.
 
After Geneseo held a 3-1 lead in a mostly back-and-forth defensive battle through two periods, the two teams combined for seven goals on 22 total shots on net in the third period to spell the final score. Sophomore forward Tyson Empey led the Geneseo charge with a five-point night, tallying two goals and three assists while posting a +3 rating.
 
Plattsburgh State drops to 10-9-0 overall (4-7-0 SUNYAC) with the loss and visits Norwich University on Tuesday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m. in its final non-conference game of the regular season. Geneseo rises to 13-4-3 overall (8-2-3 SUNYAC) with the win and next hosts SUNY Canton on Friday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m.
 
Sophomore forward David Szmyd put Geneseo on the board 12:00 into the first period. Empey carried the puck into the zone for the Knights and played a puck out in front of the goal from behind the goal line. Junior forward Anthony Marra got his blade on the puck before Szmyd tucked a low shot inside the right post.
 
Junior defenseman Mitch Ferguson made it a 2-0 game for the Knights with a power-play goal with 11:19 gone in the second. Empey passed to junior defenseman Duggie Lagrone along the boards up to the right point, and Lagrone connected with Ferguson with a D-to-D pass. Ferguson then skated to the top of the left face-off circle and roofed a shot glove side.
 
Geneseo scored again exactly one minute later. Marra passed to Empey in transition in the Knights' defensive zone, and Empey entered the zone and went behind the goal line. He went around the net and found Szmyd in front of the crease. Szmyd was able to navigate through heavy traffic to punch the puck in to make it a 3-0 Geneseo lead.
 
Sophomore defenseman Antoine Fournier-Gosselin (Saint-Lazare, Quebec/Cégep de Saint-Laurent) cut the gap to 3-1 with 15:43 elapsed in the second. A Geneseo skater mishandled the puck in the neutral zone, and Fournier-Gosselin flicked the puck out to junior forward Cam Owens (Wilmington, Mass./Islanders Hockey Club). With a 3-on-1 opportunity on the rush, Owens fed Fournier-Gosselin in the slot, who used a shot low glove side to beat the goalie.
 
Empey kicked off the offense-heavy third period with a power-play goal just 1:16 in. Sophomore forward Conlan Keenan passed to sophomore forward Andrew Romano to bring the puck into the offensive zone. Romano then centered a pass to Empey in the high slot, who beat goalie glove side.
 
Senior forward Sotiris Athanasopoulos netted the eventual game-winner with 6:23 gone in the third. Junior forward Joe Serpico passed along the left boards to senior defenseman Pat Condon on the left point. Condon faked a shot from the point before skating to the top of the left circle to take a slap shot. The shot got caught up in traffic in front of the net before Athanasopoulos banged it home.
 
Plattsburgh State countered with a goal that came immediately after the ensuing draw. A Geneseo defenseman was unable to cleanly handle the puck that was played back to him, and junior forward Cole Stallard (Atlanta, Ga./New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) took advantage. Stallard stole the puck away in the Cardinals' offensive zone and went five-hole in the slot to make it a 5-2 game.
 
Empey scored his second goal of the game with 12:09 elapsed in the third period. The Cardinals tried to wrap the puck around the boards in their defensive zone before Condon intercepted the clearance attempt at the blue line along the left boards. Condon passed D-to-D to freshman defenseman Kyle Hartman, who took a shot from the blue line that was tipped into the goal by Empey.
 
Sophomore defenseman Philip Middleton (Vail, Colo./Salmon Arm Silverbacks) answered 1:15 after that score to make it a three-goal game once again. Junior forward Ross Sloan (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades) passed cross ice to Middleton, who played it down to sophomore forward Noah Batis (Martinsville, Ind./New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) along the left wing. Batis passed back up to Middleton, who ripped a shot from the blue line past the Knight goaltender.
 
Geneseo's final goal of the game came by means of an empty net with 15:58 gone in the third period. Lagrone smacked the stick of a Cardinal skater in his defensive zone, and the puck slid all the way down the ice and into the unmanned goal to make it a 7-3 score.
 
Freshman forward Rich McCartney (Hershey, Pa./Philadelphia Revolution) scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season 17:24 into the third period, finding the back of the net on the power play. Freshman forward Liam Lawson (Vancouver, British Columbia/Powell River Paper Kings) took a shot from the top of the left face-off circle that was blocked, and the puck trickled into the high slot where sophomore defenseman Charles Barber (Queensbury, N.Y./New York Bobcats) took a wrist shot. Barber's attempt was redirected into the goal by McCartney, who was planted right outside the crease along the right post.
 
Freshman goaltender Jimmy Poreda (Tonawanda, N.Y./Connecticut Jr. Rangers) made 30 saves in the loss for Plattsburgh State, while junior goaltender Devin McDonald turned aside 28 shots in the win for Geneseo.