College Hockey Stats Box Score

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team held on despite a late charge by No. 2/2 SUNY Geneseo, upending the defending State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) champion Knights, 3-2, in conference action at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena Friday evening. It marked the Cardinals' regular-season home opener.
 
Geneseo is ranked at No. 2 in both the USCHO.com Men's Division III Top-15 Poll and the D3hockey.com Men's Top-15 Poll.

The Knights pulled their goalie on a pair of power-play opportunities late in the third period, and it paid off on both occasions, scoring with the 6-on-4 advantage at 16:16 and 16:49 of the third period. Geneseo was unable to produce the equalizer, however, and the Cardinals escaped with the victory.
 
Both teams' power-play units performed well, with the Cardinals going 2-for-3 on the power play and the Knights going 2-for-5. Geneseo lost despite finishing with a 40-25 edge in shots on goal.
 
Plattsburgh State remains unbeaten with the win, rising to 3-0-0 overall (3-0-0 SUNYAC). The Cardinals will look to complete the weekend sweep tomorrow when they host The College at Brockport at 7 p.m. Geneseo slips to 3-1-1 overall (1-1-1 SUNYAC) with the loss and next visits SUNY Potsdam tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
 
Senior forward Cam Owens (Wilmington, Mass./Islanders Hockey Club) put the Cardinals on the board at 11:32 of the first period. Senior forward Ross Sloan (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades) sprung Owens forward with a stretch pass into the neutral zone, and Owens led an odd-man rush into the Geneseo zone. He dropped the puck off to sophomore forward Rich McCartney (Hershey, Pa./Philadelphia Revolution) in the slot, and McCartney took a shot that was turned aside by the Knight netminder. Owens then banged home the rebound just outside the crease to stake the Cardinals to a 1-0 lead.
 
With Geneseo sustaining a five-minute major, Plattsburgh State took advantage, as senior forward Pat Egan (Rochester, N.Y./Lone Star Brahmas) buried a power-play goal for his first of the season at 5:18 of the second period. Freshman defenseman Matt Araujo (Brookhaven, N.Y./Boston Jr. Rangers) fed freshman forward Christian DiFelice (Thorold, Ontario/Buffalo Jr. Sabres) from the point, and DiFelice centered a pass to Egan in the slot from the left face-off circle. Egan ripped a shot that beat the Geneseo goalie top shelf glove side to give the Cardinals a 2-0 advantage.
 
Senior forward Cole Stallard (Atlanta, Ga./New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) scored on the power play with 15:04 elapsed in the third period to hand Plattsburgh State a 3-0 cushion. With Geneseo trying to clear the zone, Araujo kept the Cardinals onside by batting the puck down with his arm just inside the blue line, and he zipped a pass from the left point down to Stallard in the right circle. Stallard one-timed the puck into the back of the net, beating the Knight goaltender glove side.
 
Geneseo began to make things interesting following a roughing penalty assessed to Plattsburgh State at 15:12 of the third period. The Knights started the power play by pulling their goalie in favor of the extra attacker, and the decision paid off, as junior forward David Szmyd scored a 6-on-4 power-play goal amongst traffic in the slot with 16:16 gone in the third. Junior forwards Conlan Keenan and Andrew Romano earned assists on the play.
 
The Cardinals took on another minor penalty following the goal, putting the Knights back on the power play with the neutral-zone face-off forthcoming. Geneseo pulled its goalie just before a stoppage with 16:34 elapsed in the third and decided to use its timeout. Junior forward Tyson Empey drew the Knights within one with another 6-on-4 power-play goal, scoring on a tight angle to the right of the goal along the goal line following a D-to-D pass from senior defenseman Mitch Ferguson to junior defenseman Duggie Lagrone that set up Empey's marker.
 
Geneseo twice pulled its goalie in the final 30 seconds of play, but the Knights were unable to net the game-tying goal with the extra skater on the ice.
 
Sophomore goaltender Jimmy Poreda (Tonawanda, N.Y./Connecticut Jr. Rangers) stood on his head with a 38-save performance in the win, with the lone goals he allowed coming on a 6-on-4 advantage for Geneseo. Senior goaltender Devin McDonald made 22 saves in the loss for Geneseo.