College Hockey Stats Box Score

OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team relied on a 28-save effort from sophomore goaltender Jimmy Poreda (Tonawanda, N.Y./Connecticut Jr. Rangers), but the Cardinals came up short in a 4-0 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) loss to archrival and No. 8/9 Oswego State Saturday evening at the Marano Campus Center Arena in their final game of the 2018 portion of their schedule.

Oswego is ranked at No. 8 in the USCHO.com Men's Division III Top-15 Poll and No. 9 in the D3hockey.com Men's Top-15 Poll.

The win helped Oswego snap a six-game winless streak against Plattsburgh State at the Marano Campus Center Arena, as the Cardinals entered Saturday 4-0-2 in the two teams' last six meetings in Oswego.

The Lakers finished with a 32-21 edge in shots on goal and ended up going 1-for-3 on the power play in addition to scoring a shorthanded empty-net goal. The Cardinals were scoreless on four power-play opportunities.

Plattsburgh State drops to 5-5-1 overall (5-3-1 SUNYAC) with the loss and next hosts the W.B. Mason Winter Classic from Friday-Saturday, Jan. 4-5. The Cardinals open up the tournament against Connecticut College on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. Oswego rises to 7-2-0 overall (5-2-0 SUNYAC) with the win and next host Williams College in a pair of non-conference games from Saturday-Sunday, Dec. 29-30.

Neither team scored in the first period, but both goalies stood on their heads in the stanza.

Sophomore forward Rich McCartney (Hershey, Pa./Philadelphia Revolution) started an odd-man rush after digging the puck out along the right boards in the neutral zone with 12:32 gone in the first period, but Oswego's junior defenseman Tyler Currie blocked the shot attempt up into the netting to force a face-off. Less than a minute later, Oswego's junior goaltender David Richer made a pad save on a backhanded shot by senior forward Cam Owens (Wilmington, Mass./Islanders Hockey Club) in front of the crease to stop perhaps the Cardinals' best scoring opportunity of the period.

Poreda made a pair of pad saves late in the first to keep Oswego off the board in a period in which it outshot Plattsburgh State, 10-7.
 
The Lakers opened scoring 5:47 into the second period. Junior forward Anthony Passero sent a backhanded centering pass to junior forward Michael Gillespie from the bottom of the left face-off circle, and Gillespie dragged puck across crease before scoring low glove side. Sophomore defenseman Carter Allen also earned an assist on the play.
 
Oswego made it a 2-0 game at 9:31 of the second period. Sophomore forward Tanner Spink sent a stretch pass forward to junior forward Josh Zizek, and Zizek led a 2-on-1 rush into the Cardinal zone. Zizek passed to freshman forward Josh LeBlanc, and LeBlanc took a shot that Poreda initially deflected with his stick before the puck went through the five-hole.
 
Junior defenseman Andrew Pizzo (Thorold, Ontario/Niagara University) nearly put the Cardianls on the board at 14:04 of the second period, as he took a shot from the left point that hit the right pipe.
 
Poreda made two big saves early in the third period. He denied senior forward Josh Nenadal with a pad save on a breakaway opportunity 25 seconds into the period before making another stop with his pads at 1:52 of the third on a shot by junior forward Joseph Molinaro.
 
At 10:05 of the third period, Poreda came up with another clutch save, stopping a shot by Gillespie from the right circle with his glove.
 
Oswego added insurance with 14:13 gone in the third on the power play, as junior forward Mitch Emerson took a pass from Zizek on the rush, and Emerson scored over the goalie's blocker with a wrist shot from the high slot. Senior forward Cameron Berry also earned an assist on the play.
 
Nenadal put the game on ice at 17:14 of the third period with a shorthanded empty-net goal. He forced a turnover along boards in the defensive zone and sent the puck the length of the ice into the unmanned net.
 
Richer backstopped the Lakers with a 21-save shutout.