College Hockey Stats Box Score

OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team earned the No. 4 seed in the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) Tournament on the final day of the regular season, edging rival and No. 3/4 Oswego State, 1-0, in front of a sellout crowd at the Marano Campus Center Arena on Saturday evening in conference action. The Cardinals are now 4-0-2 in their last six meetings against the Lakers in Oswego, which included last year's SUNYAC championship game.
 
Oswego is ranked at No. 3 in the USCHO.com Men's Division III Top-15 Poll and No. 4 in the D3hockey.com Men's Top-15 Poll.
 
The victory, in conjunction with a SUNY Potsdam loss against SUNY Cortland, locked the Cardinals into the No. 4 seed in the SUNYAC Tournament. Plattsburgh State will host fifth-seeded Fredonia in the first round on Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.
 
Plattsburgh State rises to 13-11-1 overall (7-8-1 SUNYAC) with the win, while Oswego drops to 18-5-2 overall (13-2-1 SUNYAC) with the loss. The Lakers earned the No. 1 seed in the SUNYAC Tournament and will host a semifinal-round game on Saturday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m.
 
Freshman forward Liam Lawson (Vancouver, British Columbia/Powell River Paper Kings) provided the eventual game-winner with 3:13 left in regulation on a shift change, stunning a sea of white shirts in the crowd after Oswego had dominated play for much of the game. Freshman forward Mike Falanga (East Haven, Conn./Islanders Hockey Club) centered the puck to junior forward Jesse Neher (Calgary, Alberta/Cowichen Valley Capitals) in the Cardinals' defensive zone from the right boards, and Neher sent a short pass to Lawson, also on the defensive end. Lawson skated into the zone, navigated around three Laker defenders and wristed a shot past the goaltender glove side from the top of the right face-off circle.
 
Further cementing the victory for the Cardinals beyond the late goal was a two-minute minor for kneeing that the Lakers sustained with 1:22 left in regulation. Oswego pulled its netminder with 41 seconds left, and with three seconds remaining, an icing call gave the Lakers a chance at an offensive-zone face-off. Both teams took a timeout to draw up one last play, and while Oswego won the draw, it was unable to get the puck out into a high-percentage scoring area.
 
Plattsburgh State gained significant momentum from killing off a five-minute major that spanned the end of the first period to the beginning of the second. During that penalty kill, Poreda made six saves, while three different Cardinals came up with blocked shots.
 
The Cardinal defense stood on its head all game, thanks in large part to the play of freshman goaltender Jimmy Poreda (Tonawanda, N.Y./Connecticut Jr. Rangers). Poreda made 35 saves in the shutout victory, his third of the season. Sophomore goaltender David Richer turned aside nine shots in the loss for the Lakers.
 
Oswego finished with a dominating 35-10 margin in shots on goal, while both teams were unable to score on the power play. Oswego was 0-for-5, while Plattsburgh State went 0-for-3.