GENESEO, N.Y. — Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey was edged by No. 1 SUNY Geneseo, 3-2, in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) game on Friday night at Ira S. Wilson Arena.
Plattsburgh State (2-2-1, 1-1-1 SUNYAC) next plays a SUNYAC game at SUNY Brockport tomorrow at 7 p.m. Geneseo (4-0-0, 2-0-0 SUNYAC) hosts SUNY Potsdam for a conference game tomorrow at 7 p.m.
The Cardinals fell behind, 2-0, early in the game before scoring a goal late in the first period to make the score 2-1 in favor of Geneseo heading into the first intermission.
At 7:47 of the first period, junior forward Justin Cmunt got to a rebound after Plattsburgh State's sophomore goaltender Anthony Del Tufo (Livingston, N.J./Philadelphia Revolution) made an initial save. Cmunt took the rebound and scored on a backhand into the top of the goal to put Geneseo in front, 1-0. Junior forward Tyson Gilmour and senior forward Brendan Miller tallied the assists.
Less than four minutes later, Cmunt scored his second goal of the game and sixth of the season to make the score 2-0. On the power play, Cmunt blasted a one-timer from outside the top of the right circle into the top of the net at 11:12 of the first period. Senior forward Levi Wunder and junior defenseman Alex Wilkins recorded the assists.
The score remained 2-0 until the final minute of the period when sophomore forward Carson Gallagher (Courtice, Ontario/Sacred Heart University) took a pass from senior defenseman Matt Araujo (Brookhaven, N.Y./Boston Jr. Rangers) in front of the net. Gallagher poked a shot through the goaltender's five-hole to make the score 2-1 at 19:00.7. Junior defenseman Jacob Modry (Albany, N.Y./Merrimack College) recorded the secondary assist.
After neither team scored in the second period, Geneseo's first-year forward Peter Morgan finished off a rush with his third goal of the season to make the score 3-1 at 5:37 of the period. After a Cardinal defensive zone turnover, Wunder skated all the way down the ice along the left sideboards while evading Cardinals. He then made a pass across the front of the goal to Morgan, who scored with a shot into the right side of the net.
Plattsburgh State increased its offensive pressure and junior forward Joe Kile (Troy, Mich./Johnstown Tomahawks) pulled the Cardinals to within one goal of the Knights when he scored his first goal of the season on a wrist shot from the high slot on the power play at 13:08 of the third period. First-year forward Luk Jirousek (Whitehorse, Yukon/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) and first-year defenseman Jack Ring (Hingham, Mass./Northeast Generals) garnered the assists.
The Cardinals kept applying pressure and pulled their goalie for the final 1:32 of the game. However, Plattsburgh State was unable to find the tying goal as Geneseo held on for the 3-2 victory.
Del Tufo (2-2-1) made 23 saves for Plattsburgh State.
Junior goaltender Matt Petizian started for Geneseo, but was removed due to an injury after 18:54 played. Petizian made six saves. First-year goaltender Adam Harris (2-0-0) made 20 saves and allowed two goals in relief to earn the victory.
