MORRISVILLE, N.Y. — The Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team defeated SUNY Morrisville, 4-3 in overtime, in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) game on Saturday night at the SUNY Morrisville IcePlex.

Plattsburgh State (7-4-2, 5-2-1 SUNYAC), which played its final game of the calendar year, next hosts King's College (Pa.) as part of the W.B. Mason Winter Classic at 7 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 7, at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena. Morrisville (4-8-1, 1-7-0 SUNYAC) next hosts Arcadia University in a non-conference game on Wednesday, Jan. 5.

Plattsburgh State fell behind 1-0 at 1:13 of the first period. Morrisville's first-year forward Curtis Abbott passed the puck from below the Plattsburgh State goal line to first-year forward Stevie Gerbis in the slot and Gerbis scored his second goal of the season with a quick wrist shot. 

The Cardinals answered back to tie the game at 1-1 at 3:34 of the first period. Skating to the front of the net, sophomore forward Pavel Kharin (Ann Arbor, Mich./Johnstown Tomahawks) quickly redirected a pass from graduate student forward Mike Falanga (East Haven, Conn./Islanders Hockey Club) past the goaltender for the goal.

Under three minutes later, Morrisville State's first-year defenseman Rob Haak scored on a screened slap shot from the right point that went in underneath the crossbar to give Morrisville a 2-1 lead. Haak's first career goal came at 6:16 of the first period. Junior forward Ben Sprague and sophomore forward Steven Ford tallied the assists. 

Over halfway through the second period, Plattsburgh State tied the game at 2-2 when sophomore forward Carson Gallagher (Courtice, Ontario/Sacred Heart University) took a pass from sophomore forward Thomas Maia (Mississauga, Ontario) and finished off a 2-on-1 rush for his fourth goal of the season at the 10:54 mark. Junior defenseman Jacob Modry (Albany, N.Y./Merrimack College) was credited with the secondary assist.   

With time winding down in the second period, Morrisville went ahead 3-2 at the 18:46 mark. First-year forward Chris Mott finished off a rush when he took a pass from first-year forward Jake Kaplan and scored with a wrist shot from the slot that went in under the crossbar.  

The score remained 3-2 until 5:49 of the third period when Maia scored his third goal of the season to make the score 3-3. In front of the net, Maia took a pass from Gallagher and scored with a shot through the five-hole. Sophomore defenseman Kevin Weaver-Vitale (Toronto, Ontario/Markham Royals) tallied the secondary assist for his first collegiate point.

Neither team scored for the rest of regulation and the game went to overtime where Plattsburgh State's first-year forward Luk Jirousek (Whitehorse, Yukon/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) scored the game-winning goal at the 1:48 mark. First-year forward Jake Lanyi (North Salem, N.Y./Connecticut Jr. Rangers) skated the puck to the net before playing a pass to Jirousek in the slot. Jirousek scored on a wrist shot to give Plattsburgh State the 4-3 overtime victory.

Sophomore goaltender Anthony Del Tufo (Livingston, N.J./Philadelphia Revolution), who made 22 saves for Plattsburgh State, has a 7-4-2 record on the season. Sophomore goaltender Owen Liskiewicz (4-8-1) stopped 38 shots for Morrisville.

Shots on goal were 42-25 in favor of Plattsburgh State.

Plattsburgh State finished the game 0-of-1 on the power play and Morrisville was 0-of-2.

UFirst Federal Credit Union is the official Zamboni sponsor of Plattsburgh State men's and women's ice hockey.