PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – Despite tying the game early in the third period, the Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team fell, 6-3, to conference-leading and No. 2-ranked SUNY Geneseo on Friday evening in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.
 
Geneseo is ranked at No. 2 in the DCU/USCHO.com Men's Division III Top-15 Poll.
 
The Knights went 3-for-5 on the power play and finished with a 43-29 edge in shots on goal. The Cardinals were 1-for-2 on the power play.
 
Geneseo's first-year forward Domenic Garozzo had a hat trick with three goals, while first-year forward Peter Morgan enjoyed a four-point night on one goal and three assists. Senior forward Dan Bosio scored a goal and added two assists. Junior defenseman Jacob Modry (Albany, N.Y./Merrimack College) posted the lone multi-point outing for the Cardinals, earning two assists.
 
Plattsburgh State falls to 10-7-3 overall (6-4-1 SUNYAC) with the loss and looks to bounce back tomorrow with a 7 p.m. game against SUNY Brockport. Geneseo rises to 16-1-1 overall (8-0-1 SUNYAC) with the win and visits SUNY Potsdam tomorrow at 7 p.m.
 
Garozzo put the Knights out in front early, scoring 55 seconds into the game. An aggressive forecheck resulted in Morgan sweeping a pass over to Garozzo, and Garozzo scored low glove side from the left face-off circle. Senior forward Levi Wunder also earned an assist on the play.
 
Geneseo's junior forward Justin Cmunt scored on the power play with 9:50 elapsed in the first period to double the Knights' advantage. Wunder took a shot that sophomore goaltender Anthony Del Tufo (Livingston, N.J./Philadelphia Revolution) got a pad on, and senior forward Brendan Miller picked up the rebound from behind the goal line. Miller sent a pass out in front to Cmunt at the bottom of the right circle, and with Del Tufo looking for the puck behind the goal line, Cmunt banged it in the open net.
 
Just 24 seconds later, junior forward Adam Tretowicz (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres) put the Cardinals on the board. Modry took a shot from the right point that sophomore forward Thomas Maia (Mississauga, Ontario/Nanaimo Clippers) redirected into the left pipe, and with the Geneseo goalie sprawled on the ice, Tretowicz hammered home the rebound.
 
Sophomore forward Paul Bryer (Clarkston, Mich./Islanders Hockey Club) leveled the tally at 14:39 of the second. First-year defenseman Jack Ring (Hingham, Mass./Northeast Generals) sprung junior forward Hunter Alden (Walla Walla, Wash./Northeast Generals) forward leading an odd-man rush, and Alden took a shot that was saved. With the rebound slowly trickling to the goalie's right, Bryer banged the puck into the back of the net.
 
Bosio put the Knights back out in front by scoring on the power play with 11.5 seconds left in the first period. Morgan passed to junior forward Tyson Gilmour, and Gilmour looped around the back of the net before sending a pass out in front that Bosio used to score glove side.
 
After a scoreless second period, sophomore forward Trey Thomas (Williams Lake, British Columbia/Brooks Bandits) tied the game at 3-all with a power-play goal 3:33 into the third. Sophomore forward Carson Gallagher (Courtice, Ontario/Sacred Heart University) sent a cross-ice pass to Modry, and Modry one-timed the puck on net that resulted in a pad save. Thomas was waiting on the doorstep to hammer in the rebound, marking the Cardinals' third goal of the game scored off of a rebound.
 
Morgan tallied on the power play with 8:30 elapsed in the third to give Geneseo a lead it would not relinquish the rest of the game. Senior defenseman Matthew Doran took a shot from the point that was saved, and Bosio slid the puck toward the left post that Morgan knocked in stick side.
 
Garozzo added insurance with 12:18 gone in the third. Wunder helped force a turnover in the defensive zone, and Morgan sent a pass ahead to Garozzo. In a one-on-one situation with Del Tufo, Garozzo went to the backhand and scored low glove side.
 
Garozzo completed the hat trick with 53 seconds left, scoring on an empty net. Gilmour and Bosio also earned assists on the goal.
 
Del Tufo made 37 saves in the loss for the Cardinals, while junior goaltender Matt Petizian turned aside 26 shots in the win for the Knights.

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