PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – First-year goaltender Eli Shiller (Toronto, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) made 26 saves and senior forward Adam Tretowicz (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres) scored a first-period goal, but the No. 15 Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team fell, 2-1, to No. 8 Oswego State in the Comfort Inn Complex Winter Classic championship game on Saturday evening at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena. The game was a non-conference contest for both teams.
 
Oswego is ranked at No. 8 in the DCU/USCHO.com Men's Division III Top-15 Poll, while Plattsburgh State is ranked at No. 15.
 
Tretowicz, senior forward Brendan Young (Lefroy, Ontario/Blind River Beavers) and senior defenseman Jacob Modry (Albany, N.Y./Merrimack College) all represented Plattsburgh State on the All-Tournament Team, while sophomore forward Daniel Colabufo, senior defenseman Quinn Warmuth and first-year goaltender Cal Schell, who was the Tournament MVP, represented Oswego.
 
The Lakers' special teams wound up being the difference in the game, as Oswego went 2-for-4 on the power play, including a 2-for-2 mark in the opening period. The Cardinals, meanwhile, were 0-for-5 on the power play and were unable to score in the final 2:01 with the extra attacker due to an empty net. Plattsburgh State held a slight 30-28 edge in shots on goal.
 
Plattsburgh State drops to 9-4-2 overall with the loss and next visits Middlebury College on Friday, Jan. 13, at 7 p.m. Oswego rises to 11-5-1 overall with the win and has next weekend off before returning to the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena to face the Cardinals in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) game on Friday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m.
 
Tretowicz fired the opening salvo early, putting the Cardinals on the board at 1:46 of the first period. First-year forward Ryan Bonfield (Kemptville, Ontario/Brockville Braves) deflected a Laker clear attempt that graduate student defenseman Matt Araujo (Brookhaven, N.Y./Boston Jr. Rangers) intercepted on the left point, and Araujo sent a puck toward the net that Tretowicz deflected in.
 
Colabufo scored on the power play with 13:47 gone in the first to tie the game at 1-all. Warmuth passed D-to-D to senior forward Alex DiCarlo, and DiCarlo whipped a quick feed over to Colabufo in the right circle. Colabufo threaded a shot underneath the goalie's glove to net the equalizer.
 
Warmuth scored what stood up as the game-winning goal with 32.9 seconds left in the first period, tallying on the power play. Colabufo fed Warmuth on the point, and Warmuth threaded a shot through traffic in the slot to score. DiCarlo also earned an assist on the goal.
 
While Oswego held a 15-8 edge in shots on goal in the first period, Plattsburgh State saw its fair share of chances in the offensive zone the remainder of the game, outshooting the Lakers by a 22-13 margin the rest of the way. Schell prevented the Cardinals from tying the score, finishing the weekend with a .976 save percentage that included 11 saves to close out the Lakers' contest against SUNY Potsdam on Friday. He also kept the Bears scoreless in a three-round shootout to determine who advanced to Saturday's championship game.
 
Shiller made 26 stops in 57:59 of action, while Schell turned aside 29 shots for Oswego in the victory.