BUFFALO, N.Y. – The No.2 Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team lost their second straight game on Friday night, falling to Buffalo State 6-4 in State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) action. Despite a 45-24 advantage in shots, the Cardinals were unable to keep the Bengals off the board, falling to Buffalo State for the second time in their last two meetings.
 
The Plattsburgh State Cardinals are currently the No. 2 team in the USCHO.com Division III Top-15 poll. 
 
Bennett Stockdale (Ottawa, Ontario/Alabama Huntsville) continued his strong play as of late with a goal and assist, while Aaron Catron (Middletown, Del./Philadelphia Little Flyers) and Thomas Maia (Mississauga, Ontario/Nanaimo Clippers) also had a goal and assist each. Trey Thomas (Williams Lake, British Columbia/Brooks Bandits) tallied his first goal of the season, Luk Jirousek (Whitehorse, Yukon/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) had two assists, and Adam Tretowicz (Baldwinsville, N.Y./Buffalo Jr. Sabres) had one helper. Eli Shiller (Toronto, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) took his first loss of the season in net, allowing five goals while making 18 saves. 
 
The Cardinals dominated the shot battle, 45-24, but were never on the power play in 60 minutes of action. Buffalo State was 2-3 on power play opportunities, including the eventual game-winner scored late in the third period. 
 
Plattsburgh State falls to 9-2-0 (5-2-0 SUNYAC) and will next matchup with Fredonia, who they will play at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 9. Buffalo State improves to 5-8-0 (3-5-0 SUNYAC) and hosts SUNY Potsdam on Saturday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.
 
The Bengals started hot on Saturday, as their first and third shots of the game found the back of the net, giving the Bengals a 2-0 lead just under six and a half minutes into the game. The lead held through the first period, as Buffalo State managed to sink two of their four shots on goal for the advantage. 
 
The second period saw the Plattsburgh offense awaken, as they scored three goals in the second stanza. Stockdale got the scoring started, as Treotwicz intercepted a pass in the Plattsburgh offensive zone where he passed to Stockdale for a powerful one-timer and bar-down score, cutting the Bengal lead in half. Buffalo State was quick to respond, as they scored a power play goal less than four minutes later to go back up by two scores. Even quicker to respond after that, the Cardinals scored just over 30 seconds later, as Maia deflected a Jirousek shot into the net to put Plattsburgh back within one goal.
 
Just before the 13-minute mark in the second period, the Cardinals finally found the equalizer, as Buffalo States goalie looked to pass to a Bengal defenseman behind the goal line but his pass was intercepted by Stockdale. With an empty net, Stockdale passed back to Thomas streaking down the ice, who scored easily to tie the game at 3-3, a score that held into the second intermission. 
 
In the third period, Buffalo State retook the lead at the 5:11 mark, as Vadim Kiriakov scored for the Bengals. Plattsburgh was once again able to respond very quickly, as Catron tallied a transition score of a feed from Jirousek as he was skating down the slot toward the crease.
 
With a 4-4 tie holding for the next 10-plus minutes, Plattsburgh gave the Bengals a golden opportunity with just their third penalty of the game at the 16:47 mark, and they took advantage, as Parker Allison scored the game-winner with just over two minutes left in the game.
 
Pulling their goalie, the Cardinals were unable to score, eventually leading to an empty netter for the Bengals to seal the win with over 30 seconds to go. 
 
Marcus Cumberworth made 41 saves in goal, including a clutch 17 in the third period, to earn the win for the Bengals. Joe Glamos and Kiriakov each had one goal and two assists for Buffalo State while Allison, Tyler Penree, Nick Stuckless, and Connor Bizal each had goals.