OSWEGO, N.Y. -  The No. 4 Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team lost 4-3 on the road on Saturday evening, falling to Oswego State in a State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) matchup. The Cards tied the game at two goals early in the third period, but two late goals from the Lakers in less than a minute helped them pull out the win.

The Plattsburgh State Cardinals are currently the No. 4 in the USCHO.com Division III Top-15 Poll.

Luk Jirousek (Whitehorse, Yukon/Alberni Valley Bulldogs), Ryan Butler (Kelowna, British Columbia/ Adrian), and Bennett Stockdale (Ottawa, Ontario/Alabama Huntsville) each scored for Plattsburgh State in the loss. Eli Shiller (Toronto, Ontario/Wellington Dukes) took the loss in net for the Cards, making 24 saves in just under 60 minutes of action.

The Cards took advantage of the special teams to get the early lead, as Jirousek's goal was on the power play, but each team was 0-3 the rest of the way on extra-man opportunities. Shots were very close between, as the Lakers ended up with a 28-24 advantage.

Plattsburgh State falls to 17-4-2 (10-3-1 SUNYAC) and next hosts Buffalo State on Friday, Feb. 16 as the team wraps up their regular season schedule at home next weekend. Oswego State improves to 16-7-1 (12-3 SUNAYC) and will travel to SUNY Cortland on Friday, Feb. 16.

Despite a strong offensive start from Oswego, the Cards were the first to get on the scoreboard, working on the power play around the 7-minute mark. Kevin Weaver-Vitale (Toronto, Ontario/Markham Royals) started the play for Plattsburgh at center ice, working the puck to Jirousek who skated across the blue line. Jirousek passed off to Paul Bryer (Clarkston, Mich./Islanders Hockey Club) who passed back to Jirousek with an open shooting line for the slapshot score from the faceoff circle, putting the Cards up 1-0.

However, at the 9:34 mark, Drake Semrad tied the game at one for the Lakers, and just over four minutes later they took a 2-1 lead on a Tyler Flack goal. The 2-1 Oswego lead held into the first intermission and through the second period, as the teams battled to a stalemate in the second stanza.

The third period was full of action, as Butler evened the game back up after Ryan Hogg (Duncan, British Columbia/Islanders Hockey Club) made a beautiful pass to the senior on the doorstep for just his third goal of the year, with just under six minutes played in the third stanza. 

The 2-2 held through a 12-second power-play opportunity for both teams, all the way until the 15:28 mark when AJ Ryan tallied a score for Oswego State to take the lead. Less than a minute later, Matt McQuade scored the eventual game-winner to go up 4-2 on the Cardinals with less than four minutes left in the game.

The Cards did everything they could to hang around, as Tio D'Addario (Montreal, Quebec/Navan Grads) snuck a shot through the five-hole and sat just in front of the goal line before Stockdale skated in to punch the puck home with 2:13 to play.

Over the final minutes, the Cards tried to get a good look at a game-tying goal, but were unable to find the back of the net, as the Lakers earned the season sweep over Plattsburgh State. Cal Schell earned the win in goal, making 21 saves in 60 minutes of work.