MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – The Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team skated to a 2-2 tie on the road Saturday night against the Wesleyan University Cardinals at the Spurrier-Snyder Rink in Middletown, Connecticut.
Lonan Bulger (Yellowknife, Northwest Territories/Hobart) scored his first goal of the season while
Luk Jirousek (Whitehorse, Yukon/Alberni Valley Bulldogs) also scored for Plattsburgh State.
Jacob Hearne (Ennismore, Ontario/Toronto Jr. Canadiens) played excellent in the net for the Cardinals of Plattsburgh, making 34 saves over 65 minutes of action.
Vlad Pshenichnikov (Moscow, Russia/Utica) tallied his first assist for Plattsburgh in his second game with the Cards, while
Aaron Catron (Middletown, Del./Philadelphia Little Flyers),
Jake Sacratini (Montreal, Quebec/AIC), and
Jack Ring (Hingham, Mass/Northeast Generals) also added assists.
Plattsburgh State played excellent on special teams scoring on their only power play chance and started the night out stopping Wesleyan's first six chances on their advantage before they scored at the end of regulation on a six-on-four to finish 1-7 on the penalty kill. Shots were pretty much even between the two squads, with Wesleyan holding a slim 36-34 advantage.
After 65 minutes of action, the game went into a shootout, which the Cardinals won as they made their first two shots and Hearne stopped Wesleyan's last two.
The Cardinals of Plattsburgh move to 6-5-1 on the season and next host Wentworth on Saturday, Jan. 11 in the second game of the Comfort Inn Complex Winter Classic at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena. Wesleyan moves to 1-6-2 and next heads to Williams on Friday, Jan. 10 for a conference matchup.
In the first period, the game was an evenly played match, with neither team controlling play for long stretches of action. Hearne made several stops to keep the game scoreless early, eventually allowing Bulger to give Plattsburgh the lead with less than a minute left in the period. After a missed shot from Sacratini, Catron corralled the miss and skated around the entire offensive zone, before dropping the puck off to Bulger in the right face-off circle. As Bulger picked up the loose puck, no Wesleyan defender picked up the junior defenseman, as he skated close to the goal undefended and buried a shot over the goalie's right shoulder. The goal gave Bulger his first of the season and just the third of his career, putting Plattsburgh up 1-0.
The second period saw Plattsburgh play in their defensive end for most of the period, as the Wesleyan skated with an advantage for over six-and-a-half minutes in the second stanza. The Cardinals were excellent, however, on the penalty kill, allowing just three shots in the period while holding Wesleyan scoreless on their power play opportunities. Unfortunately for Plattsburgh, a breakaway opportunity was finished by Owen Sweet at the 11:36 mark, knotting the game at a goal apiece.
The game remained tied heading into the third period, but the first chance at a Plattsburgh State power play halfway through the final period of regulation helped give the Cards the lead. At the 11:20 mark of the period, Pshenichnikov played a pass to Ring at the top of the point, where he rifled a one-timer down the slot, allowing Jirousek to redirect the puck into the back of the net for the Plattsburgh lead. The goal was the second of the season for the Jirousek in seven games played this year.
That lead held into the final minutes of action, but a late penalty on Plattsburgh and a subsequent timeout from Wesleyan allowed to set up a six-on-four opportunity with just over two minutes to go. 35 seconds in, Patrick Morrisey buried a shot for Wesleyan, tying the game with 1:38 to go in the period and sending the game into overtime.
In the extra frame, both goalies made three saves to hold their opposition scoreless sending the game to a shootout that saw Plattsburgh State make two shots to Wesleyan's one.
Patrick McDevitt made 32 saves in net to earn the tie for Wesleyan, while Sweet and Ethan Davidson picked up assists.
