Plattsburgh Wins The PrimeLink
The Cardinals made a statement this past weekend, telling everyone they are indeed still capable of playing top-flight hockey by winning one of the toughest tournaments in Division III hockey.
First, they defeated St. John’s, 7-4. They found themselves down 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 in the first period before scoring four unanswered goals. Dylan Clarke scored twice as Josh Leis made 22 saves.
For the championship game, Plattsburgh needed a late third period comeback to defeat top ranked, defending national champions, Norwich, 3-2.
“It was a three-fold win for us,” Plattsburgh State coach Bob Emery told the Press-Republican. “One, we needed a win like this to get our season turned around. Two, we needed to win a big tournament like the PrimeLink. And, three, we had to beat a real good team like Norwich, which is one of the top two teams in the country.”
It appeared it would be more bad luck for Plattsburgh when they let up a soft goal at 8:25 of the third to fall behind, 2-1.
“It would have been disappointing to lose, 2-1, if that goal would have turned out to be the game-winner,” Emery said.
However, Nick Jensen tied it up at 13:19 and Matt Bessing got the game winner 1:10 later.
Plattsburgh has now won three in a row after losing three in a row.
Buffalo State Takes the Skidmore Invitational
The Bengals didn’t just win the Skidmore Invitational. They didn’t let up a single goal, beating the host team, 4-0, and Southern Maine in the finals, 3-0.
Everyone probably thought Kevin Carr was in net for both games, but not so. Senior Alan Fritch got the start the first night and made 24 saves for his first career shutout.
“Alan did a really good job,” Buffalo State coach Nick Carriere said. “Our guys played really well in front of him. He’s been a great teammate, understanding that Carr is the guy, biding his time. When he got the chance, he stepped up.”
Trevor McKinney scored the first and last goals of the game, with the former coming while short-handed.
Carr did get the start against Southern Maine, also needing 24 saves for his first career shutout. The game was decided late in the first (18:57) and early in the second (1:15) on goals by Bill Strakosch and Nick Petriello, respectively. McKinney scored again, this time a short-handed empty-netter.
Carriere summed up the reasons for Buffalo State’s success, “We got good goaltending all weekend. Some guys stepped up. Our penalty kill went 100 percent, and we killed off some five-on-three opportunities both nights.”
Elsewhere
– Geneseo split their games at the Adrian Tournament, beating Hamline, 4-2, and losing to Wis-Eau Claire, 2-0. Rich Manley and Jake Yard each got a pair of goals in the winning effort in a game that did not see the first goal scored until late in the second. The second game didn’t see the first goal scored until early in the third, and the Ice Knights were unable to answer.
– Early in the week, Potsdam won a wild game against Skidmore, 6-5. The Bears were up 1-0 and 4-1 before Skidmore cut the lead down to one. Potsdam then made it 5-3 in the third, but Skidmore tied the game with two goals within 39 seconds in the middle of the final period. Matt Rhymer finally put the Bears in the lead for good at lucky 13:13.
– Brockport salvaged a tie in the first round of the Rutland Herald Invitational at Castleton, locking horns with Tufts at 3-3. The Golden Eagles led 3-1 in the third, but Tufts scored at 13:41 and then with their goalie pulled, tied it at 19:44. They went to a shootout to determine who moved on to the championship game, and Brockport took it, scoring the only goal in the fourth round. Tom Galiani did the honors as freshman Joe Reagan stopped all four shooters he faced. This meant Brockport played the host team, which they lost to, 5-1, after taking the early lead.
SUNYAC Players of the Week (selected by the conference)
Player of the Week: Eric Satim, Plattsburgh (F, Sr., Montreal, Quebec) was named the tournament MVP and helped lead the Cardinals to the PrimeLink Great Northern ShootOut Championship. Satim recorded a goal and an assist in Friday’s 7-4 win over St. John’s. On Saturday, Satim tallied the first goal for Plattsburgh as the Cardinals defeated No. 1 Norwich in the Championship game.
Rookie of the Week: Nick Jensen, Plattsburgh (F, Helsingborg, Sweden) produced the game-tying goal to swing the momentum Plattsburgh’s way against No. 1 Norwich in the championship game of the PrimeLink Great Northern ShootOut. Jensen also assisted on the first goal of the game.
Goaltender of the Week: Adrian Rubeniuk, Geneseo (So., Grandview, Manitoba) posted a 4-2 win over No. 5 Hamline. Rubeniuk made 20 saves, handing the Pipers their second loss of the season, and remains unbeaten on the season at 4-0-1.
