Plattsburgh leapfrogs into third
After Friday’s action, the scene was set for the Plattsburgh at Morrisville showdown. The Mustangs had 13 points while Plattsburgh had 12 points, as did Buffalo State.
Morrisville started the game with Nick Kulas scoring 2:24 after the opening faceoff. Then Plattsburgh scored three unanswered goals in a 6:03 span — Dylan Clarke, Kyle Kudroch on the power play, and Eric Satim.
“For four or five minutes of the game, they took it to us pretty good after we scored the first goal,” Morrisville coach Brian Grady said.
The Mustangs jumped out of the stable in the second period, scoring at the 28 second mark. Bobby Cass took advantage of a turnover and from a difficult angle off to the right the shot deflected off a Cardinals’ defender.
“Very relaxed play by one of our defenseman,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said. “Turns the puck over on the offensive blue line and the next thing you know it’s in the back of the net. Everytime you give up a goal in the beginning of the period like that, it’s going to give the other team momentum.”
Morrisville did play harder in that second period, and though they only had seven shots, they had quality chances, but could not manage to beat Josh Leis.
“Second period, I thought we showed great fight, great passion to get back into it,” Grady said.
“Morrisville played really hard five-on-five,” Emery said.
They kept the pressure on in the third period, but Dan Sliasis scored the all-important insurance goal at 6:35 to make it 4-2.
“We had opportunities in the third, but just didn’t capitalize,” Grady said. “Give them credit, they made the stops when they needed to.”
Satim put the game away with an empty-net goal, and then Kyle Van Dermale scored a last second fluke goal to make the final score 6-2.
“We have to play from in front and not playing catch up,” Grady said.
Though Emery was happy with the effort and glad to only give up two goals (“If we can keep the opponent to two goals, we should win a lot of games.”) he was very displeased with his teams undisciplined penalties, especially an unsportsmanlike conduct against Clarke when he was already receiving a hooking penalty.
“I thought we played smart with the lead outside of the penalties,” Emery said. “Very uncharacteristic of us. Guys aren’t going to play if they take bad penalties. We are going to be a disciplined team whether we win or not. I’m not going to settle for it. I think that was the first unsportsmanlike penalty I’ve had in 15, 16 years. I’m not going to tolerate it.”
In the meantime, Plattsburgh is now in third place, one point ahead of both Morrisville and Buffalo State. Everybody in the league has played 13 games except Morrisville, who has played 12 with 16 total games to be played.
Cortland puts scare in Oswego
Coming off its first North Country sweep in school history, Cortland showed that was no fluke, as they nearly upended the number one team in the country, Oswego.
Jon Whitelaw put Oswego in the lead in the first period, but Jarrett Gold quickly tied it up. Both goals were on the power play. Joey Christiano put the Red Dragons ahead in the second. At that point, Cortland desperately tried to hold off the Lakers onslaught, as Brittan Kuhlman continued his fine play in net.
At 16:34 of the third period, Michael Lysyj put Cortland ahead 3-1. Just when it looked like a major upset was in the making, Luke Moodie saved the day for Oswego 18 seconds later. This provided the momentum the Lakers needed as Dan Bremner scored 55 seconds afterward.
Paul Rodrigues won it in overtime at 4:06, breaking the hearts of Cortland. However, Cortland wasn’t done putting the scare in ranked teams.
After falling behind 2-0 to Elmira, Brian Roller and Chris Kaleta tied it up in the first 21 seconds apart. Then, they fell behind in the second but Ryan Markell tied it up. Then, they fell behind in the third, but Markell again tied it up.
Finally, Elmira scored two power-play goals to put the game away. Kuhlman made 43 saves in each game.
Yet, Cortland left a lot of teams worried if the Red Dragons get into the playoffs.
Other Highlights
– Potsdam kept its playoff hopes alive with an 8-5 win over Morrisville. When even strength, Potsdam played well. However, when down a man, they let up four goals in seven tries for Morrisville. Leading the way was Fraser Smith with two goals and two assists, Adam Place with a pair of goals, and Sy Nutkevitch with four assists. Former Potsdam player Tyler Swan scored twice against his old teammates.
– Geneseo took a hard fought 2-1 victory over Fredonia. Jordan Oye gave the Blue Devils the lead in the second. Rich Manley and Jonathan Redlick gave Geneseo the victory in the third.
– Geneseo took another one-goal win, 3-2, over Buffalo State with all the goals scored in the second period. Zachary Vit and Redlick scored on the power play at 0:29 and 1:16 before Buffalo State tied it up on goals by Dave Lansdowne and Trevor McKinney. Danny Scagnelli put Geneseo in the lead for good on another power play.
– Buffalo State won the night before, 4-1, over Brockport. McKinney scored twice, including an empty-netter to put the game away.
– Brockport came back the next day to cost Fredonia a crucial point in a 2-2 tie. Bryan Ross scored twice for Fredonia, each time tying the game, with the final tally coming with 2:02 left in the third period. Joe Reagan made 47 saves to keep his team in it.
SUNYAC Players of the Week (selected by the conference)
Player of the Week: Jonathan Redlick, Geneseo (F, Jr., Biggar, Saskatchewan) was part of four of Geneseo’s five goals in a pair of wins. Redlick scored a goal and an assist, including the game-winner with 7:15 to play on the power play to give Geneseo a 2-1 win over visiting Fredonia on Friday. On Saturday, Redlick netted his eighth of the season, giving Geneseo a 2-0 lead over Buffalo State before assisting on the game winner at 18:31 of the second period for the 3-2 final.
Rookie of the Week: Zachary Vit, Geneseo (F, Villanova, Penn.) assisted the game-winner vs. Fredonia on Friday and was in on all three goals in the win over Buffalo State on Saturday. Vit picked up the game-winning assist with 7:15 to play in the 2-1 win over the Blue Devils when he tipped the initial save back to the left faceoff circle. Geneseo scored three times on the power play in the second period against the Bengals for the 3-2 win. Vit opened the scoring just 29 seconds into the period. At the 1:16 mark, Geneseo took a 2-0 lead with an assist from Vit, and Geneseo got the game winner at 18:31 when Vit tallied his 20th assist on the year.
Goaltender of the Week: Josh Leis, Plattsburgh (So., Kitchener, Ontario) made 43 stops and recorded a .935 save percentage as Plattsburgh posted two wins on the week. He recorded 27 saves, including 12 in the third period, to preserve a 2-1 win against Middlebury. On Saturday, he made 16 saves in the Cardinals’ 6-2 win over Morrisville, allowing Plattsburgh to move into third-place in the SUNYAC standings.
