Plattsburgh State Stuns Cortland 5-1

Image provided courtesy of CollegeHockeyStats.netTonight's NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey matchup between the Plattsburgh State Cardinals and Cortland Red Dragons started off with some quality hockey.  With Cortland demonstrating some serious offensive prowess by scoring a combined thirteen (13) goals in their last two games, Plattsburgh was not going to be tossed a softball...

...or, so it would seem.  For both teams, the first period of play was fairly even until the 14:22 mark when Plattsburgh's Chris Wieland put the Cardinals up 1-0 (with a nice setup by Ryan Corry and Eric Satim).  

At the start of the second period, it looked as if Cortland was poised to gain the upper hand.  For the first minute of play, Plattsburgh had a tough time settling into their game until Kyle Kudroch put the Cards up 2-0 at 1:32 with an assist by Kyle VanDermale.  Sixteen (16) seconds later, an alert Eric Satim capitalized on a brilliant pass from Matty MacLeod to give Plattsburgh a three (3) goal advantage.  From that moment forward, both Plattsburgh and Cortland found themselves spending a fair amount of time in the penalty box.  

As any remote hope for victory began to slip away from the Red Dragons, tensions escalated and both squads made their presence felt on the ice.  My only complaint was with Cortland's #9 - Jake Saville.  This jackass tried to assert his vigor by playing some unnecessarily dirty hockey.  In fairness, this was his only strength - as Helen Keller had a better chance of scoring a goal and contributing to the team than this moron. 

But I digress.  The second period had its share of unusual calls.  I was flabbergasted that the Cortland goalie - #31 Doug Danzi - was assessed a two-minute penalty after his helmet was knocked off his head.  There were numerous times this goaltender's equipment seemed to cause concern during the period.  I had thought that the officials would have stopped game play in the interest of safety when it was clear the goalie's helmet was knocked off and that the throat guard was out of whack.  I know that I would be livid if play was allowed to continue and our goaltender was in a similar situation.  Despite battling equipment annoyances, the Red Dragons managed to get on the board at 12:36 on a power play goal from Patrick Palmisano (assisted by Jake Saville).

Once the third period was underway, it was clear the Cards would be able to keep Cortland at bay.  Plattsburgh had jumped out to a commanding 5-1 lead thanks to a Vick Schlueter goal at 1:19 (assisted by Matty MacLeod and Kyle Kudroch) and a Patrick Jobb goal at 6:20 (with a little help from Matt Bessig and Paul Puglisi).  The Cardinals managed to keep the Red Dragons quiet by firing thirty-four (34) shots toward the net compared to Cortland's twenty (20) shots on goal.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's matchup as rival Oswego prepares to challenge the Cards on their home ice.  With both teams tied for first in the SUNYAC conference, this is sure to be an intense game.  For those of you attending the game, the Plattsburgh Cardinals will be giving away and signing posters of the team.  If you are unable to attend, PrimeLink will be streaming the game via the internet here (please note that you must have Windows Media Player to view the live broadcast).