Rob Brennan

Tonight, the Plattsburgh State Cardinals were ready to return to home ice and put their recent away games behind them. They endured a humbling 4-1 loss at rival Norwich on Tuesday, January 5th and came back late in the game to leave Elmira tied 1-1 on Saturday, January 9th.  

It didn't take long for the Cards to find their groove. After just 1:07 of play, Kyle Kudroch would light the lamp thanks to a nice setup from Jared Docking.  Skidmore's Matt Czerkowicz would keep the Thoroughbreds in contention with a shot past Cardinal goaltender Williams at 4:28.  Plattsburgh's Kyle Kudroch and Jared Docking would team up once again to put the Cardinals up 2-1 late in the first (18:41).

As the second period began, it was evident Skidmore was starting to slip a bit.  The first half of the period afforded Plattsburgh some power play opportunities - although Skidmore goaltender John Bienkowski was there to keep the game within reach.  At least, he was there for the first half of the second period.  From that point forward, it was open season in Cardinal Country - with Kyle VanDermale (12:53), Dan Sliasis (17:06), and Chris Wieland (18:08) each tallying a goal to put the Cards up 5-1 at the end of two periods.  

To keep things interesting, it should be noted that Plattsburgh's scorekeeping once again screwed up in the middle of the game.  I still don't totally understand why this has become such an issue on home ice, but for Christ's sake - can someone learn how to operate the freakin' thing before the next home game in February?  Thanks.

Truthfully, that was about as interesting as the night would get.  Skidmore seemed deflated, and Plattsburgh would not pull any punches. Kyle Taylor fired in a shot at 1:15 of the third period, with Matty MacLeod following suit a hair over a minute later at 2:24. Skidmore had no choice but to call a timeout and try to regroup. It was too late.  They were down 7-1, and clearly unable to generate any meaningful scoring chances.  It did not help their morale when Brendan Cottam earned a two-minute penalty for hitting from behind.  He would not stay in the box for long, though.  Eighteen (18) seconds into the power play Ryan Corry would put the Cardinals up 8-1.

It was time for a change in goal. Surprisingly, it would not be from the Skidmore camp.  Bienkowski would remain in net until the bitter end; resembling a captain who was hellbent on going down with the ship he helped sink. Plattsburgh opted to try the untested Raphy Rossy in net to see what he would do. After Andrew Willock scored a beautiful goal at the 9:14 mark, it would be time for Skidmore to send their first shot to the virgin Plattsburgh goaltender...which made its way to the back of the net from Brendan Cottam at 10:31. Another puck found its way through at 14:16 from Skidmore's Sasha Thomas.  When all was said and done, Rossy faced three shots and was only able to save one (although it was a nice glove save). Suffice it to say, he has some serious homework to do.

Plattsburgh State clearly owned the night and dominated Skidmore with the 9-3 win.  Hopefully they will be able to retain this momentum as they head into a six (6) game stint on the road before returning home on Saturday, February 6th to take on Morrisville. Go Cards!