Plattsburgh Advances to SUNYAC Championship with 5-2 Win Over Brockport

2010.02.27 SUNYAC Semifinal - Plattsburgh vs BrockportWith the regular season over with, the Plattsburgh State Cardinals were looking to continue their post season run to earn a shot at the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) championship. Brockport had a fighting chance against Plattsburgh tonight. However, if history was any indication it would be Plattsburgh's game to lose. 

Brockport was ready for action - with highly regarded senior goaltender Todd Sheridan in net. Some regard him as one of the finest goaltenders in the conference. Some say he is a force to be reckoned with. Yes, perhaps he is one of the finer goaltenders in the conference. Big deal. I say there is only one word to describe Sheridan in net...

OVERRATED.

While it is true he has been a great goalie for Brockport, I cannot help but notice he is just unable to get it done in Plattsburgh.  The same lackluster performance in Plattsburgh that we saw earlier in the season resurfaced tonight. Surprise, surprise...

Plattsburgh would waste little time in dictating tonight's game. It only took thirty-five (35) seconds before the Cardinals would take a 1-0 lead courtesy of Dylan Clarke (assisted by Ryan Corry and Andrew Willock).  Matt Bessing fired in the second goal of the night (with assistance from Ian DeLong and Paul Puglisi) to put the Cardinals up 2-0 at 11:41. Throughout the entire first period, Brockport simply had nothing to offer.  Plattsburgh would hold them to a measly two (2) shots on goal for the entire first period of play.

The second period, however, was a different story for the Golden Eagles. For whatever reason, Plattsburgh appeared to relax a little bit on the ice. Brockport began to capitalize on some of the open doors they were given, and at 12:34 Ryan Selveira (with help from Nick Panepinto and Brett Jendra) would cut the Cardinal lead in half. Although Brockport managed to outshoot Plattsburgh nearly 2-to-1 in the second period, the Cardinals would retain a 2-1 lead as they headed into the intermission.

For Brockport, it was evident this was going to be another traditional performance in Plattsburgh. During the third period, Plattsburgh fired up the afterburners and did not look back. Dylan Clarke would fire in a blistering power play goal (assisted by Eric Satim) past Brockport goaltender Todd Sheridan at 1:55. Less than two minutes later, Matt Bessing would follow suit (courtesy Dan Sliasis and Patrick Jobb) and send his second goal of the night past Sheridan at 3:14; putting the Cardinals up to a solid 4-1 lead.  While the Golden Eagles did manage to send a puck through heavy traffic on the power play at 11:43 (scored by James Cody with assistance from Tyler Davis and Tom Galiani), they simply were not in contention. Plattsburgh's Dylan Clarke would nudge the puck into an empty net with 13.5 seconds remaining. In addition to earning a hat trick, this beautiful flick of the puck sealed the 5-2 victory for Plattsburgh.

Plattsburgh was in great form tonight, as was freshman goaltender Josh Leis.  Not only did he put one of the SUNYAC's finest goaltenders to shame, but he consistently shut down the Brockport offense. I love seeing how Leis has progressed throughout the season. He started off a little too shaky and unstable for my liking - with dropped and uncontrolled rebounds the norm - but has improved and wound up settling in to a solid style of control and confidence.  Way to go, Josh. 

--

Plattsburgh will travel to Oswego to face the Lakers in the SUNYAC championship. Originally, I had hoped my fine friends from Morrisville would make their way back to Plattsbugh - leading 2-0 at one point, then 4-3, and then...then they just fell apart. Oswego would pull even with a 4-4 tie after two periods of play; kicking into overdrive at the start of the third period and drop-kick Morrisville into next year.

How Morrisville managed to blow the game truly baffles me. When we left the Plattsburgh/Brockport game, Oswego had a 5-4 lead. When we pulled out of the parking lot a few moments later, Oswego had a 7-4 lead. I was half expecting a Morrisville upset prior to that, but after falling apart like that there would be no way they would overcome such a huge deficit. At the end of the night, Oswego would wind up with eight (8) goals - sending the Mustangs home with an 8-5 loss.