Oswego Dominates Plattsburgh with 6-3 win for SUNYAC Championship
Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 9:56 PM 
2010.03.06 Plattsburgh State falls to Oswego in SUNYAC ChampionshipIn the State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC), it is safe to say the Plattsburgh/Oswego rivalry is one of the most hotly contested battles. With the conference title on the line, both teams were looking to bring their best performance to the ice.
Of the two, Oswego was prepared and ready to do battle. Plattsburgh, on the other hand, was in for a rough night. For the Cardinals, the evening went from bad...to horrid...to forget about it; all within a matter of minutes.
To start things off, I was a bit surprised to see Coach Emery would give the nod to Williams in net in lieu of Josh Leis. In my opinion, although Leis had difficulty against Oswego this season, he has improved tremendously. It was evident the Cards were going to face an uphill battle.
To put it mildly, Plattsburgh was unable to generate any meaningful action throughout most of the night. While the Cardinals did outshoot Oswego in every period (10-8 in the first, 16-6 in the second, and 12-9 in the third) they just could not get it done. Defensively, numerous odd man rushes and missed coverage were the norm. And goaltending? Forget about it. This was the worst performance I have witnessed by a starting goaltender in recent memory.
Throughout the first period, Oswego had positioned themselves to control the game. While Plattsburgh remained a threat, there were enough turnovers and blown coverage that it would only be a matter of time before the Lakers would get on the board. Sure enough, Paul Rodrigues (assisted by Luke Moodie and Michael Gilchrist) put Oswego up 1-0 at 9:32. A few minutes later (13:26) Owen Kelley would blast a shot in (with some help from Andrew Mather) to send Oswego ahead with a solid two goal lead. Plattsburgh wound up with some excellent scoring opportunities but found themselves frustrated by the rock solid goaltending of Kyle Gunn-Taylor.
As both teams approached the midpoint of the second period, Plattsburgh's Andrew Willock (with some assistance from Eric Satim) finally put the Cards on the board with a goal at 9:17. For a little while, Plattsburgh had indicated their intent to play for the championship. At least, they did until Oswego kicked into overdrive. With an unassisted goal from Kevin Hulnink (16:11), Oswego pulled out to a 3-1 lead. Andrew Mather (with a setup from Owen Kelly) scored goal number four (4) at 18:04. And then, twenty-two (22) seconds later Taylor Ferris (assisted by Tyler Leimbrock) would propel the Lakers to a commanding 5-1 lead. And oh yeah, did I mention these three (3) goals came from just six (6) shots on goal the entire period?
Plattsburgh had no shot at contention; so they finally gave goaltender Josh Leis his turn in net to try and settle things down some. To add insult to injury, Oswego blasted their first shot past Leis at just fifty-one (0:51) seconds into the third. The Cardinals would endure the humiliating 6-1 deficit throughout most of the third period. While Plattsburgh did show signs of life in the final five (5) minutes of play, the sad reality was that it was too late. Power play goals from Eric Satim (assisted by Andrew Willock at 15:26) and Dylan Clarke (assisted by Eric Satim and Mike Grace at 17:42) cut the lead down a bit, but at the end of the night Plattsburgh would find themselves on the wrong end of a 6-3 routing.
On the bright side, Oswego played one hell of a game and rightfully earned tonight's victory. For Plattsburgh, the good news is that they still have an opportunity to continue play in the 2010 postseason. Depending on the final seeding, the Cardinals may earn a spot in the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey tournament. Stay tuned for more details!
Rob Brennan
The NCAA selection committee will release the national tournament bracket as of 6pm tonight - Sunday, March 7th, 2010. Plattsburgh will be waiting to see if they receive one of the three at large berths for the national championship.