PLATTSBURGH — It took the Plattsburgh State men's hockey team a while to find the back of the net Friday night.

The hosts, however, scored three goals within a four-minute span midway through the third period and pulled away to a 5-1 victory over Wesleyan University in the opening round of the Cardinal Classic at the Stafford Ice Arena.

Plattsburgh State (10-0-2 overall), playing its first game in the second half of the season, will oppose Castleton State, a 1-0 overtime winner over Williams College, in tonight's 7 p.m. championship contest. Wesleyan and Williams tangle in the third-place game at 4 p.m.

"I thought we played well coming out," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery.

"But, I give Wesleyan credit for sticking to their gameplan. Their goalie (Mike Palladino) made the first save and they did a good job making sure we didn't get second and third shots."

It was a scoreless game until Joey Wilson tallied a short-handed goal on a wraparound to give Plattsburgh State the lead for good at 14:40 of the second period.

Then, with 1:58 left in the second, Riley Hill scored a power-play goal down low to make it 2-0.

But, with just 19 seconds remaining, Brian Dew put Wesleyan on the scoreboard from in close off a nice passing play.

"It's frustrating for a coach to have his team give up a goal that late in the period," Emery said. "Instead of taking a 2-0 lead into the locker room, it's 2-1. We have to know how much time is left on the clock."

Wesleyan stayed in the game by killing off a 5-and-3 skating disadvantage for 1:22 early in the third. Penalties, however, would eventually catch up to the visitors.

Wilson added his second goal of the contest on a rebound for a power-play marker at 9:18 and Andrew Willock stuffed the puck into the net shortly after, at 9:46, to give Plattsburgh State a 4-1 lead.

Ward Smith's power-play goal on a slapshot from straight on, past a screened Palladino, gave Plattsburgh State a four-goal edge at 13:40.

Plattsburgh State finished with a 49-20 advantage in shots on goal, with Bryan Hince playing well in net for the hosts with 19 saves. Palladino also played well with 44 stops for Wesleyan (1-6 overall).

"We lacked emotion at times, but still created a lot of scoring opportunities," Emery said. "We moved the puck well on the powerplay.

"We also kept our opponent to one goal and you're going to win a lot of games if you do that."

Castleton State 1
Williams 0, OT

Stuart Stefan's goal with just 21 seconds gone in overtime lifted Castleton State (5-4) to a win in the first game. Brandon Heck had the assist on the game-winner.

Seth McNary stopped all 26 shots in recording the shutout in net for the Spartans. Marc Pulde made 23 stops in goal for the Ephs (4-3). There were only eight penalties called in the entire game.

—

Plattsburgh State 5, Wesleyan 1

Score by periods:

Wesleyan 0 1 0 — 1

Plattsburgh State 0 2 3 — 5

First period- no scoring. Penalties- Dennis, PSU (tripping), 3:22. Keats, Wes (hooking), 10:08.

Second period- 1, PSU, Wilson shg (Farrow), 14:40. 2, PSU, Hill ppg (Farrow, Greene), 18:02. 3, Wes, Dew (Robinson, Keats), 19:41. Penalties- VanderMale, PSU (tripping), 3:54. Sullivan, Wes (delay of game), 6:30. Evans, Wes (cross-checking), 12:34. Smith, PSU (hooking), 14:04. DePietto, Wes (hooking), 17:44.

Third period- 4, PSU, Wilson ppg (Corry, Farrow), 9:18. 5, PSU, Willock (Hill, Burke), 9:46. 6, PSU, Smith ppg (Satim), 13:40. Penalties- Burns, Wes (tripping), 1:15. Redpath, Wes (hooking), 1:54. Beck, Wes (tripping), 8:31. Sullivan, Wes (interference), 11:45.

Shots on goal:

Wesleyan 6 9 5 — 20

Plattsburgh State 16 16 17 — 49

Goaltenders (shots-saves): Palladino, Wes, 49-44. Hince, PSU, 20-19.

Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Wesleyan, 0-3. Plattsburgh State, 3-7.

—

Castleton State 1, Williams 0, OT

Score by periods:

Castleton State 0 0 0 1 — 1

Williams College 0 0 0 0 — 0

First period- no scoring. Penalties- Gullett, CS (interference), 3:39. Bartlett, CS (interference), 15:25.

Second period- no scoring. Penalties- Young, W (holding), 12:31. Curtis, CS (hooking), 18:52.

Third period- no scoring. Penalties- Fahey, W (hooking), 4:52. Bartlett, CS (interference), 8:38. Malchoff, W (interference), 14:59. Heck, CS (hooking), 17:14.

Overtime- 1, CS, Stefan, 0:21. Penalties- none.

Shots on goal:

Castleton State 3 7 13 1 — 24

Williams College 9 5 12 0 — 26

Goaltenders (shots-saves): McNary, CS, 26-26. Pulde, W, 24-23.

Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Castleton State, 0-3. Williams, 0-5.