Cardinals withstand heat

By JOHN CORYER
Staff Writer

January 07, 2009 03:23 am

— PLATTSBURGH — Norwich University, with the score tied at one in the second period Tuesday, was applying some heavy pressure in the Plattsburgh State end.

Cardinals' goaltender Bryan Hince made a couple of key saves, however, and Phil Farrow quickly turned the momentum on Plattsburgh State's side with a transition goal to put his team ahead to stay.

The top-ranked Cardinals then went on to record a 3-1 non-conference victory at the Stafford Ice Arena to improve their unbeaten mark to 12-0-2.

"It's a big win for our hockey program," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "That's three out of four points we've taken from Norwich this season."

The Cardinals and Cadets (5-3-2 overall) entered the second period tied at 1-all. But, Norwich had Plattsburgh State bottled up in its own end for a time and Hince came to the rescue.

The Cardinals finally got the puck out of their zone and Farrow, after taking Joey Wilson's pass from behind the net, slipped a nice backhander into the upper corner past Cadets' goaltender Ryan Klingensmith to put Plattsburgh State ahead 2-1.

"It's not how many saves you make, but when you make them," said Emery. "And, Hince makes the big saves at the right time.

"Farrow's goal was the turning point of the game and we played well after that."

Defenseman Tom Breslin then sent a low slapshot along the ice past Klingensmith at 15:05 of the second to give the Cardinals a two-goal lead.

Plattsburgh State, which was whistled for only one penalty over the first two periods, ran into trouble early in the third.

The Cardinals played shorthanded for much of the first seven minutes of the stanza and killed off a two-man disadvantage for 52 seconds early on. Norwich was never able to cut into its deficit, however, despite an 11-4 shot advantage in the third.

D.J. Fimiani scored from in close to give the Cadets the lead at 6:22 of the opening period.

But, the Cardinals got a big goal with just 32 seconds left in the stanza when Dylan Clarke one-timed an Eric Satim pass from behind the net past Klingensmith.

"Norwich was using a 1-2-2 forecheck and we were getting frustrated," Emery said. "Our defensemen were passing the puck to our wings, who weren't open and we had a lot of turnovers.

"But, once we figured it out and started to get the puck in deep, we started to play good hockey."

The Cardinals finished with a 27-21 shot advantage, with Hince making 20 saves and Klingensmith, 24.

Plattsburgh also welcomed the return of senior defenseman Nick Rolls, who had missed the previous six games with an injury.

"Rolls played pretty well and it was nice to get him back," Emery said.

The Cardinals are now idle until playing a non-conference contest at Skidmore College next Tuesday.

—

Plattsburgh State 3, Norwich 1

Score by periods:

Norwich 1 0 0 — 1

Plattsburgh State 1 2 0 — 3

First period- 1, Nor, Fimiani (Koehler, Viso), 6:22. 2, PSU, Clarke (Satim, Smith), 19:28. Penalties- Carpino, Nor (holding the stick), 7:49.

Second period- 3, PSU, Farrow (Wilson, Smith), 8:08. 4, PSU, Breslin (VanderMale, Willock), 15:50. Penalties- Oliver, Nor (slashing), 4:41. Baker, Nor (tripping), 11:43. Corry, PSU (tripping), 18:43.

Third period- no scoring. Penalties- Willock, PSU (hitting from behind), 1:19. Taylor, PSU (cross-checking), 2:28. Corry, PSU (tripping), 4:52. Viso, Nor (hooking), 7:07. Carpino, Nor (cross-checking), 8:33. Satim, PSU (interference), 16:28.

Shots on goal:

Norwich 4 6 11 — 21

Plattsburgh 11 12 4 — 27

Goaltenders (shots-saves): Klingensmith, Nor, 27-24. Hince, PSU, 21-20.

Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Norwich, 0-5. Plattsburgh, 0-5.

Attendance: 1,448.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.