Cards need 3 points to clinch

By JOHN CORYER
Staff Writer

February 08, 2008 04:00 am

— PLATTSBURGH -- The Plattsburgh State men's hockey team hit a little bump last weekend.
The Cardinals, however, can make everything better the next two days.
Plattsburgh State, which is at Brockport tonight and Geneseo on Saturday night, has an opportunity to wrap up the State University of New York Athletic Conference regular-season title with a strong showing.
"It's a huge weekend for us," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery, "Our primary goal has always been to win the (SUNYAC) regular season championship.
"We need three points to do it, but in my mind we need to win two of our last three games. We have three road games remaining, and that makes the Brockport game that much more important.
"I can't remember the last time a Brockport game meant so much."
The Cardinals (19-3, 12-1) had their eight-game winning streak come to an end at the Stafford Ice Arena last Saturday in a 3-1 setback to Fredonia.
It was also the first conference loss of the season for Plattsburgh State, which now leads second-place Oswego by three points, with three conference games remaining on the schedule.
"The key this weekend for us is defense," Emery said. "Defense wins championships and that's what our team needs to focus on. We didn't do very well defensively against Fredonia, especially early on in the game.
"I can't jump into the players' minds. I don't know if losing the game to Fredonia is going to help us focus better. But, we do need to start focusing better and that starts with Brockport.
"We've had two good practices this week and we'll see what happens."
The Golden Eagles (6-13-2, 3-8-2) dropped two conference road games last weekend -- 4-2 at Cortland and 9-2 at Oswego.
Brockport, which fell at Plattsburgh State by a 6-1 score back on Nov. 30, is 0-3-1 in its last four games.
The Golden Eagles have cut down their goals-against this season. Brockport has allowed three goals or less in 10 of its games.
Geneseo (6-15, 5-8), meanwhile, is fighting for its playoff life. The Ice Knights come into the weekend with a surprising seven losses in its last eight games.
Geneseo, however, is still playing the better teams tough.
The Cardinals had to go overtime at home for a 5-4 win over the Knights on Dec. 1, and Geneseo gave Oswego all it wanted at home last Friday night before falling by a 5-4 score.
"We have become an easy opponent to play because of our record," Emery said. "Both Brockport and Geneseo are still playing to get into the playoffs.
"We have some guys with bumps and bruises right now. But, we should be okay.
"I do know one thing for sure. You're not going to hear any excuses from the coaching staff this weekend."
Following the two games this weekend, the Cardinals have just one regular season contest remaining -- that being on Saturday, Feb. 16 at Potsdam.