February 10, 2008 04:00 am
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GENESEO -- It was a championship weekend on the road for the Plattsburgh State men's hockey team.
The Cardinals, following up on Friday's 4-2 victory at Brockport, skated to a 6-3 win at Geneseo to clinch the State University of New York Athletic Conference regular season title.
What it means is the Cardinals (21-3, 14-1) have earned home ice throughout the SUNYAC Tournament.
"Our primary goal every year is to win the SUNYAC regular season championship and we haven't done so in a while," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery.
"This is great for our program and great for our players. They have sacrificed a lot this year and I'm happy for them. Now, we have the opportunity to play in front of our fans in the conference tournament."
It marked the Cardinals' first SUNYAC regular season crown since 2004.
Mike Schiavi's goal at 13:21 of the second period broke a 2-all tie and gave Plattsburgh State the lead for good. Phil Farrow's power-play goal at 17:23 then provided the Cardinals with a 4-2 edge after two.
The Cardinals outshot the Knights, 20-3, in the second period.
"We did a great job with puck control tonight, especially in the second period," Emery said.
Plattsburgh State then broke it open in the third on goals by Dylan Clarke at 9:38 and T.J. Cooper at 11:50 for a commanding 6-2 lead.
Former Plattsburgh State skater Kevin Galan, on the powerplay, tallied the final Geneseo goal at 12:35 to finish the scoring.
"We also did a great job keeping the clock running in the third period, despite taking one bad penalty," Emery said. "You want to keep the clock running when you have the lead."
It went back-and-forth in the opening period with Eric Satim giving the Cardinals the lead just 25 seconds in, only to have Dan Brown answer for the Knights (6-17-0, 5-10) just 33 seconds later.
Farrow put the Cardinals back on top at 11:28. But, Mathieu Cyr's goal at 17:24 pulled Geneseo even again.
"I thought we played real well the entire game," Emery said.
"We made two mistakes in the first period that led to them scoring two goals. One of those was my fault for some lack of communication on the bench."
The Cardinals finished with a 45-21 shot advantage. Bryan Hince made 18 stops for Plattsburgh State and Derek Jokic 39 saves for Geneseo.
The Cardinals close out their regular season at Potsdam on Friday at 7 p.m.
"The Potsdam game is huge for us," Emery said. "It has NCAA (Division III) implications as far as the final rankings are concerned.
"If we take care of business against Potsdam, the most losses we can have is four."
Plattsburgh State 6, Geneseo 3
Plattsburgh State 2 2 2 -- 6
Geneseo 2 0 1 -- 3
First period- 1, PSU, Satim (Clarke, Greene), :25. 2, Gen, Brown (Galan), :58. 3, PSU, Farrow (Wilson), 11:28. 4, Gen, Cyr ppg (Rose), 17:24. Penalties- Cooper, PSU (hitting after the whistle), 7:35. Sankey, Gen (hooking), 7:35. Rose, Gen (cross-checking), 11:43. Hayden, Gen (boarding), 12:31. Burke, PSU (hooking), 15:34.
Second period- 5, PSU, Schiavi (Satim, Willock), 13:21. 6, PSU, Farrow ppg (Rolls, Hill), 17:23. Penalties- Cyr, Gen (slashing), 16:55. Kestell, Gen (hooking), 16:55. Tozzo, PSU (hooking), 19:33.
Third period- 7, PSU, Clarke (Wilson, Willock), 9:38. 8, PSU, Cooper (Greene, Thomson), 11:50. 9, Gen, Galan ppg (Kestell, C. Smith), 12:35. Penalties- Elliott, Gen (tripping), 3:14. Kestell, Gen (holding the stick), 3:52. Clarke, PSU (hooking), 12:29. Sliasis, PSU (slashing), 12:59. C. Smith, Gen (hooking), 15:24.
Shots on goal:
Plattsburgh State 10 20 15 -- 46
Geneseo State 7 3 11 -- 21
Goalies (shots-saves): Hince, PSU, 21-18. Jokic, Gen, 45-39.
Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Plattsburgh State, 1-7. Geneseo, 2-4.
Attendance: 1540.
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