OSWEGO — The Plattsburgh State men's hockey team ended any suspense Friday night.

Joey Wilson and Kyle Kudroch scored goals and the Cardinals clinched the State University of New York Athletic Conference regular season championship by holding on for a 2-1 win over rival Oswego.

The top-ranked Cardinals improved to 14-0-1 in the conference and 21-1-2 overall, with a game in Cortland tonight at 7 p.m. to close out the regular season.

"We can enjoy this win," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "Our first goal is to win the conference regular season title and we've reached that."

The victory gives Plattsburgh State home ice throughout the SUNYAC Tournament. The Cardinals will host a semifinal contest on Feb. 28 at the Stafford Ice Arena.

The Lakers (17-6-1, 11-3-1) lost to the Cardinals by one goal for the second time this season.

"It's tough to beat them because they're a quality team," said Oswego head coach Ed Gosek. "They're well coached and we're not going to outskill them.

"They were the better team tonight and obviously the scoreboard showed it."

It was a scoreless contest until Wilson put the Cardinals in front to stay at 11:39 of the second period with his 20th goal of the season.

Kudroch then made it 2-0 with just 2:03 gone in the second stanza before Peter Magagna's goal at 5:28 pulled the Lakers back to within one.

"We had a slow first period — we didn't play that well and we were tight," Emery said. "We didn't skate as well with the puck as we could have in the first.

"But, I thought we played a great second period and were then able to take time off the clock in the third. We played real disciplined."

Oswego didn't help itself with a couple of ill-advised late penalties.

"We were trying to beat them with the first shot instead of getting pucks to the net and outworking them for rebounds," Gosek said. "We didn't do a good job with that. But, the biggest disappointment is the lack of discipline at the end.

"A few of the guys were selfish and put themselves in front of the team. The penalties at the end of the game — you can't have them."

Oswego finished with a 27-22 advantage in shots on goal. Bryan Hince was strong once again between the pipes for Plattsburgh State while stopping 26 of 27 shots.

"You're only as good as your goaltender and Hince made every save when we needed it tonight," said Emery.

Tim Potter and Paul Beckwith combined to stop 20 of 22 shots in net for Oswego.

"We played well with the lead," said Emery. "We had some great chances to score, but not a lot of them."

Cortland, the Cardinals' opponent tonight, dropped a 4-1 decision at home to Potsdam on Friday night and is currently tied for sixth in the SUNYAC standings with Buffalo State and Fredonia. The top six teams in the standings move on to the conference tournament.

It's an important game for both teams.

"This is a big game for us and the players know it," said Emery. "If we win, there's a good chance we'll be the No. 1 seed heading into the NCAA (Division III) Tournament no matter what happens in the SUNYAC Tournament."

—

Plattsburgh State 2, Oswego 1

Score by periods:

Plattsburgh State 0 1 1 — 2

Oswego 0 0 1 — 1

First period- no scoring. Penalties- Willock, PSU (interference), 5:07. Mather, Osw (interference), 7:00. Novak, Osw (interference), 16:38. Willock, PSU (hooking), 17:33.

Second period- 1, PSU, Wilson (Sliasis), 11:39. Penalties- Burke, PSU (tripping), 6:25. Mather, Osw (boarding), 8:10. Burke, PSU (interference), 16:24.

Third period- 2, PSU, Kudroch (Schlueter, VanderMale), 2:03. 3, Osw, Magagna (McLaughlin), 5:28. Penalties- Hill, PSU (interference), 2:35. Gagnon, Osw (interference), 3:10. Mallaro, Osw (contact to the head), 6:00. Whitehead, Osw (slashing), 17:42. Selleck, Osw (cross-checking), 19:37. Corry, PSU (tripping), 19:58.

Shots on goal:

Plattsburgh State 6 7 9 — 22

Oswego 10 12 5 — 27

Goaltenders (shots-saves): Hince, PSU, 27-26. Potter (13-12), Beckwith (9-8), Osw, 22-20.

Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Plattsburgh State, 0-7. Oswego, 0-5.

Attendance: 3,000.