Plattsburgh State wins hockey opener

By JOHN CORYER
Staff Writer

October 20, 2007 04:00 am

— PLATTSBURGH -- Morrisville State ran into some penalty problems Friday night.
And, Plattsburgh State made the Mustangs pay for their time spent in the box.
The Cardinals scored five power-play goals, including four in the second period, on the way to a 5-1 win at the Stafford Ice Arena in the 2007-08 and State University of New York Athletic Conference season opener for both teams.
Sophomore defenseman Ward Smith led the way with two goals and two assists.
"It was good to play a game," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "We did a lot of good things out there tonight. And, Coach (Steve) Moffat and I saw a lot of things we will need to work on in practice."
The Mustangs actually held a 1-0 lead after one period. Dana Calderone, left alone to the left of Plattsburgh State freshman netminder Bryan Hince, tallied from in close with 8:30 gone in the opening stanza.
The Cardinals, despite trailing, held a 15-5 edge in shots on goal in the first period and then outgunned the Mustangs, 25-1, in the second as Morrisville took five penalties as opposed to none for Plattsburgh State in the period.
Smith sent a slapshot past Mustangs' goaltender Brett Freese just 1:53 into the second to tie it and freshman Dylan Clarke jumped on a loose puck to give the Cardinals the lead for good, at 2-1, at 8:38.
Riley Hill then put home a rebound at 9:37 and Ryan Burke sent a slapshot into the net at 11:03 for Plattsburgh State's fourth power-play goal of the stanza.
"We moved the puck well in the second period and got the puck to the net," said Emery. "And, I thought we showed good team speed."
Smith's power-play goal on another slapshot at 1:48 of the third gave the Cardinals their fifth and final goal and third by a defenseman.
"I like to see balanced scoring," said Emery.
Smith doubled last year's goal output. He scored one goal and added 11 assists a season ago.
The Cardinals went five-for-nine on the powerplay while the Mustangs went zero-for-three.
The Cardinals finished with a 50-9 advantage in shots on goal, with Hince, making his first start in goal for Plattsburgh State, stopping eight of nine shots. Freese made 45 saves for the Mustangs.
"Their goalie played pretty well," Emery said. "They are going to have some growing pains, but they have a good coach (Brian Grady) and will continue to improve and get better."
Plattsburgh State, despite the territorial edge in play, wasn't able to score with the two teams skating at even strength.
"We have to find the back of the net skating five-on-five," Emery said.
"And, we turned the puck over too many times in the neutral zone. If you're going to turn the puck over at all, you want to do it in the offensive zone."
Morrisville has no traveling partner in the SUNYAC and the same two teams play again tonight at 7 p.m. at the Stafford Ice Arena.
Plattsburgh State 5, Morrisville 1
Score by periods:
Morrisville State 1 0 0 -- 1
Plattsburgh State 0 4 1 -- 5
First period- 1, Morr, Calderone (Fulton, Tribbett), 8:30. Penalties- Clarke, PSU (obstruction hooking), 4:46. Matheson, Morr (interference), 13:31. Maglio, Morr (tripping), 17:26. Tozzo, PSU (hooking), 19:32. Sgarbossa, Morr (obstruction interference), 20:00.
Second period- 2, PSU, Smith ppg (Baccaro), 1:53. 3. PSU, Clarke ppg (Willock, Smith), 8:38. 4, PSU, Hill ppg (Corry, Rolls), 9:37. 5, PSU, Burke ppg (Smith), 11:03. Penalties- Morss, Morr (interference), 6:42. Matheson, Morr (elbowing), 8:47. Williams, Morr (cross-checking), 10:27. Tribbett, Morr (holding), 14:18. Roberts, Morr (holding), 19:55.
Third period- 6, PSU, Smith ppg (Burke), 1:48. Penalties- Cedin, Morr (interference), 6:30. Willock, PSU (boarding), 7:01. Clarke, PSU (holding), 7:56.
Shots on goal:
Morrisville State 5 1 3 -- 9
Plattsburgh State 15 25 10 -- 50
Goaltenders (shots-saves): Freese, Morr, 50-45. Hince, PSU, 9-8.
Powerplays (goals-opportunites): Morrisville State 0-3. Plattsburgh State, 5-9.
Attendance: 1,319.

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