PLATTSBURGH -- A friendly bounce of the puck helped send the Plattsburgh State men's hockey team into tonight's 7 p.m. championship game in the annual PrimeLink Great Northern Shootout at the Stafford Ice Arena.

Shawn Dennis' goal with 1:42 left in overtime gave the Cardinals a hard-earned 4-3 win over Saint John's (Minn.) Friday night.

Plattsburgh State opposes Norwich University, a 5-2 winner over rival Middlebury College in the first game of the day, in the title contest. Middlebury and Saint John's go at it in the 4 p.m. third-place contest.

The game-winner came about when the Cardinals' Ward Smith sent the puck off the backboards where it bounced to the side of the Saint John's net. Dennis, who played a strong game, was in position to stuff it past Johnnies' goaltender Vince Wheeler.

"We're not a good enough team to get pretty goals," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "If we were, we would have scored on the couple of breakaways we had.

"We need to focus on getting the puck in deep, forecheck and go to the net. We have to create traffic in front."

Saint John's (3-4 overall) gave the Cardinals everything they wanted -- and then some.

Twice, the Johnnies quickly rallied back from one-goal deficits -- once in the second period and another time in the third.

"They are the best team we've played so far," Emery said. "We attempted a lot of shots, but they did a good job blocking them.

"We didn't play smart hockey over the first two periods. It wasn't from a lack of effort on our part. A big part of the reason was Saint John's. They're a great team and well coached. They were strong on the puck and we were trying to do too much at times."

The Johnnies grabbed the lead at 1:50 of the first period when Jason Weigel scored a power-play goal on a slapshot from the point.

The Cardinals (8-1 overall), however, came back to tie it at 9:59 while skating two men up. Defenseman Nick Rolls had his shot from straight on between the slots deflect up and over Wheeler into the net.

Plattsburgh State took its first lead of the game, at 2-1, on Dan Sliasis' power-play goal at 8:02 of the second.

But, shortly after at 9:46, a Plattsburgh State giveaway deep in its zone led to Tom Freeman's power-play goal from in front.

Mike Schiavi put the Cardinals back on top with 14:09 gone in the third when he stuffed the puck into the net when Wheeler was unable to cover up in front.