MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — The Plattsburgh State men's hockey team won't be defending its PrimeLink Great Northern Shootout championship tonight.

But, it wasn't all bad for the Cardinals Friday night.

Norwich University defeated Plattsburgh State, 3-0, in a shootout after the two teams battled to a 3-all tie through regulation and overtime during first-round action in the annual event, held this year at Kenyon Arena.

The top-ranked Cardinals (6-0-2), however, were down, 3-1, with seven minutes left in the third period before scoring two power-play goals to force overtime against the fifth-ranked Cadets (2-0-1). The game officially goes into the books as a tie.

"I'm not happy that we weren't able to be focused for 60 minutes," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "We played hard, but weren't opportunistic enough. Norwich frustrated us at times.

"It's a tie and we didn't lose the game. I'm proud of the guys for coming back like they did to tie it. But, we're not playing in the championship game."

The Cadets will play rival and host Middlebury College, a 5-3 winner over St. Thomas (Minn.) in the second game Friday, in tonight's 7 p.m. title game. The Cardinals play St. Thomas in the third-place contest at 4 p.m.

Norwich took a 3-1 lead into the third period and held the two-goal edge until just under seven minutes remained.

The Cardinals were playing with a sense of urgency that forced Norwich into taking a couple of penalties. But, up to that point, however, Plattsburgh State was scoreless on six power-play chances.

That all changed when Andrew Willock one-timed a shot from the slot to the right of Norwich goaltender Ryan Klingensmith and into the net to bring the Cardinals back to within one at 13:08.

Plattsburgh State then went back on the powerplay five minutes later and Phil Farrow sent a low shot along the ice into the net to tie it, at 17:10, after a Cardinal shot had deflected off the post.

"I felt we were able to wear them down a little," said Emery. "And, (Bryan) Hince made some big saves off some loose pucks in front in the third period to give us the opportunity to come back."

The game remained tied the remainder of regulation and the five-minute overtime.

Norwich, however, was lethal in the shootout when Nick DelGallo, D.J. Fimiani and Chad Anderson all scored. Meanwhile, Joey Wilson, Willock and Farrow all came away empty for the Cardinals.

Anderson gave the Cadets a 1-0 lead at 14:58 of the first period when he got possession of the puck off the boards and sent a shot over Hince with Norwich on a powerplay.

The Cadets improved their lead to 2-0 at 8:19 of the second. Rico Piatelli sent a slapshot from the right circle past Hince on the far side.

Plattsburgh State got one of the goals back at 12:05 when Vick Schlueter tucked in a rebound of a Corey John shot.

Norwich then came back to regain the two-goal lead, at 3-1, off a nice three-way passing play that resulted in Roman Krivda scoring into an open net. Emmond Bell and Tim Houston set up the goal.

"I felt we were getting some good looks," Emery said. "But, we weren't opportunistic — we weren't burying the puck. We had three or four two-on-ones that we didn't take advantage of."

The Cardinals finished with a 29-24 shot advantage, with Klingensmith, who played well, making 26 saves. Hince ended up with 21 stops.

Plattsburgh State was without standout senior defenseman Nick Rolls, who is out with an injury. Rolls also leads the team in scoring.

"It doesn't help not having our best player," Emery said. "But, injuries are part of the game."

Middlebury 5,
St. Thomas 3

The host Panthers (3-0) rallied from a 3-1 second-period deficit to defeat the Thomas (3-3-1).

John Sullivan scored with 14 seconds left in the second to bring Middlebury to within, 3-2. Sullivan, Martin Drolet and Jamie McKenna then all tallied in the third stanza for the Panthers, with McKenna's being an empty-net goal.

Chaz Svododa also scored for Middlebury, while Doug Raeder made 23 saves in net.

Rob Johnson tallied twice and Alex Arnason once for St. Thomas, which held leads of 2-0 and 3-1.

PrimeLink has partnered with the Center for Communication and Journalism (CCJ) at Plattsburgh State to have a live webcast of all four games in the tournament.

—

Norwich 3, Plattsburgh 3, OT

(Norwich wins in shootout)

Score by periods:

Norwich (2-0-1) 1 2 0 0 — 3

Plattsburgh (6-0-2) 0 1 2 0 — 3

First period- 1, Nor, Anderson ppg DelGallo, Baker), 14:58. Penalties- Stitt, Nor (hooking), 9:44. Kashirsky, Nor (hooking), 9:44. Taylor, PSU (tripping), 13:08.

Second period- 2, Nor, Piatelli (Kashirsky, Coon), 8:19. 3, PSU, Schlueter (Kudroch, John), 12:05. 4, Nor, Krivda (Bell, Houston), 16:10. Penalties- Piatelli, Nor (interference), :05. Tallent, Nor (interference), 4:54. Satim, PSU (high-sticking), 9:00. Smith, PSU (high-sticking), 17:22. DelGallo, Nor (slashing), 19:23.

Third period- 5, PSU, Willock ppg (Clarke, Satim), 13:08. 6, PSU, Farrow ppg (Wilson, Hill), 17:10. Penalties- Krivda, Nor (slashing), 8:30. Coon, Nor (holding), 11:32. Koehler, Nor (hooking), 16:14.

Overtime- no scoring. Penalties- none.

Shootout goals: Norwich (3) DelGallo, Fimiani, Anderson. Plattsburgh (0).

Shots on goal:

Norwich 5 10 7 2 — 24

Plattsburgh 6 11 11 1 — 29

Goaltenders (shots-saves): Klingensmith, Nor, 29-26. Hince, PSU, 24-21.

Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Plattsburgh, 2-8. Norwich, 1-3.

—

Middlebury 5, St. Thomas 3

Score by periods:

St. Thomas 1 2 0 — 3

Middlebury 0 2 3 — 5

First period- 1, ST, Arnason ppg (Alexander, Johnson), 8:09. Penalties- Meyer, Midd (tripping), 7:23. Panchenko, ST, (contact to the head), 8:20. Knutson, ST (tripping), 17:24. Graddock, Midd (tripping), 17:39.

Second period- 2, ST, Johnson (Davis), 8:03. 3, Midd, Svoboda (Sullivan, Suchoski), 9:35. 4, ST, Johnson ppg (Davis, Knutson), 18:34. 5, Midd, Sullivan ppg (McKenna, Kretschmer), 19:46. Penalties- Suchoski, Midd (cross-checking), 1:49. Davis, ST (tripping), 13:59. Graddock, Midd (tripping), 17:07. Burgess, ST (contact to the head), 19:35.

Third period- 6, Midd, Sullivan, 7:24. 7, Midd, Drolet ppg (Kretschmer, McKenna), 16:26. Midd, McKenna eng (Suchoski), 19:50. Penalties- Arnason, ST (boarding), 0:14. Davis, ST (tripping), 15:55. Curran, Midd (tripping), 17:09.

Shots on goal:

St. Thomas 6 12 8 — 26

Middlebury 6 5 8 — 19

Goaltenders (shots-saves): Chestnut, ST, 18-14. Raeder, Midd, 26-23.

Powerplays (goals-opportunities): St. Thomas, 2-5. Middlebury, 2-6.