By JOHN CORYER Press Republican

ROCHESTER — The Plattsburgh State hockey team saved its very best for last.

The Cardinals turned in a brilliant 6-2 victory over the previously-undefeated Rochester Institute of Technology Saturday night to complete a miraculous run to the NCAA Division III Tournament championship.

It marked the first national title for the Cardinals since the 1991-92 season.

It was a solid effort from start to finish for the surprising Cardinals, who were not on their heels like they were the night before at times in a 5-3 victory over Wisconsin-Superior in the semifinals. Plattsburgh State appeared to be one step ahead of the Tigers all evening.

The Cardinals, winners of 18 games in their last 19, closed out the season with an overall record of 29-5. The host Tigers, who took a No. 1 ranking into the Final Four, ended their outstanding season at 27-1-1.

Plattsburgh State also avenged an earlier 8-2 loss to RIT in the finals of the Pepsi Cardinal Classic at the Stafford Ice Arena.

‘‘This maybe isn’t the most talented team I’ve had at Plattsburgh State,’’ said Cardinal head coach Bob Emery. ‘‘But it’s the team with the biggest heart.

‘‘The pressure was on RIT because they were unbeaten. And we haven’t lost a game all season (27-0) when we have scored the first goal.’’

The Cardinals opened the scoring at 5:57 of the opening period when Rob Retter wristed a shot from the right faceoff circle over the shoulder of RIT netminder Tyler Euverman on the far side.

It became 2-0 at 7:33 on a goal by Mark Coletta. Chad Kemp centered the puck in front to Coletta, who beat Euverman with a low shot.

‘‘The biggest fear I had tonight was that RIT would come out like they did last night against River Falls (a 5-2 win). The first five minutes of the game were important.

‘‘We took the first five minutes away from them and were opportunistic on our scoring chances.’’

The Tigers cut their deficit in half on one of their two powerplays in the first period. Derek Hahn knocked a rebound past Plattsburgh State goaltender Niklas Sundberg at the 13:10 mark to make it 2-1 after one.

But the Cardinals were back at it in the second.

Brendon Hodge one-timed Paul Dowe’s feed from beyond the faceoff circle past Euverman at 5:30 to put Plattsburgh State on top, 3-1.

‘‘Getting a two or three goal lead is what we want to do all the time,’’ Hodge said. ‘‘Then we put the weight on the Swede’s (Sundberg) shoulders.’’

The Cardinals ‘ got a goal late in the second, at 19:43, to take a three-goal cushion into the third.

Retter followed up on his own shot to tally a power-play marker for his second goal of the contest.

‘‘That was a tough one, allowing a goal in the final minute of play in the second period,’’ said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson.

Plattsburgh State killed off a penalty early in the third and Sundberg stoned Hahn who went in alone a little later.

"RIT came out flying in the third period,’’ Emery said.

Plattsburgh State, however, weathered the storm.

Brent Armstrong ripped a slapshot past Euverman at 8:32 to put the Cardinals up 5-1, but Mike Tarantino answered back for the Tigers 19 seconds later to give RIT some life.

The Cardinals, however, added the finishing touch at 15:07 when Hodge took a pass from Coletta and send a rocket under the crossbar to give Plattsburgh State a 6-2 advantage.

‘‘I never expected anything like this coming in as a freshman,’’ Retter said. ‘‘This is a whole new situation. We have great guys and great coaches.’’

"Our strength all season was behind the goal line,’’ Emery said. "We wanted to get the puck in deep.

"RIT beat us bad the first time we played them, but that was the best thing that could have happened to us — losing by a big score. It probably got RIT a little overconfident."

Sundberg was again superb in the Plattsburgh State nets with 35 saves, including 17 in the third period. He was lifted with 1:05 remaining in favor of Frank Barker to be engulfed by his teammates on the bench.

‘‘It was a great team effort,’’ Sundberg said. "We grew closer together as a team after the Elmira (4-1 loss) game.’’

Euverman finished with 20 stops. RIT held a 37-26 edge in shots on goal, thanks to an 18-7 margin in the final stanza.

‘‘We had an unbelievable year,’’ said Wilson. ‘‘When you have single-elimination games like this, things can happen.

‘‘Plattsburgh did a lot of the little things well, like blocking shots. They got great goaltending and were right on top of us from the start. They did a good job down low, and were the better team tonight.’’