Here is a recap of what went down in the SUNYAC this past weekend.
Friday SUNYAC Scores:
Plattsburgh 4 at Oswego 2
Potsdam 4 at Cortland 2
Fredonia 3 at Brockport 2
Buffalo 4 at Geneseo 3 OT
Saturday SUNYAC Scores:
Plattsburgh 5 at Cortland 2
Potsdam 1 at Oswego 5
Fredonia 3 at Geneseo 4
Buffalo 4 at Brockport 4 OT
Western NE 1 at Morrisville 3
Plattsburgh past their first hurdle of the young season with a very solid 4-2 win over the previously #1 ranked and defending national champions Oswego State Lakers. The Cardinals are now a perfect 2-0 at the new Oswego Campus Center.
Bryan Hince put in a huge performance for the Cards in his first career win over the Lakers. Not only did he get the win, but he also managed to piss off some Laker fans after the Cards got an empty-net goal. I guess they were offended by his post goal celebration. BOO FRIGGEN HOO! Welcome to THE RIVALRY Bryan!
The Cards leadership came through in the second game of the weekend. The team was set up for a let down after a huge win over Oswego the night before.
Plattsburgh entered the third period of the Cortland game down 1-0 to the Red Dragons. Red Dragon Ben Binga was standing tall for a 5'8" (with skates on) goalie. However, the Cards would blow the doors of Binga’s barn in the third on route to a 5-2 win. Plattsburgh out shot Cortland 43-10 in the contest. Simon LeBlanc picked up his second win of the season.
Awards:
Dylan Clarke was named SUNYAC Player of the Week.
Bryan Hince was named SUNYAC Goalie of the Week & CH.Net Player of the Week.
Oswego Game 3 Stars: 1st- Riley Hill, 2nd- Bryan Hince, & 3rd- Nick Rolls
Cortland Game 3 Stars: 1st-Ward Smith, 2nd-Nick Rolls, & 3rd- Eric Satim
Standings & Polls:
Plattsburgh enters this weekend with a 5-0-0 SUNYAC record, and is in first place in the SUNYAC standings with ten points. Geneseo(3-1-0) is in 2nd with six points. Buffalo State (1-0-1) is in 3rd with three points. Fredonia, Oswego, & Potsdam are all 1-1-0 and tied for fourth with two points.
In this week’s USCHO Online Poll, the Cards jumped from 14th to 5th, and received two first place votes. Oswego fell from 1st to 9th in the poll after starting the season 1-2-1. Fredonia is the only other SUNY team in this past week’s poll, receiving four votes.
In this week's intermission report, we take a look at some of the top SUNYAC players entering week 4.
Week 4 Stats Rundown:
SUNYAC Top Goal Scorers:
Barry McLaughlin (Cortland) 5 Goals
Dylan Clarke (Plattsburgh) 5 Goals
Nick Petriello (Buffalo) 5 Goals
Mathieu Cyr (Geneseo) 5 Goals
Four Players with 4 Goals
SUNYAC Top Scoring Defensemen:
Ward Smith (Plattsburgh) 8pts
Nick Rolls (Plattsburgh) 7pts
Ryan Corry (Plattsburgh) 6pts
Tyler Soehner (Buffalo) 6pts
3 Players with 5pts
SUNYAC Top Scoring Freshmen:
Nick Petriello (Buffalo) 9pts
Dylan Clarke (Plattsburgh) 8pts
Eric Satim (Plattsburgh) 6pts
Ryan Corry (Plattsburgh) 6pts
Jordan Oye (Fredonia) 6pts
SUNYAC Top 3 Goalies Save Percentage:
Pat Street (Fredonia) .942
Bryan Hince (Plattsburgh) .923
Brett Freese (Morrisville) .920
SUNYAC Top 3 Goalies Goals Against Average:
Bryan Hince (Plattsburgh) 1.33
Simon LeBlanc (Plattsburgh) 2.01
Pat Street (Fredonia) 2.02
Not a bad showing by Plattsburgh so far. For a full stats rundown for the SUNYAC: CLICK HERE
Plattsburgh will travel to Buffalo State this Friday. Buffalo had a 12-12-2 overall record last season, going 6-7-1 in SUNYAC play, finishing 4th. The Bengals are currently 2-3-1 overall and 1-0-1 in SUNY and have wins over Cortland (4-1) and Geneseo (4-3OT). Losses came at the hands of Manhattanville (2-4) and Hobart (2-4, 0-2). The Bengals lone tie came last weekend in a 4-4 draw with Brockport.
Last season the Cards lost at Buffalo 4-7 and won at home 6-1 during the regular season. USCHO picked Buffalo to finish 3rd in their preseason rankings. The Cards were picked 4th. The SUNYAC coaches picked Buffalo to finish 5th.
In a preseason interview with USCHO, Buffalo coach Nick Carriere talks about last season: “Last year we had a good year and that left the guys hungry, losing in our own rink in double overtime with so many opportunities to win. I think that still sticks pretty deep in our guys stomachs as we begin to understand in Division III what it takes to win some games, our guys get hungrier and hungrier.”
No doubt the Bengals will be hungry come Friday night. Hopefully, so will the Cards.
Things don’t get much easier on Saturday night. The Cards will travel down to face Fredonia in the unfriendly confines of Steele Hall. That rink is probably the most hostile environment in all of SUNYAC. They also have one of the best pep bands in Division III Hockey.
Last season Fredonia was 15-10-5 overall and 5-7-2 in SUNYAC play. Fredonia does have some key loses this season. Devil’s coach Jeff Meredith told USCHO: “We lost six guys that were big parts of our program that played 600 games.” Gone are Kyle Bozoian, Scott Bradley, Kraig Kuzma, Joe Muli, Wil Barlow, and Don Jeager.
This season Fredonia is currently 3-2-1 overall and 1-1-0 in SUNY. The Devils have wins over Cortland (5-2), Utica (4-3), & Brockport (3-2). Loses were against Utica (1-2) and Geneseo (3-4). The Devils tie came against Manhattanville College in the SUNYAC Challenge.
Plattsburgh will have revenge on the mind. Last season Fredonia was the team that ended the Cards season, as the Devils won the SUNYAC championship at the Ronald B. Stafford Arena. Plattsburgh has not won a regular season game in Fredonia since January 31, 2004 (5-2 win).
No question, this will be one of the Cards toughest road trips of the season. Two wins and the Cards will prove to the D3 world that they are deserving of their current #5 ranking.
The following is this weekend’s SUNYAC Schedule:
Friday, November 9:
Cortland at Brockport
Plattsburgh at Buffalo State
Potsdam at Fredonia
Oswego at Geneseo
Morrisville at Lebanon Valley
Saturday, November 10:
Morrisville at Lebanon Valley
Oswego at Brockport
Potsdam at Buffalo State
Plattsburgh at Fredonia
Cortland at Geneseo
Predicted winner in bold.
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