The Cards completed their second weekend road sweep of the season. Last season the Cards did not have one 4 point weekend on the road in SUNYAC play.
The Cards off to their best start since the 02-03 season, when they started the season 8-0-0. The Cards now sit at 7-0-0 overall and in SUNYAC.
Freshman goalie Bryan Hince was spectacular in nets for the Cards in the Fredonia game, making 40 saves in his first career shutout at Plattsburgh State. Hince is now 5-0-0 on the season and only game up one goal last weekend.
The power-play keeps on clicking for the Cards. The Plattsburgh power-play is currently running at 37.5%, which is first in the league and second in the nation.
The Cardinals have shown lots of discipline so far this season, and are the least penalized team in both SUNY and the nation.
Buffalo Game 3 Stars: 1st-Riley Hill, 2nd-Phil Farrow, & 3rd- Mike Thomson
Standings & Polls:
Plattsburgh enters this weekend with a 7-0-0 SUNYAC record, and is in first place in the SUNYAC standings with ten points.
In this week’s USCHO Online Poll, the Cards jumped from 5th to 4th, and received one first place vote.
For this week’s intermission report, I thought I would share some of my favorite Cardinal Hockey moments/memories. Note these are not my favorite games, rather they are just a few of my fondest times involving the whole Cardinal Hockey experience.
My first Cardinal Hockey game was on January 27, 1995. My aunt called and asked my sister if she wanted to go see a Plattsburgh State Hockey game. I tagged along. That game is currently ranked 3rd in single-game home attendance at Plattsburgh State. The place was PACKED. There were 3,853 fans at that game against the Fredonia State. The Cards won 8-3, and I was HOOKED on college hockey for life. I recall not being able to sleep that night. I pumped about what I had saw that night. I must have read my first ever media guide backwards and forwards 5 times that night. The next night I was back at the rink for a 8-0 Cardinal win over Buffalo State. I was so excited about Cardinal Hockey that I dragged my father to the next home game, which was against Potsdam on a Tuesday night. He loved it. Who wouldn’t? That following weekend my father and I dragged my mother down to see a game vs Elmira College. Now, my mother was not a sports fan and she didn’t really want go to a hockey game. Once there, like myself and my father before me, she was hooked. To see her jump up and down and go nuts when the scored was a real trip. It was at that point in time that Cardinal Hockey became a family event.
Another one of my favorite Cardinal Hockey memories comes from the 1998 SUNYAC finals in Oswego. My whole family had made plans to go down to Oswego in hopes to see the Cards defend their SUNYAC title. However, my sister became ill (come to find out she was expecting) and she and mom could not go. So it became a father/son trip, and it was a memorable one. For some reason this SUNYAC championship stands out to me above the rest. This was my first ever trip to Oswego and the atmosphere was insane. It seemed like there were more Plattsburgh fans there than Oswego fans. We were loud and we had fun. For me, this is when I really started to get the whole Plattsburgh/Oswego rivalry. You could tell the teams didn’t like each other. You could also tell the fans didn’t particularly care for each other either. It was great! The Cards sealed the title with an empty net goal in the 2nd game. I remember it clear as day. Jason Desloover had the puck in his own and just bounced it out of the zone and it slid all the way down into the empty net. The celebration began. I swear, I’ve never seen coach Emery so happy after a win. He was hugging players on the bench, and even went after coach Houle who tried to fend him off. It was a great weekend. Next to winning the title in RIT in 2001, this is one of my all time favorite road trips. The next year we would go on to play Oswego at home for the title once again. However, for whatever reason, winning on the road was much more exciting.
Since I’ve started following the team, I’ve had the opportunity to meet lots of people who like myself were die hard Cardinal Hockey fans. It is always exciting to talk with folks about our favorite winter pastime. In 1996 my family had the pleasure of meeting a special group of fans. In 1996, Brad Erbsland and Jeff Paluseo started their careers at Plattsburgh State. For what ever reason Jeff’s parents and sisters along with Brad’s mom sat in our section. Over the four years we became good friends and looked forward to see both families both our rink and on the road. Mrs. Paluseo had a set of lungs and was not afraid to use them! Brad’s mom Debbie would always look away when the puck was around her son. When my nephew was born in 1998, she would focus on him when play was in the Cardinal zone.
It was odd not having Liz, Dave, the twins, and Debbie at the games the season after Brad and Jeff graduated. We still miss having them there at the games.. It was a fun four years, that went by way to fast.
Another sort of funny memory I have came during a Cortland game on the road. The Cards were not playing all that great, and in the spur of the moment I stood up and scream at Derrick Shaw to wake up and do something out there. If looks could kill, I would have been dead. I kid you not, Derrick turned end gave me the evil glare. I was like ‘oh shit im a dead man’. However, Derrick scored on the next shift and the whole momentum of the game shifted. If I recall, Derrick either had 2 or three goals that night. Still, back at the hotel I avoided him to be safe!
On March 11, 2000, Plattsburgh State knocked off five time defending national champions Middlebury College at the Stafford Ice Arena. It was one of he most memorable games I’ve seen at Plattsburgh. Not just because of the two teams on the ice, but because of the fans on the other side of the rink. It was an outstanding college hockey atmosphere. One of my all time favorite moments came during that game when the two groups of fans were going back and forth with different chants. There happened to be a few Middlebury fans that clearly had a ‘few’ before the game and the Cardinal faith full began the now famous alcoholics chant. It was funny as hell, as the arena was blaring with Plattsburgh fans chanting : ALCOHOLICS clap clap clap clap clap ALCOHOLICS clap clap clap clap clap.
Of course for me, my most memorable weekend was in Rochester, NY in the spring of 2001. From seeing the team get revenge against RIT, to the after party back at the Holidome. It really was the perfect road trip weekend. One of my favorite moments of the weekend was when Coach Emery pulled Nik Sundberg at the end of the championship game with 1:05 remaining and sent Frank Barker in. This was a great move by coach, as it gave the fans a chance to show their thanks to Nik. All of the Plattsburgh faithful began changing SWEDE! SWEDE! SWEDE!. It was a great little moment among many from that weekend.
I have plenty more favorite Cardinal Hockey moments/memories. However, I probably should save a few for future blogs. Till then, see you at the rink!
Bill-R-
This week's Look Ahead is by Remy Babineaux. Remy did a such a great job with this post on USCHO, I thought I would share it with you all here. Enjoy.
There are only a handful of teams that can boast they have a .500 or better overall record against the Cardinals. Saturday night as the #4 Plattsburgh State Cardinals invade the Murray Athletic Thunder Domes home to the #8 Elmira Soaring Eagles, Elmira will look to put their name on that list. Coming into Saturday night Plattsburgh holds the overall edge 34-33-3.
Plattsburgh’s last win IN Elmira came back in the 2003-2004 season with a 3-2 come from behind win. Elmira would take a 2-0 lead into the third period. Chad Kemp would get the Cards on the board just 3:27 into the third period. Cardinal forward Dave Friel would bring Plattsburgh even with the Eagles with a PP goal 10:08 of the third. Plattsburgh would waste no time grabbing the lead 3-2 just 1:26 after tying the game up at 2-2 Dave Friel once again on the PP would prove to be the game winner.
In the last 10 years, Plattsburgh boasts an 8-5-2 overall record including a 5-1-2 record at home at the Stafford. Which means just a 3-4-0 record at the Murray. So who will it be...Can Elmira pull a .500 record against the Cards, or will the Cards pull a .500 record at the Murray in the past 10 years??
Having seen Elmira this year against good competition (Oswego @ Elmira), I must say Elmira's unbeaten record is a fitting standing. I thought they showed some great talent top to bottom for much of the game, and at times dominated the defending National Champs up and down the ice. A physical yet speedy team, Elmira did a great job with the Laker pressure for much of the game earlier this year. They (Elmira) themselves came back from a 3-1 deficit to the Lakers to score 3 unanswered goals, but eventually give up a last minute goal and settle for a tie. I was really impressed with the play of #16 Rusty Masters. A complete player, both on offence and defense. Currently 3 Eagle players are tied for the team lead in points with 7. Russel Smith (Sr), Nicolas Dumoulin (Jr), Michael Richard (Sr). Masters leads the team in goals and game winners, while Dumoulin leads the team in PP goals. Backing the pipes should be sophomore goalie Casey Tuttle, who after a late season injury really seemed to be a solid goaltender with a .918 save % and 1.77 GAA. Tuttle has helped Elmira earn a 4-0-1 record so far in 2008. Elmira has 8 PP goals in 36 chances to their credit this season for a .222 PP %. The opponents have converted only 4 times for a .840 penalty kill %. Elmira has neither converted or given up a SH goal. The Eagles have visited the sin bin 28 times this season for 59 minutes. They will need to stay out of there if they plan on taking a W from Plattsburgh.
Speaking of the #4 ranked Cardinals who come into the game with a 7-0-0 record for the first time since, well you guessed it the 2003-2004 season, the last time Plattsburgh was able to get a W in Elmira. However, back in '03-'04, it was Plattsburgh’s 8th game where they would received their first L of the campaign. The Cards come into Elmira off of 2 huge SUNYAC road wins at a tough Buff State team, and the always pesky Fredonia team. The Cardinals currently sit 1st in the SUNYAC at 7-0-0, and will begin a 3 game Non-Conference schedule Saturday night. The Cardinals are lead by Junior Forward Riley Hill who’s 11 points lead the Cards. His 6 goals is also tied with freshman forward Dylan Clarke for the team lead. Hill and Clarke are also tied in PP goals with 4 and Clarke leads the team in game winners with 3.
Two major changes from the '06-'07 Cards and this years team:
