Jim LoudHorns Looks at Brockport/Geneseo Weekend

Saturday night Plattsburgh State continued on their quest to stay undefeated as they put a road pounding on SUNYAC newcomers the Morrisville Mustangs 8-3 in Morrisville. This weekend the Cardinals will head down I-90 for the second straight week as they head to Rochester to battle with longtime SUNYAC foes Brockport and Geneseo.

First up will be the Brockport State Golden Eagles (3-1-0 overall 2-0-0 SUNYAC), Brockport has an all time record against Plattsburgh of 1-63-2. This game will be a test of some friendly faces as 3 former Cardinals are now on the Roster for the Golden Eagles. Former Cardinals Jason Gorrie, Dave McNab and Ryan Silveira, and all 3 players have played in all of Brockport’s games going into this weekend.

Brockport is lead out front by Junior Center Sean O’Malley (0-6-6), Senior Defenseman Mike Gershon (5-0-5), Junior Winger Jason Gorrie (1-3-4) and Senior Winger Dave McNab (3-0-3). Leading the way between the pipes is Junior net minder Todd Sheridan. Sheridan, who is a cancer survivor, has started his own non-profit organization called “Saves for a Cure” to help children in the Rochester area in their battles with cancer. In 3 games this year between the pipes Sheridan already has had to make 85 saves. He enters this weekend with a .955 save percentage and a goals against average of 1.33. In 33 career games Sheridan is 11-13-6 with a .897 save percentage and 3.18 goals against average.

Special teams for the Golden Eagles have been about average. They are 7/36 on the power play for a 19.4% success rate; on the penalty kill they are 20/23 for 87%. Brockport is averaging 8.2 penalties per game and 18.5 penalty minutes per game, they are also scoring an average of 1.8 power play goals per game. In 2 conference games so far, Brockport is averaging 6.0 goals per game while allowing only 2.0 goals against.

Moving onto Saturday night and the Geneseo State Ice Knights (5-2-0 overall 1-1-0 SUNYAC), who is 16-65-3 against Plattsburgh. Saturday night will again feature 2 faces that are very familiar to the Plattsburgh State upper classmen. Seniors Kevin Galan (1-2-3 with 1 power play goal and one game winner) and Casey Smith (0-3-3) both spent 2 seasons in Cardinal sweaters.

The Ice Knights are lead by Senior Forward Casey Balog (2-5-7) and Sophomore Forward Daniel Sullivan (2-3-5). Senior goalie Jeff Pasemko has seen the majority of play for the Ice Knights so far this season. In 5 games so far Pasemko is 4-1-0 and has made 113 saves on 123 shots for a .919 save percentage and 2.22 goals against average. Freshman Cory Gershon has seen action in 3 games this year going 1-1-0 while turning aside 70 of 77 shots for a .909 save percentage and 2.79 goals against average. I expect to see Pasemko in net on Saturday night, but depending on how things go Friday night against Potsdam could determine who’s in net on Saturday for the Ice Knights.

Special team’s numbers, like Brockport have been about average. Geneseo has gone 8 for 57 on the power play for a 14% success rate and averaging 1.1 power play goals per game; killed off 40 of 48 penalties taken for an 83.3% kill rate. The Ice Knights are averaging 9.6 penalties per game for an average of 27.7 minutes per game. Overall Geneseo is averaging 2.0 goals per game while giving up 4.0 goals to the opponents.

And that brings us to Plattsburgh. The Cardinals continue on the road with an overall record of 4-0-0 and are 3-0-0 in the SUNYAC. Plattsburgh freshman had a pretty good game this past weekend as they accounted for 8 points in an 8-3 victory on Saturday night.

Leading the Cardinals so far this season are Senior Defenseman Nick Rolls (1-8-9), Sophomore Forward Dylan Clarke (4-3-7) and Junior Forward Phil Farrow (3-3-6). Farrow is leading the team with 3 power play goals and has 1 game winning goal. Backstopping the defense and standing tall between the pipes is Sophomore Bryan Hince. In 4 games so far this season Hince has turned away 91 of 101 shots he has faced giving him a save percentage of .901 and goals against average of 2.5. In 31 career games Hince has turned away 684 of 749 shots on goal for a .913 save percentage and goals against average of 2.12 and an overall record of 26-5-0.

Special teams have begun to click a little better for the Cardinals as the season has progressed. The power play is now 9 of 33 for a 27.3% success rate; averaging 2.2 power play goals per game, while the penalty kill is 18 of 25 for a 72% kill rate. The Cardinals are averaging 7 penalties per game for an average of 16 minutes per game. Plattsburgh is averaging 5.75 goals per game while giving up only 2.5 goals against.

I’m expecting another 4 point weekend for the Cardinals, however it won’t be easy. Both the Golden Eagles and the Ice Knights will be looking to steal a point or 2 from Plattsburgh. Look for the former Cardinal players to try and have big games for their new teams and play with a lot of emotion. Plattsburgh needs to play smart, not take stupid penalties so they can stay out of the box. If Plattsburgh can limit the mental mistakes they should be able to win both games and I think they should be able to do it rather convincingly.

My Prediction, I’m going to go with Plattsburgh in both games, and I think we might even see identical scores. I’m going to say Plattsburgh 5-2 in both games.

See Everyone on the Road,
Jim

 

 

This is a Cardinal Hockey FAN Site. All opinions expressed on this site are that of the author and may not reflect those of Plattsburgh State University or the Team.