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March 16, 2008

By JOHN CORYER The Press Republican Sun Mar 16, 2008, 12:30 AM EDT

PLATTSBURGH -- The Plattsburgh State men's hockey team made sure its final game in the present Stafford Ice Arena was a memorable one Saturday night.

The Cardinals skated to a 5-2 victory over Hobart College in the NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinals to advance to the Final Four this coming weekend in Lake Placid.

Plattsburgh State (24-4 overall) got better and better as the game wore on.

"We played tentative for the first 10 minutes of the game," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "But, we played well in the second and third periods. We were able to sustain a lot of pressure.

"We were able to get our cycle going and we played smart hockey in the second and third periods -- as smart as we have played all season."

The Cardinals took a 2-1 lead into the third stanza and then outshot the Statesmen (18-8-2) by a 19-8 margin to pull away.

Plattsburgh State grabbed a 3-1 advantage when Phil Farrow skated around the slot area in almost a complete circle and sent a shot up top from the side to beat Hobart netminder Keith Longo for a power-play goal at 3:33.

Cardinals' goaltender Bryan Hince then made perhaps his biggest save of the game with 9:55 left in regulation to preserve the two-goal lead.

"I kind of lost sight of the puck and fell awkwardly," the freshman standout said. "But, I kicked my pad up and all I know is the puck stayed out of the net."

Then, with the Cardinals applying pressure in the Hobart zone, Farrow put home a rebound to score his second goal of the period and make it a three-goal game.

"It was just rolling for me -- sometimes goals come in bunches," he said.

"Our third goal was a big one for us and then getting the three-goal lead was huge," Emery said.

Hobart pulled Longo for an extra attacker in the final minutes and a Bryant Harris shot from just beyond the slot area somehow ended up blooping over Hince and into the net to make it 4-2 at 18:15.

Dylan Clarke, however, sealed it with an empty-net goal at 19:04.

"We work hard in practice every day," said Plattsburgh State defenseman Nick Rolls. "That allows us to kind of wear teams down in the third period."

"We were able to get the puck in deep and do all the simple things that it takes," added Cardinals' defenseman Ryan Corry, who assisted on four goals.

The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead at 5:58 of the first period when Joey Wilson managed to get the puck just over the line from in close off some nice work down low in the Hobart end by Shawn Dennis.

The Statesmen, however, drew even at 10:01 when the Cardinals had some problems getting the puck out of their zone. Jason Merritt scored from in close to knot the score.

Plattsburgh State then took the lead for good, at 2-1, with just 1:23 gone in the second on Rolls' power-play goal. Rolls skated down the right side and cut towards the net to beat Longo.

"I just started skating, got a step on the defenseman and shot a backhander that rolled over the goaltender's pad," Rolls said.

The Cardinals finished with a 49-28 advantage in shots on goal, including a combined 35-17 margin in the second and third periods.

Hince stopped 26 of 28 shots and Longo finished with 44 saves on 48 shots.

"Our work ethic showed and we were able to win the battles," Hince said. "We didn't make any big mistakes and got the puck in deep.

"All I wanted to do was just play my game."

"They were more effective in the slot than we were," said Hobart head coach Mark Taylor. "We didn't do enough in the slot.

"We did hit a couple of posts in the game and didn't get the bounces. But, we just didn't get enough chances. I didn't feel that the game had slipped away from us until their empty-net goal. Then, that was it."

Special teams were a factor, with the Cardinals going two-of-five on the powerplay and the Statesmen scoreless in four tries.

"It was a good-skating game with not a lot of penalties," Taylor said. "We were in position on their two power-play goals, but they were able to make good one-on-one plays to score."

In other NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinal action Saturday night, St. Norbert skated to a 2-1 overtime win over St. Thomas, Norwich rolled to a 7-2 victory over Manhattanville and Elmira was a 6-1 winner over Trinity.

In Saturday's Final Four semifinals in Lake Placid, it will be St. Norbert against Norwich at 12:30 p.m., followed by Plattsburgh State versus Elmira in the 4 p.m. contest.

--

Plattsburgh State 5, Hobart 2

Score by periods:

Hobart 1 0 1 -- 2

Plattsburgh State 1 1 3 -- 5

First period- 1, PSU, Wilson (Dennis, Breslin), 5:58. 2, Hob, Merritt (Organ, Brzek), 10:07. Penalties- Clarke, PSU (interference), 7:37. Willock, PSU (kneeing), 11;17. Houde, Hob (high sticking), 11:31.

Second period- 3, PSU, Rolls ppg (Farrow, Corry), 1:23. Penalties- Steiner, Hob (holding), :56. PSU (too many men), 3:52. Corry, PSU (holding), 13:01. Wallace, Hob (tripping), 14:10.

Third period- 4, PSU, Farrow ppg (Rolls, Corry), 3:33. 5, PSU, Farrow (Corry), 13:19. 6, Hob, Harris (Merritt, Brennan), 18:15. 7, PSU, Clarke eng (Hill, Corry), 19:03. Penalties- Capalbo, Hob (tripping), 1:51. Koval, Hob (interference), 5:25.

Shots on goal:

Hobart 11 9 8 -- 28

Plattsburgh State 14 16 19 -- 49

Goaltenders (shots-saves): Longo, Hob, 48-44. Hince, PSU, 28-26.

Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Hobart, 0-4. Plattsburgh State, 2-5.

Attendance: 2,164.