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March 20, 2008

Balanced offense key for Cardinals

By JOHN CORYER

PLATTSBURGH -- Balanced scoring is just one of the reasons why the Plattsburgh State men's hockey team finds itself in the NCAA Division III Tournament Final Four this weekend in Lake Placid.

The Cardinals (24-4) have nine skaters with 20 points or more and 15 with at least 10.

"We have no superstars," said junior defenseman Nick Rolls, a team captain. "We mesh well -- and we play well as a team."

The Cardinals, fresh off last Saturday's 5-2 victory over Hobart College in the tournament quarterfinals at the Stafford Ice Arena, oppose Elmira on Saturday evening in the semifinals held at Herb Brooks Arena. The first game of the day has Norwich University taking on St. Norbert.

"We have good chemistry on the team and credit for that goes to coaches (Steve) Moffat and (Bob) Emery for bringing in good players and good people," said Rolls. "One player can tear a team down, but everyone on this team gets along with one another. I believe team chemistry is important for success."

It didn't take long this season for Rolls and his teammates to start believing in themselves.

"We got off to a good start to the season, and that was important," he said. "That gave us confidence. And having that confidence has been the difference.

"Our first loss of the season came to Elmira at their rink and our second in Middlebury. Those are both good teams."

The Cardinals began the season with a 7-0 record before dropping a 3-2 decision in Elmira and were 12-1 prior to a 3-2 setback in Middlebury.

"It was a roller coaster season for us in my sophomore year," Rolls said. "Moli (Chris Molinaro) played great in goal for us, but we had different starters in net in a lot of games. This year, we've had (Bryan) Hince in goal throughout.

"We broke this season into one-game seasons and prepared for each game. If we played on Friday, we were then able to prepare for Saturday's game. We were worried about every game we played."

With a large number of players from last year no longer on the roster, the Cardinals didn't know what to expect coming into the season.

"We lost players like Ryan Busby and Shane Remenda and our leading scorer (Pier-Luc Belanger)," Rolls said. "Busby was a difficult player to replace, especially on the penalty kill.

"If someone would have told me that we would be in the Final Four this year after the players we lost last year, I wouldn't have believed them. But maybe that has worked to our advantage in a way. We didn't know we were supposed to do what we have done."

This is Plattsburgh State's first NCAA tournament appearance since the 2003-04 season and the first for everybody on the roster.

The Cardinals, who also won the State University of New York Athletic Conference regular season and tournament championhave a young team comprised of many freshmen and sophomores.

"Our freshmen, like leading scorer Dylan Clarke and Eric Satim, have stepped right in and done a great job," Rolls said. "They were thrown into the fire right away."

Mike Baccaro, T.J. Cooper and C.J. Tozzo are the lone seniors on the team, while the junior class includes Rolls, Ryan Burke, Riley Hill, Shawn Dennis, Mike Thomson and Molinaro. The roster is rounded out by 15 freshmen and sophomores.

Rolls, who accounted for 20 points (9-11-20) his freshman season and 28 points (5-23-28) his sophomore campaign, is fourth on the team in scoring this year with 29 points (14-15-29). Twelve of his goals have come on the powerplay.

"Being a junior, I was expected to do more," he said. "I was expected to do more both offensively and defensively.

"All the older players on the team knew they had to step up this season. Hill has had a great season at forward, and Burke has really come on defense."

While the Cardinals have enjoyed great postseason success at home this year, Rolls doesn't mind this particular road trip.

"Playing in Lake Placid is just about the best road trip we can have," he said. "It's in our backdoor. St. Norbert has to travel a long way, and it's not a short trip for Elmira."

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