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March 21, 2008

Cardinal men in select company

No. 1 St. Norbert tops field of NCAA championship hopefuls

By JOHN CORYER

PLATTSBURGH -- Any team that reaches the NCAA Division III Men's Hockey Tournament Final Four no doubt is proven a good one.

And, you can certainly make a championship case for any of the four teams at this weekend's event in Lake Placid as impressive results and statistics stand out for each. Plattsburgh State, currently ranked second in the country in Division III, will be competing along with No. 1 St. Norbert, No. 4 Elmira and No. 5 Norwich.

"Anytime a team is in the Final Four, they are deserving and very good," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "Every team has at least 20 wins.

"I've seen all the teams in the East and haven't seen St. Norbert, But, they are always the team to beat in the West."

Coaching against a Final Four team becomes an even greater challenge.

"All the teams are different," Emery said. "From a coaching standpoint, that's what makes it more challenging. We have to use our style of play, but also know the style of our opponent.

"We watch a lot of tape, but we're playing on a big ice surface. There's a lot more strategy involved -- you have to change with each game."

Elmira, Plattsburgh State's Final Four semifinal opponent on Saturday at 6 p.m., brings a 20-3-5 overall record into the weekend.

The Soaring Eagles, who skated to a 3-2 home win over Plattsburgh State last Nov. 17, were unbeaten in their first 20 games off the season -- going 18-0-2 during that time.

The Soaring Eagles have lost just three times all season and one was a 1-0 defeat to Manhattanville in the ECAC West championship game.

Elmira, however, received an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament and routed Trinity, 6-1, to move on to the Frozen Four.

The Soaring Eagles have outscored their opponents, 109-50, and sophomore forward Rusty Masters leads the team with 21 goals, while senior forward Michael Richard has accounted for a team-leading 33 assists.

Sophomore Casey Tuttle sports a 19-3-5 record and a sparkling 1.79 goals-against-average between the pipes.

St. Norbert, meanwhile, has an outstanding 25-1-4 overall record, with its lone loss being a 4-2 setback to Gustavus Adolphus in its third game of the season. The Green Knights are unbeaten in their last 27 games -- going 23-0-4 during that time.

St. Norbert, which went unbeaten (10-0-4) in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association, had to work overtime to win its last two games -- a 4-3 victory over Wisconsin-Stout in the NCHA championship contest and a 2-1 win over St. Thomas in the NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinals.

Senior forward Marc Belanger (22-20-42) is a big scorer for the Green Knights. But, St. Norbert, which is outscoring its opponents, 113-43, has been strong defensively. The Green Knights have allowed one goal or less in 16 games and senior Kyle Jones boasts a 19-1-3 record in net, with a sensational 1.18 goals-against-average.

Norwich, St. Norbert's Final Four semifinal opponent, has a 23-6-0 overall record.

The Cadets have won five games in a row, including an 8-2 drubbing of Salem State in the ECAC East championship game in Northfield, Vt. and a surprising 7-2 rout of Manhattanville in the NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinals.

Since the start of the ECAC East Tournament, the Cadets are averaging seven goals a game.

Senior forward Rick Cleaver (31-19-50) and junior forward Nikita Kashirsky (20-22-42) are among the Cadets having big offensive seasons. High-scoring Norwich has outscored its foes, 141-66, and has scored five goals or more in 18 games of its 29 games.

Sophomore David Thompson has done the majority of the goaltending for Norwich with a 15-2-0 record and a 2.11 goals-against-average.

Two of the Cadets' losses this season have been to Plattsburgh State -- 5-3 and 3-2.

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