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November 8, 2007

Cardinals face road test

By JOHN CORYER

PLATTSBURGH -- The Plattsburgh State men's hockey team has put itself in a position to make a statement in the State University of New York Athletic Conference this weekend.

The unbeaten Cardinals (5-0, 5-0) play at Buffalo State tonight at 7 p.m. and then at Fredonia on Saturday, also at 7 p.m.

"This is the toughest back-to-back trip on the road we have on the schedule," Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery said. "We only have one back-to-back trip remaining after this weekend.

"Buffalo State is an improved team and Fredonia is always tough at their place. It's hard to play at Buffalo State because there's hardly anyone at the game. Fredonia, meanwhile, tries to lull you to sleep by playing good defense and looking to keep it a low-scoring game."

Plattsburgh State is already 5-0 in the conference and a couple of wins this weekend would give the Cardinals a leg up in the SUNYAC regular season race.

"It has been going well for us and we can put ourselves in a great spot as far as the conference goes with two wins this weekend," Emery said. "We will learn more about ourselves this weekend.

"We have to keep the puck out of our net and the offense will take care of itself. We have to keep our penalties down, show a lot of dedication, work hard and get strong leadership."

Emery is understandably pleased with what he has seen from his young team thus far. The Cardinals, however, haven't been tested all that much.

"I judge what we have done so far by one game -- the (4-2) win at Oswego," he said. "That's the game where I knew we were going to get tested.

"It was a good win for us, even though I would have liked to have seen us score more goals."

The Cardinals, who posted two home wins over Morrisville State and a home victory over Potsdam to open the season, went on the road last weekend for the first time and came back with the win over defending national champion Oswego on Friday and then a 5-2 decision over Cortland on Saturday.

"The biggest thing that came out of the Cortland game was that we found a way to win in the third period," Emery said. "We played good hockey for 60 minutes, but weren't able to score until the third."

The Cardinals are being led in scoring by freshman Dylan Clarke (5-3-8), sophomore defenseman Ward Smith (4-4-8), junior Riley Hill (4-4-8) and junior defenseman Nick Rolls (3-4-7).

"We're getting balanced scoring, with all the lines contributing," Emery said. "I like to see that and scoring is definitely a key."

Freshmen has been in net for all five of Plattsburgh State's wins, with Bryan Hince in goal for three and Simon LeBlanc, two.

Buffalo State (2-3-1, 1-0-1) skated to a somewhat-surprising 4-3 victory at Geneseo last Friday before playing a 4-all tie with Brockport the next night.

Fredonia (3-2-1, 1-1), meanwhile, posted a 3-2 win at Brockport on Friday before dropping a 4-3 setback at Geneseo on Saturday.

The Cardinals are in good shape physically, with sophomore forward Andrew Willock ready to return to the line-up this weekend.

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