Cards, Norwich reach final

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November 23, 2007

By JOHN CORYER The Press Republican Sat Nov 24, 2007, 01:01 AM EST

PLATTSBURGH -- A friendly bounce of the puck helped send the Plattsburgh State men's hockey team into tonight's 7 p.m. championship game in the annual PrimeLink Great Northern Shootout at the Stafford Ice Arena.

Shawn Dennis' goal with 1:42 left in overtime gave the Cardinals a hard-earned 4-3 win over Saint John's (Minn.) Friday night.

Plattsburgh State opposes Norwich University, a 5-2 winner over rival Middlebury College in the first game of the day, in the title contest. Middlebury and Saint John's go at it in the 4 p.m. third-place contest.

The game-winner came about when the Cardinals' Ward Smith sent the puck off the backboards where it bounced to the side of the Saint John's net. Dennis, who played a strong game, was in position to stuff it past Johnnies' goaltender Vince Wheeler.

"We're not a good enough team to get pretty goals," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "If we were, we would have scored on the couple of breakaways we had.

"We need to focus on getting the puck in deep, forecheck and go to the net. We have to create traffic in front."

Saint John's (3-4 overall) gave the Cardinals everything they wanted -- and then some.

Twice, the Johnnies quickly rallied back from one-goal deficits -- once in the second period and another time in the third.

"They are the best team we've played so far," Emery said. "We attempted a lot of shots, but they did a good job blocking them.

"We didn't play smart hockey over the first two periods. It wasn't from a lack of effort on our part. A big part of the reason was Saint John's. They're a great team and well coached. They were strong on the puck and we were trying to do too much at times."

The Johnnies grabbed the lead at 1:50 of the first period when Jason Weigel scored a power-play goal on a slapshot from the point.

The Cardinals (8-1 overall), however, came back to tie it at 9:59 while skating two men up. Defenseman Nick Rolls had his shot from straight on between the slots deflect up and over Wheeler into the net.

Plattsburgh State took its first lead of the game, at 2-1, on Dan Sliasis' power-play goal at 8:02 of the second.

But, shortly after at 9:46, a Plattsburgh State giveaway deep in its zone led to Tom Freeman's power-play goal from in front.

Mike Schiavi put the Cardinals back on top with 14:09 gone in the third when he stuffed the puck into the net when Wheeler was unable to cover up in front.

Then, just 40 seconds later, Saint John's pulled even once again when Clayton Rehm beat Cardinals' goalie Bryan Hince with a hard shot from the slot.

"I felt we did a real good job the last 10 minutes of the third period and then into the overtime," Emery said. "I felt pretty good when we took the 3-2 lead.

"But, they (St. John's) were able to take advantage of our mistakes."

Hince finished with 23 saves in net for the Cardinals while Wheeler turned aside 26 shots for the Johnnies.

It was the first goals this season for Dennis, Sliasis and Schiavi and the first of their Plattsburgh State careers for the two freshmen -- Sliasis and Schiavi.

"It was a good game," Emery said. "The most important thing is that we found a way to win."

Norwich 5,

Middlebury 2

The Cadets were lethal playing a man up, scoring four of their five goals on the powerplay.

Rick Cleaver led the way offensively for Norwich with three goals, including two on the powerplay, and D.J. Fimiani assisted on four.

Eric Ouellette and Nikita Kashirsky also tallied power-play goals for the Cadets (2-1), who went four-for-six with a man advantage.

Charlie Townsend, on the powerplay, and Michael Kretschmer scored for the Panthers (1-1-1).

Norwich jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period before settling for a 3-1 advantage after one. The Cadets then improved their advantage to 5-2 after two.

David Thompson stopped 24 of 26 shots in the Norwich nets and Doug Raeder recorded 27 saves on 32 shots between the pipes for Middlebury.

--

Plattsburgh 4, Saint John's 3, OT

Score by periods:

Saint John's 1 1 1 0 -- 3

Plattsburgh State 1 1 1 1 -- 4

First period- 1, SJ, Weigel ppg (Olmscheid), 1:50. 2, PSU, Rolls ppg (Hill, Farrow), 9:59.

Second period- 3, PSU, Sliasis (Satim, W. Smith), 8:02, 4, SJ, Freeman ppg (Stacklie, Eagles), 9:46.

Third period- 5, PSU, Schiavi (Hill), 14:09. 6, SJ, Rehm (Brodersen), 14:49.

Overtime- 7, PSU, Dennis (W. Smith), 3:18.

Shots on goal:

Saint John's 11 5 10 0 -- 26

Plattsburgh State 9 8 11 2 -- 30

Goaltenders (shots-saves): Wheeler, SJ, 30-26. Hince, PSU, 26-23.

Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Saint John's, 2-3. Plattsburgh State, 2-7.

Attendance: 2,132.

--

Norwich 5, Middlebury 2

Score by periods:

Norwich 3 2 0 -- 5

Middlebury 1 1 0 -- 2

First period- 1, Nor, Ouellette ppg (Fimiani, Messier), 5:36. 2, Nor, Cleaver ppg (Lauriault, Fimiani), 8:40. 3, Nor, Kashirsky ppg (Anderson, Sbrocchi), 13:30. 4, Midd, Townsend ppg (Svoboda, Kretschmer), 16:37.

Second period- 5, Nor, Cleaver (Fimiani), 4:00. 6, Midd, Kretschmer (Svoboda, Sullivan), 5:36. 7, Nor, Cleaver ppg (Fimiani), 17:32.

Third period- no scoring.

Shots on goal:

Norwich 11 17 4 -- 32

Middlebury 9 9 8 -- 26

Goaltenders (shots-saves): Thompson, Nor, 26-24. Raeder, Midd, 32-27.

Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Norwich, 4-6. Middlebury, 1-6.