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PLATTSBURGH — With the exhibition game against Concordia and annual Red/White scrimmage out of the way, the Plattsburgh State men's hockey team jumps into its real season tonight.
The Cardinals open their 2009-10 State University of New York Athletic Conference campaign against Geneseo at 7 p.m. at the Stafford Ice Arena.
"We're in constant evaluation," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "In our exhibition games and practices, we're finding out what we need to work on. We're going to be a work in progress throughout the season.
"We have to play our way in a consistent and successful manner. We don't have a complicated system, but our players have to buy into it and do it well."
The Cardinals, who host Brockport on Saturday night, will be opposing a Geneseo team that has already played two games.
The Ice Knights dropped 6-2 and 2-0 contests at defending Division III national champion Neumann College last weekend. Sophomores Jake Yard and Jonathan Redick scored the lone goals for Geneseo in the two losses.
Neumann is the team that knocked off the Cardinals, 5-4 in overtime, in the national quarterfinals at the Stafford Ice Arena last season.
"We're giving up a couple of games to Geneseo and that's a little bit of a concern because they will be less rusty than us," Emery said.
"Hopefully, it will balance out with us playing at home in front of our great fans."
The Cardinals have plenty of new faces on a team that finished 24-2-2 overall and went 15-0-1 in SUNYAC play before winning the conference tournament a year ago.
Emery said it's way too early to know exactly what he has this season.
"I'm not happy or unhappy with the team at this point," he said. "We will progress as the season goes on and the Geneseo game is our first real test.
"This could be the fastest team we've had and also the smallest (in size). I would prefer to be fast and big, but if you're going to have one of the two, I'll take speed over size. When you're small, however, you have to play with a lot of guts."
Emery plans on giving everyone on the team a look and the hope this weekend is to get two of the three freshmen goaltenders playing time.
"We're planning to play two of the three goalies this weekend, unless there are injuries or illness," he said. "Our program has always been based on competition for playing time and we pride ourselves in getting playing time for everyone to see what they're capable of.
"We can't win with just 20 players. We want to be able to evaluate all our players."
It should benefit the Cardinals, who host Cortland and Oswego next weekend, to open up at home.
"The guys are real excited about playing in front of our fans," Emery said. "It's about playing with skill and emotion. We need to get good leadership for that emotion to come out. That's key."
Brockport, the Cardinals' opponent on Saturday night, is at Potsdam this evening at 7 p.m.
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