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March 13, 2010

Cardinals reach Lake Placid

Plattsburgh State defeats Middlebury in OT, reaches NCAA Final Four

By JOHN CORYER

DID YOU KNOW?

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MIDDLEBURY, Vt. — All season long, the Plattsburgh State men's hockey team has played well against quality opponents on the road — only to end up losing a close game or settling for a tie.

It was a different story Saturday night.

Jared Docking's goal 3:19 into sudden death gave the Cardinals a dramatic 3-2 win over Middlebury in the NCAA Division III Tournament quarterfinals at Chip Kenyon Arena, sending Plattsburgh State into next weekend's final four in Lake Placid.

"We saved our best game for last," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "The guys had a great attitude during the week and played real well tonight.

"Middlebury plays a different style, but we had a week to prepare for them. We had a lot of great chances to score, and I would have liked to see us be a little more opportunistic. But we were good on the rush."

The end came after Middlebury goaltender John Yanchek made a save on Kyle Taylor's shot. Docking kept going to the net and scored on the rebound in close when Yanchek couldn't cover the puck.

"We won the draw and Taylor got the shot on goal," Docking said. "We're told to crash the net and I was lucky he wasn't able to cover it. I saw the puck loose in his pads and got to it.

"It's the biggest goal I've ever scored."

Plattsburgh State (19-5-4) held a 2-1 lead entering the third period and Yanchek made no less than three big saves to keep his team's deficit at one.

That proved to be key at the time when Jak Knelman scored a power-play goal with 7:01 left to tie it. Knelman was positioned to the right of Plattsburgh State netminder Josh Leis when the puck deflected to him in close.

"We had some chances when it was 2-1," Emery said. "They scored on the power play, but we had a chance on our power play late in the game."

"We stayed confident after they tied it," Docking said. "The attitude was good in the locker room before the overtime. We felt we had outplayed them and just needed to keep working."

The Cardinals took a 1-0 lead midway though the first.

Kyle Kudroch, stationed inside the extended goal line to the left of the Middlebury net, banked a shot off Yanchek and into the net at the 10:52 mark. Taylor picked up the assist.

The Cardinals came out buzzing in the second period and forced Middlebury coach Bill Beaney to take a timeout with 3:19 gone.

Plattsburgh State, however, took a 2-0 lead on Dylan Clarke's unassisted goal at 10:09. Clarke stole the puck inside the blue line, had his first shot stopped by Yanchek and tallied on the rebound.

The Panthers (19-5-4) then got back into it at 16:06 with the teams skating four-aside. The puck deflected back to Ken Suchoski at the top of the circles and he beat Leis from straight on.

Plattsburgh State had an opportunity to widen its lead late in the second on a five-on-three for over a minute. The Cardinals, however, failed to take advantage and settled for the 2-1 lead after two.

Leis finished with 21 saves for the Cardinals, who held a 31-23 shot advantage.

"Leis did a good job — he held them to two goals," Emery said. "Going in, we knew we had to keep the puck out of our net. I thought we played real well in our zone and did a great job breaking the puck out of our zone.

"It's a nice win for us. I've said all along we're a work in progress."

—

Plattsburgh State 3,

Middlebury 2, OT

Score by periods:

Plattsburgh State1101—3

Middlebury 0110—2

First period- 1, PSU, Kudroch (Taylor), 10:52. Penalties- Willock, PSU (holding), 6:43. Steele, Midd (shooting the puck after the whistle), 14:16.

Second period- 2, PSU, Clarke, 10:09. 3, Midd, Suchoski (Strauss), 16:06. Penalties- Clayton, Midd (roughing), 14:14. Satim, PSU (hooking), 15:04. Steele, Midd (cross-checking), 16:38. Castonguay, Midd (hooking), 17:06.

Third period- 4, Midd, Knelman ppg (Townsend), 12:59. Penalties- Clarke, PSU (charging), 11:47. Townsend, Midd (charging), 17:17.

Overtime- 5, PSU, Docking (Taylor), 3:19.

Shots on goal:

Plattsburgh State11992—31

Middlebury 9671—23

Goaltenders (shots-saves): Leis, PSU, 23-21. Yanchek, Midd, 31-28.

Power plays (goals-opportunities): Plattsburgh State 0-5; Middlebury 1-3.

Attendance: 2,600.

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Cardinals reach Lake Placid
by By JOHN CORYER , , Sun Mar 14, 2010, 01:01 AM EST
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