PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – The No. 14/14 Plattsburgh State men’s ice hockey team returned to its winning ways on Friday night at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena, as freshman forward Rich McCartney (Hershey, Pa./Philadelphia Revolution) led the Cardinals with a hat trick en route to a 12-4 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC)-opening win over Morrisville State College.
Plattsburgh State is ranked at No. 14 in both the USCHO.com Men’s Division III Top-15 Poll and the D3hockey.com Men’s Top-15 Poll.
The victory gave head coach Bob Emery his 599th career win, as the Cardinals rose to 1-1-0 overall (1-0-0 SUNYAC) for the season. Plattsburgh State closes out the weekend with another home game against Morrisville tomorrow, taking on the Mustangs (0-1-2, 0-1-0 SUNYAC) at 7 p.m. on Hall of Fame Night.
Plattsburgh State’s 12 goals were its most scored in a game since it defeated SUNY Cortland, 12-3, on Feb. 7, 2003.
McCartney finished the game with three goals and one assist for four points, factoring into scoring for the first time in his career. Senior defenseman Ayrton Valente (Woodbridge, Ontario/Mississauga Chargers) tallied four assists, while Liam Lawson recorded four points (one goal, three assists) in his first career game.
Lawson scored on the power play 4:23 into the game off passes from sophomore forward Antoine Desnoyers (Quebec City, Quebec/Cégep de Saint-Laurent) and Valente, while junior forward Ross Sloan (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades) netted an unassisted shorthanded goal just more than two minutes later. McCartney registered his first career point with a power-play goal midway through the period—with junior forwards Pat Egan (Rochester, N.Y./Lone Star Brahmas) and Cam Owens (Wilmington, Mass./Islanders Hockey Club) earning assists—while freshman forward Keaton Leininger (Bismarck, N.D./Dauphin Kings) picked up his first career point with a power-play marker 1:04 later. Sophomore defenseman Philip Middleton (Vail, Colo./Salmon Arm Silverbacks) and Lawson were each credited with assists on the Leininger goal.
The second period featured seven Cardinal goals, with senior forward Matt Quilty (Midland, Ontario/Caledonia Corvairs) kicking off the period with a shorthanded goal 1:39 into the stanza. Valente and Owens each picked up helpers on the goal. Morrisville got on the board with 4:47 elapsed in the period, as sophomore forward Ryan Bochert scored off passes from junior forward Ian Wood and senior forward John Lauer. Freshman forward Mike Falanga (East Haven, Conn./Islanders Hockey Club) scored his first career goal 1:13 later off assists from McCartney and Valente, while freshman defenseman Sam Schultz (Hartland, Wis./Virden Oil Capitals) buried his first career marker 1:38 after that following feeds from Sloan and freshman forward Greg Malafronte (Colts Neck, N.J./New Jersey Titans). Malafronte’s assist was the first point of his career. McCartney scored his second goal of the game midway through the period, with Falanga and Lawson assisting, and Quilty put away his second score just 26 seconds later off a helper from Owens to give the Cardinals a 9-1 lead.
Following a Mustang timeout, Desnoyers buried the puck into the back of the net off Valente and Egan passes on the power play, while Morrisville got one back with a power-play goal by junior forward CJ Stubbs that was assisted by sophomore forward Nick DeVito. Middleton scored with the man advantage with 1:07 left in the period off assists from Falanga and Lawson to take an 11-2 lead into the locker rooms before the second intermission.
Morrisville’s junior forward Jimmy Philbin scored 24 seconds into the third off a pass from freshman defenseman Nick Hautanen, while McCartney recorded the hat trick midway through the stanza off a Middleton assist. Philbin tallied again with 11:28 elapsed in the third to round out scoring, with Wood and Stubbs each earning assists on the goal.
The Cardinal special teams had a night to remember, starting out 5-for-5 on the power play before finishing at 5-for-9. Plattsburgh State also scored two shorthanded goals. Morrisville went 1-for-8 with the extra attacker. The Cardinals finished with a 55-29 edge in shots on goal as well.
Freshman goaltender Lawson Fenton (Medina, N.Y./Coquitlam Express) made 25 saves in his Cardinal debut, while the Mustangs utilized three goalies in the setback. Sophomore goaltender Sal Salteri was saddled with the loss, making 12 stops.
