PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. – A four-goal second period helped the Plattsburgh State men’s ice hockey team ease past Tufts University, 5-0, on the opening day of the W.B. Mason Winter Classic on Friday evening at the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena.
Plattsburgh State, which rises to 6-7-0 overall with the win, advances to the championship game and will face Babson College tomorrow night at 7 p.m. Tufts drops to 1-8-1 overall with the loss and will square off with No. 2/3 Endicott College tomorrow afternoon in the consolation game at 4 p.m. Babson and Endicott tied, 1-1, in overtime in the first game of the day, and Babson advanced to the championship by virtue of winning a shootout.
After a scoreless first period, the Cardinals erupted for three goals in a span of 1:58 early in the second period.
Senior forward Matt Quilty (Midland, Ontario/Caledonia Corvairs) went top shelf on the power play 2:55 into the second period, scoring from the high slot. Quilty cashed in on a feed from freshman forward Liam Lawson (Vancouver, British Columbia/Powell River Paper Kings) that came from the left face-off circle, while sophomore defenseman Charles Barber (Queensbury, N.Y./New York Bobcats) earned a secondary assist as a result of a feed from the blue line.
Sophomore defenseman Andrew Pizzo (Thorold, Ontario/Niagara University) netted his first career goal in his first game in a Cardinal sweater with 3:48 gone in the second period to give Plattsburgh State a 2-0 lead. Junior forward Cole Stallard (Atlanta, Ga./New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) played the puck to sophomore forward Joe Drabin (Rochester, N.Y./Wenatchee Wild) along the endboards in the Cardinals’ defensive zone, and Drabin skated the length of the ice before dropping off a backhanded pass to Pizzo in the high slot. The NCAA Division I transfer from Niagara University then beat the Jumbo goaltender glove side.
The three-goal tear ended with a goal by sophomore forward Antoine Desnoyers (Quebec City, Quebec/Cégep de Saint-Laurent) with 4:53 elapsed in the second period. Senior defenseman Ayrton Valente (Woodbridge, Ontario/Mississauga Chargers) fed sophomore defenseman Antoine Fournier-Gosselin (Saint-Lazare, Quebec/Cégep de Saint-Laurent) with a D-to-D pass, and Fournier-Gosselin ripped a shot from the point that was saved. Desnoyers was waiting just outside the crease and knocked in the rebound from the low slot to give Plattsburgh State a 3-0 advantage and force a Tufts timeout.
Junior forward Ross Sloan (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades) added another goal to the Cardinals’ tally 19 seconds before the second intermission. Barber poked the puck up to sophomore forward Noah Batis (Martinsville, Ind./New Hampshire Jr. Monarchs) along the right boards, and Batis fed Sloan in the neutral zone. Sloan evaded several Jumbo defenders skating into the Cardinals’ offensive zone and backhanded the puck into the back of the net from the edge of the left face-off circle.
Fournier-Gosselin added a goal to his ledger 4:00 into the third period, scoring on a power play that was caused by a five-minute major. Pizzo passed the puck from the top of the left face-off circle to Fournier-Gosselin just inside the blue line, and Fournier-Gosselin drove a shot past traffic in front of the net as well as the Tufts goaltender. Stallard earned a secondary assist on the play.
Plattsburgh State finished with a 32-25 edge in shots on goal and went 37-for-65 on face-offs. The Cardinals’ special teams came through, as Plattsburgh State went 2-for-7 on the power play and held Tufts to a 0-for-4 performance with the extra attacker.
Freshman goaltender Lawson Fenton (Medina, N.Y./Coquitlam Express) made 25 saves for the Cardinals to earn his first shutout as a Plattsburgh State netminder, while senior goaltender Nik Nugnes and freshman goaltender Drew Hotte combined to make 27 saves in the loss for Tufts.
