By Collin Bolebruch
Every team has a biggest rival — a team they circle on their calendar, talk smack to and play their hardest against. It gets heated, and it gets even hotter when that team has your number during the season.
No. 12 Plattsburgh Cardinals men’s hockey (2-2, 1-1) dropped its SUNYAC opener 1-5 to the Oswego Lakers (2-2-1, 2-0) on the road Nov. 15. The Cards then rebounded with a 7-1 win over the Canton Kangaroos (2-4, 0-2) in Canton the next day.
The Cards are now .500 on the season, a ways off from last year’s 9-0 start.
“There’s no need to panic, but we have to tighten up a little bit,” head coach Steve Moffat said.
OSWEGO
Since the canceled 2020-21 season, Plattsburgh has a positive record against every SUNYAC opponent — except Oswego. The Cards are 3-6 against the Lakers, with just one of those wins coming in the regular season.
The last time Plattsburgh lost a conference opener was 2022, when the Cards fell to the Lakers 1-5 in Oswego. That season, Plattsburgh defeated Oswego in the SUNYAC Championship.
“We’ve only played four games, so the season’s still young,” Moffat said.
Last weekend was Oswego’s “Whiteout Weekend,” an annual tradition to pack Deborah F. Stanley Arena with Plattsburgh-hating fans wearing white. Oswego reported 3,006 in attendance.
“The guys feed off that,” Moffat said. “They were playing bigger, faster and stronger than we were.”
Oswego struck first with 4:47 remaining in the first. A Laker chased a puck up to the right faceoff circle, hitting a wide-open man on junior goalie Eli Shiller’s doorstep. Shiller saved the shot, but couldn’t get back up for the rebound and Oswego went up 1-0.
Shiller saved 34 pucks on the night, as Plattsburgh trailed in shots 24-39.
Moffat thought the Cards played well in the first, killing two penalties and saving the other 19 shots — though they shot only seven of their own.
Plattsburgh held the deficit to one through the second, playing its best period of the game. The Cards won the shots battle nine to six, and earned two power play chances. This was the longest stretch Plattsburgh has played while down all season.
“We just tried to fight back as hard as we could,” rookie forward Tyler Ramm said. “It was definitely tough with that environment, but it was our own destiny. It was in our control the whole time.”
The Cards finished the second in a “pretty good spot,” Moffat said. Then, the wheels fell off in the final stanza.
“We got off to a horrible start in the third period and it took the wind out of our sails a little bit, and also amplified them up even that much more,” Moffat said.
Oswego netted the winner just a minute after returning from intermission. A Laker received a pass in the left faceoff circle, and then hit a teammate drifting unmarked in front of the net. Shiller couldn’t follow the puck around the crease, and Oswego scored as he hit the deck.
The Lakers kept easily finding holes in the Cardinals’ defensive zone, senior defenseman Jack Ring said.
“Obviously, it can not happen,” Ring said. “Coaches teach you at a young age, if you’re lost in the D zone, just go to the front of the net. I don’t know if it was just the pressure of that big of a game, but guys weren’t doing that.”
Moffat agreed that the Cards’s D zone coverage was loose. Ring said they’re “not hitting the panic button yet” on defense.
“I’ve played with like three different D partners,” Ring said. “Once we find something here that Moff likes, he’ll definitely keep it going and then you get to build that chemistry.”
Oswego’s third goal was a snipe from the high slot.
Plattsburgh started its third power play with six minutes left, pulling Shiller for a two-man advantage. Working off a one-time attempt by graduate defenseman Kevin Weaver-Vitale, rookie forward Shane Bondy cleaned up in the crease for his first career goal. Ramm was also credited with an assist.
The Lakers’ fourth goal was coast-to-coast on an empty net. The Cards put Shiller back in.
As Oswego crashed the left corner boards, the puck popped out to an open man in the low slot. A short give-and-go gave the Lakers their final goal with 1:21 remaining.
The Cardinals then hit the road for Canton.
“We have a real skilled team that works very hard,” Ring said. “So it should not take us too long to get things going here.”
CANTON
Plattsburgh scored a season-high seven goals on the ‘Roos. Ramm netted two, followed up with one each from Ring, Bondy, junior defenseman Brannon Butler, senior forward Jake Lanyi and sophomore forward Aaron Catron.
Junior forward Jake Sacratini had three assists. Ring, Butler and Lanyi added two each.
The Cardinals started senior Jacob Hearne in net, who saved 24 shots and allowed one.
Plattsburgh led shots 40-25, and killed five penalties while going scoreless on three power plays.
Senior forward Luk Jirousek, did not play after a collision against Oswego. Moffat said he is considered “day-to-day.”
Moffat was happy with how Plattsburgh bounced back in such a short time, especially in cleaning up the defense.
The coach recognized that the team is still learning through six inconsistent games, and that they need to adjust their game based on their personnel.
“We were trying to play the game that we played the last two years, and it was like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole,” Moffat said on Monday. “What we’re in the process of doing in the last 72 hours or so is trying to figure out what our identity is and how to best maximize our skillset.”
Moffat noted that the scoring group is physically larger and much younger this season.
“We’re going to continue to build the team that we have, not the team we necessarily thought we had,” Moffat said.
The Cardinals lost their nationally-ranked status in Monday’s United States College Hockey Online poll, but is still ranked No. 13 in DIII Hockey News’ poll.
THIS WEEKEND
Tonight, the Cardinals host the Cortland Red Dragons (3-2, 1-1) at 7 p.m. in a rematch of the SUNYAC Championship. Cortland defeated Plattsburgh 3-2 at Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena in overtime in March.
The Red Dragons are coming off a 3-5 loss to Buffalo State, who finished 4-10-2 in the conference last season.
SUNY Plattsburgh Student Association and Campus Housing & Community Living will host “Dominate the Dragons” tonight. A van will make continual trips from the Angell College Center from 5:45 to 6:45 p.m.
Pizza and soda will be served to the first 150 students in attendance, and a poster contest with prizes will be held in the student section at the Ronnie B.
Tomorrow, Plattsburgh takes on Morrisville (1-5, 0-2) for its fifth-annual Teddy Bear Toss at 7 p.m. After the Cardinals’ first goal, fans traditionally throw teddy bears onto the ice.
Casella Waste Systems has annually donated hundreds of bears, available for a suggested donation. Fans can also bring new bears. Traditionally, all proceeds are donated to the nonprofit Christmas Bureau in Clinton County.
The two-game stretch will also serve as parents’ weekend for the team, as players’ families attend the games and mingle. Moffat called the weekend “invaluable,” and that the families need to be close for the team to be close. Ramm said he’s looking forward to it.
“We don’t want to lose in front of our parents,” Ramm said. “You want to give them a good time”
Winning this weekend will go a long way ahead of the LayerEight tournament next week.
“At the start of last year, we just kept sweeping weekends,” Ring said. “Once you keep doing that, the team’s confident, you’re playing with confidence. It’s tough to beat us when we’re doing that.”
