Sweep! Cards Go 2-For-2 Against Lakers

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- For 64 minutes, it looked as though the SUNYAC regular season-title race would be a dogfight until the end. Then, with a simple left-wing wrister from sophomore Ward Smith (pictured), the Plattsburgh Cardinals took a commanding five-point lead in the conference standings.

Plattsburgh (17-2-0, 10-0-0) earned a 3-2 overtime victory over Oswego State in a match-up of SUNYAC powerhouses. They also completed a regular season sweep over the Lakers for the first time since the 2003-2004 season.

Senior goaltender Ryan Scott stopped a season-high 37 shots. His effort kept the Lakers in the game despite the fact they were out-shot 20-4 over the game's final 24:07. Overall, Plattsburgh put 40 shots on Scott. The last coming off the stick of Smith, whose marker sent the hometown crowd into a frenzy and his teammates pouring onto the ice.

That same crowd had been on pins and needles at the start of the third period as they found their team in an unfamiliar spot...trailing. The Cardinal faithful had only seen their club trail after two periods one other time this season. Meanwhile, the Lakers had won 12 straight when leading after 40 minutes.

Laker assistant captain Kyle McCutcheon single-handedly gave Oswego State (11-5-2, 7-2-1) the lead midway through the second. The senior defenseman bumped an attacker off the puck in the defensive zone, carried the puck coast-to-coast, and wristed a shot past freshman standout Brian Hince for a 2-1 lead.

McCutcheon's goal was a quick answer to Plattsburgh's game-tying power play marker just minutes earlier. Freshman Dan Sliasis had scored on a feed from Dylan Clarke at the 7:12 mark to bring a small flurry of tennis balls onto the ice and even the game at 1-1. Five of Sliasis' six goals this season have come on home ice. No delay-of-game penalties were called for the tennis ball-toss.

The Lakers lit the lamp first in the game's 11th minute on a two-on-one rush as Brendan McLaughlin put home a rebound off a shot by line-mate Peter Magagna. The goal was McLaughlin's eighth on the year and extended his points streak to nine straight games. It also gave the Lakers a 1-0 lead; Oswego State had won 12 straight when scoring first coming into the match-up.

The Lakers maintain a one-point advantage over Fredonia for second-place in the SUNYAC. Oswego State will try to earn two points Saturday at 7 p.m. at Potsdam. The game will be featured on FSN television (Time Warner Cable channel 54 in CNY). The Cards look to pad their comfortable conference lead against Cortland Saturday at 7 p.m. The Red Dragons led Plattsburgh 1-0 after two periods in their first meeting this season.

Ryan Maloney