A frustrating season in conference regular season play is all but forgotten now for the Plattsburgh State men's hockey team.
The Cardinals are SUNY Athletic Conference champions for the 20th time and have 16 tournament titles since 1985.
Four players scored a goal each and tournament Most Valuable Player Josh Leis stopped 20 of 21 shots Saturday as the Cardinals skated to a 4-1 victory over Fredonia in the championship game at the Stafford Ice Arena.
As a result the fourth-seeded Cardinals earn an automatic berth into the NCAA Division III Tournament.
"We came out with a solid effort and played great hockey for 58 minutes," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "But, with the adversity we've faced this season, I'm not going to be negative about those two minutes.
"Fredonia is a great team and this was our best effort all season. We had great leadership and dedication. I knew going in Fredonia wanted to keep us to two goals or less."
"We had a tough year in the conference, but we know we're a good team," said Leis. "This is the best time of the year to do it."
The Cardinals came out strong right from the start, outshooting the Blue Devils, 13-4, in the first period.
But, it was still a scoreless game when Eric Satim scored a power-play goal from near the faceoff circle at the 15:15 mark.
Then, with just 19 seconds left in the first, defenseman Cody Adams took Patrick Jobb's pass in the center of the ice and sent a low slapshot into the net for a 2-0 Plattsburgh State lead.
Fredonia (14-13-1) turned up its play early in the second period and spent a good share of the first five minutes or so in the Plattsburgh State end.
"They didn't get a lot of shots on goal, but some of them were of good quality," said Emery. "Especially early in the second period. That was a difference in the game with Josh making those saves."
"Fredonia came out hard in the second period," Leis said. "Our players do a good job at keeping the opponents' shots to the outside, but at times I need to make a big save."
The Cardinals (20-7-1) added to their lead at 14:14 of the second period when Ryan Farnan knocked in a rebound off a Kyle Taylor shot. Then, shortly after at 15:20, Dylan Clarke deflected Barry Roytman's shapshot into the net for a 4-0 Plattsburgh State advantage.
The Cardinals held on to the shutout until the Blue Devils pulled goalie Mark Friesen for an extra attacker with just over two minutes remaining. Ben Waldman went up top to beat Leis at 18:38 to get Fredonia on the board.
The Cardinals finished with a 35-21 shot advantage, with Leis making 20 saves and Friesen, 31.
"We did a good job getting the puck in deep and played a lot of the game in the Fredonia end," said Emery.
"It was a solid team effort."
Leis was a standout in the Cardinals' overtime win at Geneseo the weekend before.
"Definitely, I was happy that there wasn't an overtime in this game," he said. "I was able to make some big saves in the Geneseo game as well, but I wasn't expecting to be the tournament MVP.
"It feels awesome."
The all-tournament team included Plattsburgh State forwards Ryan Craig and Satim, along with defenseman Adams. Waldman and defenseman Steve Rizer represented Fredonia, which entered the event as the sixth seed and made a great run to the finals.
The Cardinals will now await word of who they will play and where in the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Plattsburgh State 4, Fredonia 1
Score by periods:
Fredonia State 0 0 1 — 1
Plattsburgh State 2 2 0 — 4
First period- 1, PSU, Satim ppg (Craig, Grace), 15:15. 2, PSU, Adams (Jobb, Docking), 19:41. Penalties- Fred (too many men on the ice), 6:19. Morton, Fred (interference), 14:52.
Second period- 3, PSU, Farnan (Taylor), 14:14. 4, PSU, Clarke (Roytman, Adams), 15:20. Penalties- Jobb, PSU (boarding), 7:16. Waldman, Fred (hooking), 9:01.
Third period- 5, Fred, Waldman (Ross, Oye), 18:38. Penalties- Edens, Fred (tripping), 3:07. MacLeod, PSU (tripping), 6:11. Schlueter, PSU (hooking), 18:38.
Shots on goal:
Fredonia State 4 6 11 — 21
Plattsburgh State 13 12 10 — 35
Goaltenders (shots-saves): Friesen, Fred, 35-31. Leis, PSU, 21-20.
Powerplays (goals-opportunities): Fredonia State, 0-3. Plattsburgh State, 1-4.
Attendance: 2,006.
