Last weekend's disappointment lingers on for the Plattsburgh State men's hockey team.
But, the 3-2 loss to eventual champion Norwich in the NCAA Division III Tournament Final Four semifinals in Lake Placid can't take away from what the Cardinals accomplished and the optimism for the future.
"For sure," said Cardinal junior forward Eric Satim, who finished second on the team in scoring, despite missing seven games due to a knee and ankle injury. "Our schedule was even tougher than it looked going into the season.
"No one knew what kind of team we would have. A good nucleus of our team was gone, including players like Nick Rolls and Joey Wilson. We had something like 13 freshmen on the roster. Then, we had some injuries and sickness during the season.
"We exceeded expectations. We played so many big games on the road, but that was good for us, especially the younger players, and it will help us next year."
The Cardinals, who were ranked fifth in the country going into the Final Four, finished the season with a 19-6-4 record and were second behind Oswego in the SUNYAC with a 13-2-1 mark.
Of those 29 games, 15 were played on the road and two at a neutral site. Incredibly, Plattsburgh State played 11 games against ranked teams — with only one at home, eight on the road and two at a neutral site.
"I'd like to fire the person who made our schedule, but it was me," joked Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "But, before the season, we were one of 76 teams. When the season ended, we were one of the top three.
"I felt confident we could win the national championship game if we would have made it that far. The guys are still down, but the players who will be coming back are optimistic."
The Cardinals were talented this season, but didn't have any superstars as evidenced by not having anyone chosen to the SUNYAC All-Conference First Team. The talent Plattsburgh State did have — plus an outstanding work ethic — got the Cardinals as far as they did.
"We were the epitome of the sum of its parts," Emery said. "We played great together. We didn't have that one guy who could get the big goal for us, but that is the culture of our program.
"We had trouble scoring goals and we had to do a good job keeping the puck out of our net. We did that for the most part. We overachieved this season."
"We had scoring balance and hard work paid off for us," Satim said. "We outshot a lot of teams this year.
"We also had two freshmen goalies (Josh Leis and Ryan Williams) and they did fine."
The Cardinals, after struggling in a 6-3 loss at Oswego in the SUNYAC Tournament championship game, earned an at-large big into the NCAA Division III Tournament and made the most of it.
Plattsburgh State skated to a 3-2 overtime win at Middlebury in the tournament quarterfinals before giving a good account of itself in the one-goal loss to Norwich.
"We didn't play as well as we could have in Oswego — we didn't have everyone going that game," said Satim.
"But we played probably our best game of the year in Middlebury and that was one of the highlights. Our defense played well and our forwards did a good job coming back.
"It was tough to lose to Norwich in the Fnal Four, but they are a real good team. We, however, were able to stay positive and had a good game."
Plattsburgh State loses three solid players in forwards Andrew Willock and Phil Farrow and defenseman Tom Breslin.
But, everyone else returns.
"It starts now for us," Emery said. "We don't lose a lot of scoring and we don't lose a lot on defense.
"But, we need to bring in some talent and we can't afford to let in soft goals in big games."
