The Plattsburgh State men's hockey team shook off a slow start Saturday night and skated to a 4-2 win over a pesky Brockport team in State University of New York Athletic Conference play at the Stafford Ice Arena.
Eric Satim's goal at 12:07 of the third period broke a 2-all tie and helped send the Cardinals to their victory.
Pre-game ceremonies featured recognition of the Cardinals' 2001 Division III National Championship team and special tribute to one of the players from that team, Mike Daoust, who lost his battle with cancer last year.
"We played the first period like we were still at the reunion luncheon earlier in the day," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery. "We didn't play well in the first period and lost the 50-50 battles.
"But, I give Brockport a lot of credit. They played great defense and were scrappy."
The two teams entered the third period tied at 2-all.
But, at 12:07, Nick Jensen sent the puck on net from the side and Satim tipped it past Brockport goalie Oliver Wren to give the Cardinals the lead for good.
Plattsburgh State added some insurance at 18:23, with Jensen scoring from straight on off a three-on-one.
"I was nervous when it was 2-2," said Emery. "Especially with all the alumni here.
"But, I liked the way we played in the second and third periods. I felt we were able to wear them down in the third and the cream rose to the top."
The Cardinals (13-4-1, 6-4-0), who are unbeaten in their last 12 games, grabbed a 1-0 lead at 7:15 of the first period when Kyle Taylor got a loose puck in front and scored.
Brockport (3-14-1, 1-9-0), however, rallied to take a 2-1 lead after one.
Bobby Connor beat Cardinals' goalie Josh Leis from a bad angle at 9:08 to tie it and standout James Cody slammed a slapshot home from above the faceoff circle at 12:32 for a power-play goal and a 2-1 Golden Eagles lead.
The Cardinals got their act together in the second period and outshot Brockport, 17-9, in the stanza.
Plattsburgh State also scored the only goal of the stanza when Dylan Clarke took a Ryan Craig pass down low for a power-play goal at 12:57.
"Getting the second goal was big for us," said Emery. "We were able to maintain the play after that."
The Cardinals, who were outshot by an 11-7 margin in the first period, finished with a 36-28 advantage.Leis stopped 26 of 28 shots and Wren made 32 saves on 36 shots.
The Cardinals, who skated to a 4-2 win over Geneseo the night before, remain home this coming weekend to play Cortland on Friday and SUNYAC rival and first-place Oswego on Saturday.
