Michael Radisa was pretty upset with himself.
Plattsburgh State trailed Oswego 2-1 early in the third period, and the senior sailed a shot wide on a breakaway opportunity.
Radisa, though, got redemption with a blast from the point that may have saved the Cardinals’ season.
The Caledon, Ontario, native supplied an overtime goal to give Plattsburgh a dramatic 4-3 win over its archrival in a SUNY Athletic Conference men’s hockey semifinal Saturday.
The third-ranked Cardinals (20-3-3) will host No. 11 Geneseo, a 6-1 winner over Buffalo State, in the SUNYAC championship at 7 p.m. March 5 at Stafford Ice Arena.
“I was at the end of a shift, to be honest, and I saw it come out. I just kind of put my head down and said, ‘I’m going to hit it as hard as I can and get off the ice,’” Radisa said. “It actually ended up going over the top of (goalie Matt Zawadzki). As I was on the ice, I just heard it go off the post and everyone erupt.
“So it was a good feeling.”
Plattsburgh battled back from a 2-1 deficit before surrendering an equalizing goal with 4:09 to go in the third period, and Radisa was on the ice.
“Like you said, it’s a roller coaster,” Radisa said. “I was on the ice when they tied the game at 3-3, which was my mistake.
“I wanted to get it done for the guys, and we’ve got a group of seniors that I’m sharing this moment with. So it is really nice.”
Nick Belger’s power-play tally knotted the game at 2-all with 12:43 to go in the final frame, and Dillan Fox’s highlight-reel goal gave the Cardinals their second lead 2:52 later.
Fox, a senior, dangled around a Lakers defenseman and beat Zawadzki with a fineese move in front.
“We’ve had great senior leadership all year,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery said. “My hat’s off to those guys. They’ve been pretty resilient all year long.”
After a scoreless first period, freshman Jesse Neher put the Cardinals in front with 8:15 gone in the second period.
But the Lakers (14-11-2) came storming back.
Cameron Berry, who jammed in his first goal of the season, and David Ferreira gave Oswego their only lead at 2-1.
Kenny Neil’s late-game goal gave the Lakers new life and sent the contest to overtime.
There, Plattsburgh led shots on goal by an 8-3 margin.
The Cardinals led shots 37-29, while both teams went 1-for-3 on the power play.
Spencer Finney’s 26-save performance improved his season record to 13-2-2.
Plattsburgh dropped a 5-4 game to the Knights in December, and the two teams settled for a 3-3 draw eight days ago.
“We’re blessed to be moving on,” Emery said. “Our guys persevered and won a lot of games where we came back this year. It’s just another one (Saturday).”
—
Plattsburgh State 4, Oswego 3 (OT)
Oswego 0 2 1 0 — 3
Plattsburgh State 0 1 2 1 — 4
First period- Penalties: Bench, PSU (too many players), 12:47. Raguseo, OSW (tripping), 19:41.
Second period- 1, PSU, Neher (Sloan), 8:15. 2, OSW, Berry, 11:33. 3, OSW, Ferreira (Adams, Johnson), 14:58 (PP). Penalties: Gorman, PSU (tripping), 13:31. Raguseo, OSW (hooking), 15:13. Botting, PSU (slashing), 19:21.
Third period- 4, PSU, Belger (Gorman, Calabrese), 7:17 (PP). 5, PSU, Fox, 10:09. 6, OSW, Neil (Barton), 15:51. Penalties: Botten, OSW (holding), 5:19.
Overtime- 7, PSU, Radisa, 10:09.
Shots on goal:
Oswego 6 12 8 3 — 29
Plattsburgh State 8 10 11 8 — 37
Goaltenders (shots-saves): Zawadzki, OSW, 37-33. Finney, PSU, 29-26.
Power plays (goals-opportunities): Oswego 1-3; Plattsburgh State 1-3.
Attendance: 2,151 (Sellout).
Email Ricky St. Clair:
stclair@pressrepublican.com
Twitter: @Ricky_StClair
