Box Score (Photo Credit: Stefan Hard, Times Argus)
NORTHFIELD, Vt. – Despite outshooting Plattsburgh State 28-20, the Norwich University men's hockey team fell 4-2 to the No. 3-ranked Cardinals on Tuesday night at Kreitzberg Arena in non-conference action.
Norwich (10-3-2, 7-1-1 ECAC East) got goals from seniors Travis Janke (Swift Current, Saskatchewan) and Shane Gorman (Trumbull, Conn.), but Plattsburgh proved to be too much to hand the Cadets their second straight loss, while also picking up just its second win ever at Kreitzberg Arena.
Plattsburgh senior goalie Mathieu Cadieux made 26 saves for the Cardinals, while Kyle Hall, Mark Constantine, Zach Popp and Alex Brenton each added goals to lead Plattsburgh (13-1-2, 7-0-2 SUNYAC) to the victory.
Hall gave Plattsburgh the lead just 1:21 into the game when he jammed home a loose rebound in the crease off a shot from Kevin Emmerling. NU starting goalie Matic Marinsek (Ljubljana, Slovenia) made the initial save, but couldn't corral the rebound and Hall jabbed at the puck, just getting it to trickle over the line to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.
Norwich answered back late in the first with a 5-on-3 power play goal by senior forward Shane Gorman (Trumbull, Conn.), who continued his recent hot streak by potting his seventh goal of the season off a rebound to knot the game back up at 1-1.
Gorman wristed a shot from the bottom of the right faceoff circle after the puck bounced onto his stick off an initial shot from sophomore defenseman Ryan Whitell (Calgary, Alberta) that Cadieux made the save on. Janke also picked up the second assist after dropping the puck back to Whitell while crisscrossing at the blue line.
However, the tie was short lived as Plattsburgh answered right back at the 16:51 mark when Mark Constantine scored a power play goal of his own to put the Cardinals back on top for good.
Constantine roofed the puck over Marinsek after he controlled a shot by Nick Jensen that bounced off the boards behind the NU net.
Plattsburgh kept the momentum rolling in the second period when Zach Popp fought off a NU defender to beat Marinsek on his backhand, short side on a partial odd-man rush at the 7:38 mark of the second period. Ryan Farnan picked up the assist on the goal that chased Marinsek from the net in favor of senior goalie Parker Carroll (West Chester, Pa.).
Brenton pushed the lead to 4-1 at the 12:22 mark of the second period when he buried a shot just underneath the crossbar while all alone on the left side of the crease after a perfect tape-to-tape pass from Barry Roytman at the point.
The Cadets got one back in the third period when Janke stuffed home a loose puck in the crease off assists from Gorman and Duszynski to cut the Plattsburgh lead to 4-2. However, that's as close as Norwich would get as the Cadets took back-to-back minor penalties shortly thereafter to sap all momentum away from the comeback bid.
Marinsek made six saves before being pulled and took the loss, dropping to 8-2-2 on the year. Carroll came on in relief, making 10 saves on 11 shots in his first game action of the season since the season opener against Plymouth State.
Norwich will look to rebound this weekend when it hosts St. Michael's at 7 p.m. on Friday night and then battles longtime rival Middlebury on Saturday at 7 p.m. as well. The Cadets will hope the third time is a charm in their bid to try and win head coach Mike McShane's 400th career game at Norwich.
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