Plattsburgh State 2001 NCAA Division III Champions

By JOHN CORYER Press Republican

ROCHESTER — The Plattsburgh State hockey team saved its very best for last.

The Cardinals turned in a brilliant 6-2 victory over the previously-undefeated Rochester Institute of Technology Saturday night to complete a miraculous run to the NCAA Division III Tournament championship.

It marked the first national title for the Cardinals since the 1991-92 season.

It was a solid effort from start to finish for the surprising Cardinals, who were not on their heels like they were the night before at times in a 5-3 victory over Wisconsin-Superior in the semifinals. Plattsburgh State appeared to be one step ahead of the Tigers all evening.

The Cardinals, winners of 18 games in their last 19, closed out the season with an overall record of 29-5. The host Tigers, who took a No. 1 ranking into the Final Four, ended their outstanding season at 27-1-1.

Plattsburgh State also avenged an earlier 8-2 loss to RIT in the finals of the Pepsi Cardinal Classic at the Stafford Ice Arena.

‘‘This maybe isn’t the most talented team I’ve had at Plattsburgh State,’’ said Cardinal head coach Bob Emery. ‘‘But it’s the team with the biggest heart.

‘‘The pressure was on RIT because they were unbeaten. And we haven’t lost a game all season (27-0) when we have scored the first goal.’’

The Cardinals opened the scoring at 5:57 of the opening period when Rob Retter wristed a shot from the right faceoff circle over the shoulder of RIT netminder Tyler Euverman on the far side.

It became 2-0 at 7:33 on a goal by Mark Coletta. Chad Kemp centered the puck in front to Coletta, who beat Euverman with a low shot.

‘‘The biggest fear I had tonight was that RIT would come out like they did last night against River Falls (a 5-2 win). The first five minutes of the game were important.

‘‘We took the first five minutes away from them and were opportunistic on our scoring chances.’’

The Tigers cut their deficit in half on one of their two powerplays in the first period. Derek Hahn knocked a rebound past Plattsburgh State goaltender Niklas Sundberg at the 13:10 mark to make it 2-1 after one.

But the Cardinals were back at it in the second.

Brendon Hodge one-timed Paul Dowe’s feed from beyond the faceoff circle past Euverman at 5:30 to put Plattsburgh State on top, 3-1.

‘‘Getting a two or three goal lead is what we want to do all the time,’’ Hodge said. ‘‘Then we put the weight on the Swede’s (Sundberg) shoulders.’’

The Cardinals ‘ got a goal late in the second, at 19:43, to take a three-goal cushion into the third.

Retter followed up on his own shot to tally a power-play marker for his second goal of the contest.

‘‘That was a tough one, allowing a goal in the final minute of play in the second period,’’ said RIT head coach Wayne Wilson.

Plattsburgh State killed off a penalty early in the third and Sundberg stoned Hahn who went in alone a little later.

"RIT came out flying in the third period,’’ Emery said.

Plattsburgh State, however, weathered the storm.

Brent Armstrong ripped a slapshot past Euverman at 8:32 to put the Cardinals up 5-1, but Mike Tarantino answered back for the Tigers 19 seconds later to give RIT some life.

The Cardinals, however, added the finishing touch at 15:07 when Hodge took a pass from Coletta and send a rocket under the crossbar to give Plattsburgh State a 6-2 advantage.

‘‘I never expected anything like this coming in as a freshman,’’ Retter said. ‘‘This is a whole new situation. We have great guys and great coaches.’’

"Our strength all season was behind the goal line,’’ Emery said. "We wanted to get the puck in deep.

"RIT beat us bad the first time we played them, but that was the best thing that could have happened to us — losing by a big score. It probably got RIT a little overconfident."

Sundberg was again superb in the Plattsburgh State nets with 35 saves, including 17 in the third period. He was lifted with 1:05 remaining in favor of Frank Barker to be engulfed by his teammates on the bench.

‘‘It was a great team effort,’’ Sundberg said. "We grew closer together as a team after the Elmira (4-1 loss) game.’’

Euverman finished with 20 stops. RIT held a 37-26 edge in shots on goal, thanks to an 18-7 margin in the final stanza.

‘‘We had an unbelievable year,’’ said Wilson. ‘‘When you have single-elimination games like this, things can happen.

‘‘Plattsburgh did a lot of the little things well, like blocking shots. They got great goaltending and were right on top of us from the start. They did a good job down low, and were the better team tonight.’’

Plattsburgh State 1992 NCAA Division III Champions

By Bob Goetz Press Republican

Forget the asterisks, the apologies for 1987.

Plattsburgh State is King of the Hill in NCAA Division III hockey once again.

The Cardinals capped off a near perfect season Saturday night with a 7-3 romp past three-time defending champions University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the NCAA title game at Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena. A capacity crowd of 3500 plus scores more following the game on WPTZ TV, Channel 5 watched Plattsburgh put the finishing touches on the college’s most successful season ever in ice hockey.

The Cardinals closed out their Triple Crown campaign with a 32-2-2 record and the championships of the State University of New York Athletic Conference, Eastern College Athletic Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Conference.

Plattsburgh pulled off the same feat in 1987, however, the Cardinals were stripped of their titles in 1990 for NCAA rules violations occurring during the mid-eighties.

“A lot of people forget about the tough times this program has gone through the past few years, how (senior captains) Matty Furtado and Jim Duran were denied the chance to play in the post-season twice in their four years here. But these guys showed a lot of character in never getting down.” head coach Bob Emery said.

“And this season - we started on Sept. 19 at 7 o’clock in the morning - I could see the look in their eyes back then that they wanted it.”

That determination was evident from the outset of Saturday’s championship contest, as the Cardinals got off to a flying start, taking a 3-0 lead 12 ½ minutes into the game.

“I think our forecheck won the game for us. Our game plan was to go right at them from the start, pressure their defense. And we came out of the box like greyhounds.” Emery continued.

Chris Fess’s hard work around the net set up Larry Zinger for the first score at 9:34 and then Fess walked across the left circle to whip a shot in the far side at 11:06. Fess, who added another assist giving him six points in two nights, was arguably the most valuable player in post-season for Plattsburgh with 10 goals and 10 assists in nine game.

“After last night’s game we were pretty nervous and we were a lot more nervous this afternoon. But then we started talking with the fans and that helped to relax us.” The big sophomore winger revealed.

“We needed to be relaxed. We knew if we got too nervous, we couldn’t play our style, which is up-and-down, fast-and-quick hockey. We knew if we tried to play their style it might cost us.”

The Cardinals did get away from their game in the third period after building a 5-1 lead and Stevens Point was quick to capitalize. Sean Mardan scored at 9:04 off some heads-up play, make that fancy footwork, by Grant McDonald who kicked the puck over to Mardan sailing down the slot. Then Scott Krueger banged home a second rebound while Plattsburgh was enjoying a man advantage.

“I lost a few hairs then,” Emery joked. “I think we celebrated too early. Stevens Point worked hard to the end; they didn’t quit. They put a little scare into me.”

“We started to relax, ease up on our forecheck, but they kept coming,” Fess added. “They’re an excellent hockey team. They’re big and they’re faster than I thought they would be.”

But Plattsburgh wasn’t to be denied.

Freshman Steve Moore, who showed plenty of hustle and creativity all night gathered in a loose puck behind the cage and fed it out in front to John Peron, who swatted it into the right side at 17:31

Stevens Point, down 6-3, called timeout with 1:38 left and yanked goaltender Todd Chin. But Furtado finished off the Pointers, with a backhander almost the length of the ice at 18:36.

For Furtado, it was his 20^th goal of the campaign. Moore and Zinger also reached that plateau in the championship game, giving Plattsburgh eight 20-goal scorers for the season.

Moore put back a rebound for a power play score at 15:31 of the second and Zinger, who returned to the lineup three games back after sitting out six with a shoulder separation, scored a shorthanded goal at 7:11 of the third to give Plattsburgh a 5-2 lead.

“It was nice to get a goal, but I couldn’t believe how much work Steve Moore did. He did all the work,” Zinger admitted.

Moore the former Massena junior player, made a mad dash from his own end and at the last second slid the puck in front where it deflected in off Zinger’s skate.

“I’m just glad to be back and part of it tonight,” Zinger continued. “The shoulder felt great, but then I was going on 100 percent adrenalin.”

Plattsburgh put 20 shots on goal in the first period and 43 for the game to Stevens Point’s 37. Mike Mondello was solid, if not stellar at times in goal for the Cardinals.

Stevens Point was seeking to add to its string of championships. The Pointers last year became the first team ever to win three straight NCAA ice-hockey titles.

“They’re a classy team. One of their players came up to me after it was all over and said I had to be proud of the program, the team and the fans. And I am,” Emery said. “This is the happiest day of my life.”

“I’m glad, too , that (former coach) Steve Hoar gave me the chance to come up here (in 1988) to be his assistant and I’m grateful to (assistant coach) Kevin Houle for the great job he’s done with the players and for the players.”