Plattsburgh, Potsdam to meet in SUNYAC tourney showdown

PLATTSBURGH | There are no guarantees in playoff hockey, and Plattsburgh can't afford to get ahead of itself. The Cardinals need a win over Potsdam in the SUNYAC tournament first round to ensure a third crack against Oswego on Saturday in the Port City. The two North Country rivals will meet in the postseason for the first time since Feb. 23, 2008, when the puck drops at 7 p.m. at Stafford Ice Arena. NCAA IMPLICATIONS Plattsburgh sits 10th in the PairWise Rankings, a system used to select and seed teams for the upcoming NCAA tournament, and a loss would almost certainly knock the Cardinals out of contention for an at-large bid. While, as it stands, Plattsburgh would be the second of four at-large teams selected, there are six programs – St. Norbert, Skidmore, Bethel, Stevenson, Hamilton and Endicott – on its heels. In one projection that favors bracket integrity, I have Plattsburgh traveling to Elmira for a first-round game with the winner heading to Trinity in the quarterfinals. An alternate bracket that leans toward minimizing travel expenses, particularly flights, and missed class time, I projected a Plattsburgh at Utica first-round game with the winner facing the Trinity-Skidmore victor in the quarterfinals. These hypotheticals can and will change as conference tournaments continue until tournament selection on Sunday, March 3. GOALTENDING Junior Jacob Hearne and sophomore Eli Shiller split time in Plattsburgh's net for most of the regular season. But Hearne made back-to-back starts against Buffalo State and Fredonia last weekend, and he did not disappoint. The Ennismore, Ontario, native stopped 47 of 50 shots faced in a weekend sweep. Hearne improved to 25-2-2 in his career at Plattsburgh, and he's unbeaten in second-semester games. I'm under the impression the net is Hearne's until proven otherwise. RECENT FORM Yes, Plattsburgh is 4-1-2 in its last seven games, but that doesn't mean it hasn't sputtered during that stretch. The Cardinals needed a bizarre and unusual empty-net goal in overtime to beat Fredonia, the eighth-worst team in the PairWise, and never led Buffalo State until 7:11 remained. Plattsburgh got beat a second time by Oswego, and it managed to hang on for the last 30 seconds against Cortland in a 5-4 win. The Cardinals were in a third-period tie with Potsdam until there was 2:42 left. Plattsburgh led Norwich, 4-2, with 3:51 to go and managed only a tie. It mustered one goal against Brockport only to give up the game-tying score with 1:22 remaining in regulation. REGIONAL RIVALRY This is the 122nd all-time meeting between the two programs, which dates back to Jan. 31, 1976. Plattsburgh holds the edge at 97-18-6, including a 60-5-3 mark at Stafford Ice Arena. This is the first postseason meeting since Feb. 23, 2008, when the Cardinals scored a 6-0 win in the SUNYAC semifinals at Stafford Ice Arena. Only eight days prior, in Plattsburgh's regular-season finale, the Cardinals suffered a 4-2 loss at Maxcy Hall. That season, Plattsburgh captured the SUNYAC championship before falling to St. Norbert, 2-0, in the national championship game in Lake Placid. Since Nov. 17, 2018, the Cardinals are 7-3 in the last 10 matchups.

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Plattsburgh, Potsdam to meet in SUNYAC tourney showdown

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