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Jed Carlson-Superior Telegram

Men's Hockey

Yellowjackets fall to Plattsburgh

Box Score

Plattsburgh 4, Yellowjackets 1

For years Plattsburgh State University has wanted the Yellowjackets to head east and be the fourth team, the invitee in the PrimeLink Great Northern ShootOut. Three Division III powerhouses - Plattsburgh, Norwich and Middlebury take turns hosting the premier tournament in Division III, with a fourth team, typically from the west region, filling out the field via invitation. And each time they've been invited, the Yellowjackets have declined.

Until 2013 that is.

This year is the 16th Annual PrimeLink Great Northern ShootOut, and with the Yellowjackets competing, it is a rematch of the same four teams, in the same semifinal match-ups that we saw at the NCAA Division III Men's Ice Hockey Championships in 2002. That year the Yellowjackets defeated Plattsburgh and played Norwich in the final, who reached the title game following a win over Middlebury.

The Yellowjackets will play Norwich again on Saturday this time around, but the script has been flipped and the teams will meet in the third place game. Middlebury defeated Norwich in a shootout in the first game on Friday, and Plattsburgh took down the Yellowjackets in the second game, 4-1 at Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh, N.Y.

The end result does not indicate how close the game was, however, as the Yellowjackets carried the play for long stretches of time. They just had difficulty getting shots through and breaking a very stingy Cardinal defense.

Plattsburgh opened the scoring at 6:31 of the first period when Michael Cassidy took advantage of a bad Yellowjacket line change and blasted a shot over the glove hand of Yellowjacket goaltender Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, Ontario/Westgate CV&I) to make it 1-0. It went to 2-0 a few minutes later when Alex Brenton finished off a mad scramble near the Yellowjacket goal, punching the puck underneath Strandberg for his first goal of the year.

The Yellowjackets answered with their only goal of the game at 12:57 of the first period. Pat Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) moved the puck behind the Plattsburgh goal to Anton Svensson (Soldertalje, Sweden/Igelstavikens Gymnasium) who came out the right side and attempted a wraparound that was stopped by Plattsburgh goaltender Mathieu Cadieux. Svensson kept pounding away at the puck and slapped it home for his first goal of the season, shaving the lead to 2-1.

Early in the second period Plattsburgh capitalized on the power play. With David Dalbec (Superior, Wis./Superior Senior) off, Plattsburgh's leading scorer Dillan Fox had the puck below the goal line in the left corner. His centering pass deflected off a stick and snuck between the pads of Strandberg to push the lead back up to two goals, 3-1, just 1:10 into the period.

Another power play later in the period produced a couple of quality chances, most notably for Alex Jensen, but Strandberg was there to turn him aside. Plattsburgh also hit a post in the second in another good scoring chance.

The Yellowjackets came out in the third period and continued to press on offense, but the Plattsburgh defense put on a shot blocking clinic, time and again getting sticks and skates in shooting lanes and keeping the Yellowjackets off the board.

In the closing minutes the Yellowjackets were given just their third power play of the game and had a couple of golden opportunities, but again the Cardinals were able to shut the door.

Jensen provided the final nail in the Yellowjackets' coffin when scored into an empty net with 46 seconds to play in regulation, making the final score 4-1.

Strandberg had another good game for the Yellowjackets on Friday night, finishing with 24 saves. His record falls to 2-3-0. At the other end Cadieux remains unbeaten on the year, making 19 saves and improving his record to 7-0-1.

The Yellowjackets took five penalties for 10 minutes, while Plattsburgh took three for six minutes. The Yellowjackets were 0-for-3 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.

Plattsburgh now has a 4-1-0 lead in the all-time series and has beaten the Yellowjackets both times the teams have played in Plattsburgh. The previous meeting at Stafford Arena came in 1992 when the teams played in the national semifinals, a game the Cardinals won 8-6.

The Yellowjackets (3-5-0, 0-0-0 WIAC) return to action on Saturday when they will take on Norwich University in the third place game of the tournament. Game time is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Central Time and can be heard live on 91.3 FM KUWS, beginning with the pre-game show at 2:45 p.m. If you are outside the local listening area, you can tune in on the Internet through the iFan Sports Network or through Wisconsin Public Radio, using the link on this web site. Jon Garver will have the call.
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