Men’s hockey notes & quotes

• After beating Geneseo 5-1 in Saturday’s SUNYAC Tournament semifinals, Plattsburgh State will meet Oswego in the championship game for the fifth time in the last six years. The Cardinals won three of those games against the Lakers, including last year in Oswego.

 

• Chris Muise and David Titanic led the Lakers back into the final. They both scored twice Saturday as Oswego beat Buffalo State 5-2. The Bengals got on the board first, but the Lakers answered with four straight goals. Andrew Hare made 33 saves.

 

• Geneseo came into Saturday’s game with a power play that ranked first in the SUNYAC and sixth in Division III. But Plattsburgh’s penalty kill is tops in the conference, and the Cardinals held the Knights to 0-for-4 on the power play.

 

Jared Docking:  “It feels good. Some of us, it’s our last home game here, so we wanted to come out on top. And the boys came out, played hard.”

 

Bob Emery on the Knights:  “They came out fired up in that first period. And then they got the power play. And then they got a huge momentum boost from that power play in the first period, and I thought they had the edge in the first period. But I thought we did a good job coming out of the locker room. Second period, I thought we played really well.”

 

Emery on Docking:  “He took a hard hit, but he’s pound-for-pound one of the toughest kids we’ve ever had here. He’s been a great leader for four years but really done a great job the second half of the year.”

 

Docking on his second-period goal:  “I just came off the bench, and I saw they were going for a change so I was just going to stretch it. And then (Mike Grace) made a really great pass. I just took it hard to the net, didn’t get a lot on it, but it was lucky enough to go through his legs. So it felt good to get a two-goal lead.”

 

Cardinal Q&A: Kevin Emmerling

Varsity Voice: Eddie Kane

Notes & quotes from Oswego vs. Plattsburgh State

 

• When Plattsburgh State beat Oswego 4-3 Saturday, it ended the Lakers’ nine-game winning streak. Oswego has lost to just two teams this season — Plattsburgh twice and Utica twice.

• Plattsburgh freshman Kevin Emmerling had two goals and an assist, giving him five points on the weekend. He has at least a point in each of his last six games and moved into second place on the team with 25.

• With the SUNY Athletic Conference regular season in the books, the playoff pairings are set. In Wednesday’s quarterfinals, No. 3 seed Geneseo will host No. 6 Potsdam, and No. 4 Buffalo State will host No. 5 Fredonia. No. 1 Oswego and No. 2 Plattsburgh will host semifinals Saturday.

 

Kevin Emmerling on the second period:  “I think we were just playing our game. Playing blue-collar hockey, what we’ve tried to do all year. Just getting pucks in, getting pucks out, getting it to the net and scoring goals.”

Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery:  “I thought we did a good job getting to loose pucks in front of the net. We did a good job working hard, forechecking and trying to play the game behind their goal line.”

Emery:  “We had emotion tonight. If you don’t have emotion tonight, you’re maybe half dead.”

Oswego coach Ed Gosek:  “I thought in the second we played a pretty good period. I thought we had a lot of Grade A opportunities again and we didn’t capitalize on them. I thought that was the difference in the second, and they got the momentum there. And in the third, I thought they did a good job defensively keeping us to the outside.”

Gosek:  ” We had chances. I don’t feel we were outplayed or anything. It was a good game. They made their breaks and earned it. And we’ve got to be better next time. Hopefully we’ll meet them in a couple weeks at our place. Get a third chance at them.”

Men’s hockey notes & quotes

•  Cortland lived up to its billing as the most-penalized team in the SUNYAC, taking nine penalties for 29 minutes in Friday’s 4-1 loss to Plattsburgh. The Cardinals went 2-for-6 on the power play. The Red Dragons had just one power play in the game.

• Kevin Emmerling, who recorded a goal and an assist, now has a team-high 12 goals this season. He’s fifth among Division III freshmen with 1.10 points per game.

• Dillan Fox’s points streak came to an end Friday at eight games. The freshman forward failed to earn a point for the first time since Jan. 5.

• Senior forward Jared Docking received the 2013 Chartwells Fan Favorite Award before the game.

 

Alex Brenton on what coach Bob Emery said during a second-period timeout:  “He gave it to us. He let us know what was what, and I feel like after that we came back and we answered.”

Emery:  “I thought we controlled the play down deep behind their goal line for the most part all night. We didn’t have a lot to show for it. We gotta get a little dirtier and play a little more tough in the paint, getting to some rebounds in the offensive end.”

Brenton on what Plattsburgh needs to do against Oswego:  “We’ve just got to outwork and outsacrifice them. We gotta block shots. We gotta take the man. We just gotta play our (butts) off, for lack of a better word.”