PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- Middlebury earned a 1-1 tie against No. 2 Norwich in the first round of the PrimeLink Great Northern Shootout hosted by Plattsburgh State. The Panthers advanced 2-0 in a shootout and will face the host school on Saturday in the championship game.
Middlebury’s Louis Belisle and Jake Charles both beat Norwich starting goaltender Matic Marinsek, while Norwich’s Chris Duszynski and Paul Russell were each stuffed by Middlebury’s Mike Peters.
Norwich (5-0-2, 4-0-1 ECAC East) outshot Middlebury 26-23 in the 146th all-time meeting between the two schools. Middlebury (3-0-2, 3-0-1 NESCAC) holds an 80-58-8 advantage in the all-time series.
Middlebury struck first blood at the 8:32 mark of the second period when Michael Long stuffed home a rebound in the crease to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead off assists from Robbie Donahoe and Evan Nuegold.
Norwich knotted the game up at 1-1 on the power play with 3:47 left in the second period when William Pelletier scored his second goal of the season.
No. 3 Plattsburgh State 4, Wisconsin-Superior 1
PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. -- The line of Michael Cassidy, Michael Radisa and Alex Brenton combined for four points as Plattsburgh State defeated Wisconsin-Superior 4-1 in the second game of the 2013 PrimeLink Great Northern ShootOut at the Stafford Ice Arena.
The Cardinals (7-0-1) struck early as Cassidy blasted a shot from the left circle at 6:31 of the first period to give Plattsburgh State a 1-0 lead. After picking up an assist on Cassidy's goal, Brenton poked a backhanded shot past UW-Superior goaltender Drew Strandberg at 9:43 to put the home team up by two.
A little over three minutes later, Yellowjackets' freshman Anton Svensson was denied by the left pad of Plattsburgh State's Mathieu Cadieux but Svensson was able to lift the loose puck over Cadieux's leg to bring this year's invitational team within one goal at the 12:57 mark.
With just 1:10 gone in the second and the Cardinals on the power play, Dillan Fox threw a pass to the front of the net but the puck deflected off a Yellowjackets' defender and through the five hole of Strandberg to give Plattsburgh State a 3-1 lead.
The Yellowjackets (3-5-0) had a chance to chip away at the two-goal deficit on a power-play opportunity with 3:03 left in the third but the Cardinals were able to hold off the visitors in the final minutes. Shortly after the Yellowjacket's power play expired, Plattsburgh State closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal from Alex Jensen at 19:14.
Morrisville State 3, No. 8 Utica 2
UTICA, N.Y. -- Morrisville State stunned Utica with the 3-2 upset victory on Friday night.
Utica, a team that advanced to the Frozen Four just a year ago, drops to 6-2-1 overall, while Morrisville State head coach Kevin Krogol, a Utica grad, snapped a four-game skid, guiding Morrisville State to its first program win against the Pioneers, and a 2-6-1 overall record on the season.
Utica had no answer for Morrisville State netminder Chris Azzano, turned away 38 Pioneer attempts on the night, including 15 in each the second and third periods to record the win.
Matthew Beer scored a power-play goal 6:37 into the third period to break a 2-2 tie. Darren Young and Mike Dolman assisted on the tally.
Goals from John Doyle and Daniel Morello scored early second-period goals to give the Mustangs a 2-0 lead but Rob Morton and Ridge Garbutt tied the game by the end of the period.
