College Hockey Stats Box Score

FREDONIA, N.Y. – Freshman forward Rich McCartney (Hershey, Pa./Philadelphia Revolution) registered his second career hat trick, but the Plattsburgh State men's ice hockey team was unable to overcome three unanswered goals in the third period by Fredonia in a 7-4 State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) loss to the Blue Devils on Saturday evening at the Steele Hall Ice Arena.

He also had a hat trick on Nov. 3 against Morrisville State College.

McCartney took over the SUNYAC lead in goals for the season with eight, and he moved into a tie for second in the conference in scoring with 10 points.

Plattsburgh State slips to 4-6-0 overall (2-5-0 SUNYAC) with the loss and returns to the friendly confines of the Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena on Friday, Dec. 8, for a 7 p.m. game against SUNY Cortland. Fredonia rises to 5-5-1 overall (3-3-0 SUNYAC) with the win and hosts SUNY Canton next on Friday, Dec. 8, at 7 p.m.
 
McCartney put the Cardinals on the board 12 minutes into the game, scoring on assists by junior forward Jesse Neher (Calgary, Alberta/Cowichen Valley Capitals) and sophomore forward Antoine Desnoyers (Quebec City, Quebec/Cégep de Saint-Laurent). He tallied again 1:46 later, with sophomore defenseman Philip Middleton (Vail, Colo./Salmon Arm Silverbacks) and junior forward Ross Sloan (Oakville, Ontario/Oakville Blades) providing assists on the marker. Fredonia's junior forward Bobby Polachek put away a shorthanded, unassisted goal with 59 seconds left in the first period to trim the deficit to 2-1 heading into the first intermission.
 
Polachek scored again 29 seconds into the second period, using assists by sophomore defenseman Brandon Spognardi and sophomore forward Jacob Haynes, while senior forward Sam Wilbur gave the Blue Devils the lead less than a minute later on a feed from junior forward Kyle Jelinski. McCartney completed the hat trick with 6:07 gone in the second period to tie the game, but Fredonia's sophomore forward Tyler Riter scored on the power play with 14:30 elapsed in the second to put the Blue Devils back on top. Haynes and senior defenseman Jamie Young earned assists on the goal.
 
Freshman forward Connor Logan (Victoria, British Columbia/North Battleford North Stars) buried his first goal as an intercollegiate hockey student-athlete 1:40 into the third period on an assist from freshman forward Keaton Leininger (Bismarck, N.D./Dauphin Kings), the first of his career, to knot the tally at 4-all, and that score held until Riter scored the eventual game-winner with 11:01 elapsed in the third. Junior defenseman Mike Freeman and junior forward Todd Schauss picked up assists on the play. Junior forward Jimmy Morgan scored on the power play with 15:38 gone in the period on assists from freshman forward Victor Tracy and Riter, while Morgan sealed the win with a shorthanded empty-netter with 1:26 left in regulation.
 
Fredonia more than doubled Plattsburgh State in shots on goal (51-25), and the Blue Devils went 2-for-5 on the power play. The Cardinals, meanwhile, went 0-for-4 with the extra skater. The Blue Devils also went 47-for-80 on face-offs.
 
Freshman goaltender Lawson Fenton (Medina, N.Y./Coquitlam Express) made 44 saves in the loss for the Cardinals, while sophomore goaltender Anton Rosén turned aside 21 shots in the win for Fredonia.