Elmira renewed its long-standing, and heated at times, rivalry with Plattsburgh this past Saturday. My compatriot Russell Jaslow and I both picked Plattsburgh to prevail, but Elmira scored an extra-attacker goal with 1:21 remaining in the game to earn a hard-fought 2-2 tie.
“It was a great game back and forth to watch,” said Elmira coach Aaron Saul. “We were lucky enough to pull it out at the end with the goalie pulled.”
The first two periods were very closely played defensively by both teams, as only 22 total shots on goal were recorded in the first 40 minutes.
Elmira came out with a jump and carried the tempo for the first 20 minutes. Plattsburgh responded with strong play in the second period and opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 12:36. The Soaring Eagles rallied when Kevin Willer tallied at 17:17 to end the second period tied 1-1.
“The first period we played great,” said Saul. “We hit a post in the first period and a crossbar in the second period. In the first period, we were ready. Maybe they were a little tight playing three games in a week. We looked pretty good in the first. They did a great job of countering in the second, really took it took us until about the 10-minute mark.”
Plattsburgh retook the lead midway through the third period and it looked like the Cardinals would prevail as time wound down. Elmira pulled netminder Darren McDonald with 1:36 remaining and Willer tied it up with his second goal of the night15 seconds later.
In other action, the ECAC West continued to roll through nonconference play this past weekend. The league suffered only a single loss, Hobart to Fredonia 5-3 on Saturday, and has amassed a 35-9-8 record outside the league.
Neumann beat and tied Potsdam in the North Country, which is a touch better than the split between these two teams last season.
Utica scored a pair of power-play goals and chipped in a short-hander to beat Curry 5-2 on Friday and then drilled Cortland 10-1 on Saturday. All but two Pioneer players got in on the scoring against Cortland.
Manhattanville also beat Cortland over the weekend, although by a much closer 3-2 score, and then rolled over Morrisville 6-3 on Sunday.
With only a week to go in nonconference play, it appears that the ECAC West will once again prevail over the SUNYAC in the annual rivalry between myself and Russell Jaslow. Only seven games remain between the leagues, while the ECAC West enjoys a 22-8-4 advantage.
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