{"id":29454,"date":"2007-11-15T18:46:33","date_gmt":"2007-11-16T00:46:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uscho.com\/2007\/11\/15\/this-week-in-sunyac\/"},"modified":"2010-08-17T19:57:06","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T00:57:06","slug":"this-week-in-sunyac","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp-admin.uscho.com\/2007\/11\/15\/this-week-in-sunyac\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in SUNYAC"},"content":{"rendered":"
Look up. Wa-a-a-a-a-ay up. There you will see the Cardinals high on top the SUNYAC perch.<\/p>\n
By Plattsburgh’s standards, they have had some off years recently. This season is more like a Plattsburgh year as they have opened the season with seven straight victories, all conference games.<\/p>\n
Even though they have played more league games than anyone else, you can pick any team and have them win all their games in hand, and they still won’t catch the Cardinals. There’s something to be said for starting out against easier opponents and forcing everyone to play catch up.<\/p>\n
“The success of our team is getting the save at the right time,” Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery explains. “It’s not so much the number of saves you get. When a team has a rush at the end of a period, you don’t want them to get momentum going into the locker room, or you don’t want a team to get a quick goal at the start of the game and have to play catch up right away.”<\/p>\n
One of the key factors is Bryan Hince, the freshman goaltender. He has an amazing .953 save pct. and a 1.00 GAA. Needless to say, both those stats lead the league.<\/p>\n
“When your team has confidence in your goalie, it allows your team to hold their sticks a lot lighter in the other end,” Emery said.<\/p>\n
In fact, Plattsburgh is getting a lot of contribution out of their freshmen, a recruiting class some are calling one of their best.<\/p>\n
“We got some great freshmen who are playing very well,” Emery said. “[But] you can’t tell how good a recruiting class is until they graduate. We’ve had classes that won 100 games.”<\/p>\n
So far this class also includes Dylan Clarke, the teams third leading scoring (6-3-9) who also is tied with the most goals for his team and the SUNYAC, Eric Satim (2-4-6), and defenseman Ryan Corry (1-5-6).<\/p>\n
At first, when Plattsburgh beat Morrisville twice and Potsdam all at home, it was no surprise. When they beat Oswego on the road, it was impressive, but for a rivalry like that, records get thrown out. But then they defeat Fredonia and Buffalo State, two solid teams, on the road.<\/p>\n
“It’s a tough road trip, no doubt about that,” Emery said.<\/p>\n
Plattsburgh’s form is back, but how far back?<\/p>\n
“We’re just a good team right now getting great goaltending,” Emery said. “We have to get better as a team. My goal is always to play better at the end of the year.”<\/p>\n
Most coaches would be concerned that a team that keeps winning may get overconfident and take an opponent too lightly. Emery is not concerned about the former, as long as they keep a proper attitude.<\/p>\n
“You can never be too confident, but always have to rely on your hard work,” he said. “You can be overconfident as long as you come to work with your hard hat and goggles on, willing to work hard.”<\/p>\n
If they do, the rest of the league may be looking up at Cardinals flying above them for a longtime this year.<\/p>\n
Oswego has a long line of very successful goaltenders dating back to Pete Sears (’71) who was the program’s first All-American. After college, he played for the U.S. Olympic team in 1972 that won the silver medal. He is currently the goaltending volunteer coach, a position Sears has held for about 10 years. He still holds the record for most saves in a season, 920, in 1970-71.<\/p>\n
Since then Laker netminders have included Ed Layton who holds the school record for most wins in a season (24 in 1980-81); Paul Mueller with most saves in a career (3,144); most saves in a game (71), most wins in a career (63), and most games in a season (31); Carl Antifonario with best save percentage in a season (.929); Joe Lofberg with most consecutive shutout minutes (165:13); and Tyson Gajda with most shutouts in a season (four) and most shutouts in a career (six).<\/p>\n
Scratch that last record. Ryan Scott now has the most career Oswego shutouts as he notched his seventh in a 5-0 win over Geneseo.<\/p>\n