A few Division III scores from Saturday night that I haven't seen on
HOCKEY-L yet:
 
     Cortland State 5, Brockport State 2
     Elmira 9, Plattsburgh State 6
     Hobart 8, Canisius 2
     Potsdam State 5, St. Bonaventure 2
     Trinity 3, St. Anselm's 2
 
Perhaps the biggest Division III game of the weekend (in the East, anyway)
had Elmira hosting #1-ranked Plattsburgh State.  Some notes on that one:
 
Elmira 9, Plattsburgh State 6
     When these two met at Plattsburgh earlier in the season, Elmira blew a
     4-0 lead en route to a 9-8 loss.  Special teams helped kill the Soaring
     Eagles in that one, but they were an important part of the Elmira
     victory Saturday night, as the power-play unit converted on five of its
     six opportunities while the penalty killers contributed a short-handed
     goal.  Backup goaltender Dave Laudato also starred, shutting out the
     Cardinals over the last 23 minutes of the game.  The only bit of bad
     news for Elmira came during the week before the game, when team captain
     Tom Moses separated his right shoulder in practice.  Moses will appar-
     ently be out for the rest of the season.
 
     Jim Duran put the Cardinals on the board during the game's first power
     play, at the 1:28 mark of the first period, but Elmira's Joe Spinelli
     tied the score four minutes later.  Later in the period, the teams com-
     bined for three goals in two minutes, as Plattsburgh's Tim Sullivan and
     Matt Furtado sandwiched scores around Elmira forward Bernie Cassell's
     team-leading 32nd goal of the season.  The first period ended with
     Plattsburgh ahead 3-2, but Pete Feola brought the Soaring Eagles back
     even again 3:45 into the second.
 
     The two teams traded power-play goals before Spinelli gave Elmira its
     first lead of the game at 13:07 of the second period.  Cassell sent a
     long pass to Spinelli to set up a short-handed breakaway, and Spinelli
     beat Cardinal goaltender Mike Mondello low to put the Soaring Eagles up
     5-4.  Plattsburgh's Dan Schaly netted one at the 14:51 mark to tie the
     game for the fifth time, but Cassell put Elmira ahead again with a
     power-play goal at 16:27.  Just 21 seconds later, however, Chris Fess
     tapped a rebound past Elmira goaltender Tom O'Brien, who was having
     trouble controlling rebounds all night.  With the teams tied once
     again, at 6-6, Elmira coach Glenn Thomaris benched O'Brien in favor of
     Laudato.  Less than a minute later, Elmira's Bob Holmes scored to put
     his team ahead for good.
 
     Holmes got his second goal of the game at 1:08 of the third period, and
     Spinelli closed out the scoring (as well as earning himself a hat
     trick) with an empty-netter with 54 seconds left.  Laudato made 16
     saves in his relief appearance;  O'Brien made 17.  Mondello stopped 20
     shots.
--
Bill Fenwick                        |  Send your HOCKEY-L poll responses to:
Cornell '86 and probably '94        |  [log in to unmask]
LET'S GO RED!!
"I'd call you a sadistic bestial necrophiliac -- but that would be beating a
 dead horse."
-- source unknown