The Buffalo State women’s hockey players will have to wait another year to get their first-ever win against ECAC West powerhouse Plattsburgh.
The ladies lost both games on the road against the eighth-ranked Cardinals (7-2-1) over the weekend, falling 4-1 on Saturday before dropping their second game, 3-2, on Sunday.
It was the first time this season Buffalo State failed to collect a point in a weekend series. The pair of losses drops the Bengals to fifth place in the ECAC West with a record or 4-5-1.
Despite the two losses, head coach Rob Burke said the Bengals reached new heights with their level of play over the weekend.
“Going into Plattsburgh and playing a team as good as they are is always a tough task,” he said. “Playing (Plattsburgh) will bring out the best in a team and, although we lost, the girls stepped up and raised their game to a new level.
“As a coach, it’s great to see,” Burke continued. “I couldn’t be prouder of the way they competed.”
The Bengals played Plattsburgh to a scoreless tie through one period on Saturday, but the Cardinals split the game open with three second-period goals while outshooting Buffalo State 18-8 in the period.
Plattsburgh scored a fourth goal nearly 15 minutes into the third period before junior Courtney Carnes notched her second goal of the season to break the shutout with just 12 seconds remaining in the contest.
Senior Leah Knott said even though the Cardinals out-played them in the second period, she felt the game was much closer than the final score entailed.
“You know, you take away that second period and we tied one of the best teams in the conference,” she said. “Being able to play with them showed us a lot… They’re supposed to beat us and we showed we can match up with them. That’s a small success.”
Much like last season’s win over Elmira, the Bengals headed into their second game after coming off a loss, eyeing an upset over a ranked team the program has never beaten before.
But when the Cardinals scored just over two minutes into the game, the Bengals were forced to play catch-up the rest of the way.
Plattsburgh would go up 3-0 with two second-period goals and held a 34-7 shot advantage over Buffalo State heading into the third period, but Burke said he reminded the players during intermission about their goal to win their first game against the Cardinals.
“I just told them they’re three shots away from tying it up. Our message was to leave it all out on the ice in the third period.”
The Bengals did, scoring on their first two shots of the final period. Freshman Jayna Minnick capitalized on a Plattsburgh miscue 14 seconds into the period and senior Christine Williams immediately followed with her 10th goal of the season to make it a one-goal game.
Plattsburgh held on, however, despite a late surge by Buffalo State on a last-minute power play that resulted in multiple opportunities to tie the game.
Senior co-captain Bri Murphy said she felt the team played their best hockey of the season in that third period.
“We created a bunch of chances in front of their net, but we just didn’t get the bounce we needed to tie it up,” she said. “I thought we played well still even though we lost. We have a lot to build off of.”
The Bengals played so well in fact that even Plattsburgh head coach Kevin Houle issued strong praise following the game.
“Give Buffalo State credit — they played hard all game,” Houle told the Plattsburgh Press Republican. “That’s even if we would have won, 3-0. They made us work hard for everything we got and it was a good test for us.”
While the power play failed to produce a goal for the Bengals, the penalty kill allowed only one goal in nine chances throughout the weekend. Sophomore goalie Jordan Lee was kept busy as well, making 70 total saves as Plattsburgh out-shot Buffalo State by a combined 77-30 in the two games.
The Bengals will now wrap up the 2011 portion of their season when they travel to Plymouth, Mass., for a pair of non-conference games against Plymouth State on Friday and Saturday before finishing off their current five-game road trip with a single game against Castleton State on Sunday in Castleton, Vt.
Burke said long road trips like the one the Bengals are about to embark on are tough, but he fully expects to head into the holiday break with a three-win “Christmas present.”
“Our job will be to get the two wins against Plymouth and build momentum heading into the third game against Castleton,” he said. “The hardest game will be Sunday, but we’re not making any excuses.
“We learned so much against Plattsburgh and gained a lot of confidence,” Burke continued. “This team is at the point where it can do what it wants, when it wants to, and we want to come away with the three wins.”
Brandon Schlager can be reached by email at schlager.record@live.com.