Fredonia's No. 3 Matt Letmanski
Fredonia celebrated Pink The Rink 2019 on Saturday after falling to Plattsburgh, 3-2, in SUNYAC men's hockey.
Morrison and Luke Kuczewski
The 13th annual event culminated with presentation of the Blue Devils' jerseys during an on-ice ceremony honoring cancer survivors. This year's tally ups the all-time total donation to The American Cancer Society to over $90,000.
Plattsburgh's Cole Stallard earned the No. 1 star for netting the game-winning goal at 18:12 of the second period. He also had an assist while Pat Egan had a goal and an assist and Cam Owens had a goal for the Cardinals (11-11-2 overall, 8-5-1 SUNYAC).
Fredonia senior forward Jimmy Morgan (Highlands Ranch, Colo.) had both Fredonia goals, his eighth and ninth of the season, to earn the No. 2 star and the Fredonia Blue Devil Booster Club Player of the Game.
Senior goalkeeper Eric Bogart (London, Ont.) was the No. 3 star. He made 47 saves as part of a Plattsburgh shooting onslaught. The Cardinals outshot the Blue Devils, 50-19, including 30-3 in the first period.
The loss dropped the Blue Devils to 12-7-4 overall and 6-6-2 in the conference. They ended the night in sixth place, the last seed into the SUNYAC Tournament, which starts Feb. 20.
Egan opened the scoring at 4:17 of the first period when he converted a Fredonia turnover in its own end. The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead when Owens tipped in a pass from the point at 14:22 of the second period.
The Blue Devils were on the penalty kill when Morgan put his team on the board at 17:10 of the second period off a nice set-up from junior Tyler Riter (Orchard Park). It was the Blue Devils' first short-handed goal of the season. Still on the power play, the Cardinals countered quickly as Stallard ripped a slapshot through a screen from the top of the face-off circle at 18:12 of the second.
Morgan's second goal came at 6:31 of the third on a breakaway off a set play. Winning the draw in their defensive end, the Blue Devils sent one player to the bench while Morgan jumped onto the ice through the opposite door and walked in alone after taking a pass from freshman Ethan Kirbis (Clarence).
That cut the Plattsburgh lead to 3-2 and allowed the Blue Devils to pull Bogart in favor of an extra attacker in the final two minutes.
Fredonia closes out its regular season next weekend at Morrisville with games Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
