The No. 2 Oswego State Lakers were defeated by the No. 13 SUNY Plattsburgh Cardinals tonight by a score of 3-1 in tonight’s 2016-17 SUNYAC championship game.

With the win, the Cardinals have won the SUNYAC title and clinched an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

Oswego State, winners of the SUNYAC regular season, will find out next week whether or not they have clinched an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

In what can only described as frustrating, the Lakers hit 6 posts throughout the game, with mere inches being the difference between the a SUNYAC championship and the title of runner-up.

In addition to the constant posts they found

Just like every other Lakers vs. Cardinals match-up, both teams came out flying, with spectacular scoring chances coming on both sides on the ice.

Cameron Berry of Oswego State hit a post and a cross bar in the first period, and Joe Drabin on Plattsburgh nearly beat Lakers goaltender Matt Zawadzki on more than one occasion.

Through all the scoring chances, both Zawadzki and SUNY Plattsburgh’s Brady Rouleau stood their ground in the crease and kept the game at a scoreless tie through the first 20 minutes of play with the Lakers leading in shots 10-6.

At 9:07 of the second period, the Cardinals struck with the first goal of the night.

A wild sequence with a bouncing puck and a lot of confusion on both sides found a wide-open Schuyler Seyfert with a point-blank chance to beat Zawadzki, and he found the top corner of the net past Zawadzki’s glove.

Scoring chances would follow on both sides, but nobody was able to find the back of the net for the remainder of the period after Seyfert’s tally.

Through 40 minutes, the Lakers lead the Cardinals in shots 20-15 and were just unable to break through Rouleau and the Cardinals.

The Cardinals went up 2-0 at 2:37 of the third period with a power play goal off the stick of Drabin, afterhe was able to find an open puck and jam it past the pad of Zawadzki.

At 3:47 of the third period, the Lakers finally broke through.

During a power play, Kenny Neil was able to find Shawn Hulshof on one knee in the low slot who was able to fire a rocket past Rouleau and make it a 2-1 game.

With 11:59 left, Plattsburgh regained a two goal lead.

Cole Stallard sent a backdoor pass to a streaking Antoine Desnoyers who was able to beat Zawadzki glove side to make it 3-1 in favor of SUNY Plattsburgh.

With just 32.3 seconds remaining, Neil was able to tip a Hulshof shot past Rouleau and make it 3-2.

The win seals SUNY Plattsburgh their 23rd SUNYAC championship, their 16th under Head Coach Bob Emery.

The final shot total was 32-23 in favor of Oswego State.

Both teams will find out their status for the NCAA tournament at 10:30 A.M. on Monday, March 6th.