BUFFALO — Buffalo State got goals from Christine Harris (Mountain Top, PA/Wyoming Seminary), Bri Carroll (Peoria, AZ/AZ Virtual Academy) and Natasha Steinle (Morrison, CO/Canadian International Hockey Acad.), and Justine Silva (Baldwin Park, CA/Arroyo) made 39 stops as the Bengals clinched an ECAC West home quarterfinal contest with its 3-3 tie with No. 1 Plattsburgh this afternoon in a conference game at the Ice Arena.
Carroll got the scoring started with less than five minutes to go in the opening period. Buffalo State was applying pressure when a rebound jumped out in front to Carroll who hammered it home on the power play to give the Bengals a 1-0 lead with 4:36 left to play in the first.
It was all Plattsburgh in the second period, as the Cardinals scored two goals to take what looked like a 2-1 lead into the third. Buffalo State had other plans though, as Carroll stole the puck in the Plattsburgh zone as just seconds remained in the period. She flipped it to Steinle who roofed her wrister into the corner of the net to tie the game, 2-2, with nine seconds to play in the second.
Plattsburgh again came out strong in the third, and got a go-ahead goal a little less than five minutes into the period to retake a 3-2 lead. Buffalo State answered back about six minutes later. Erin Gehen (W. Seneca/W. Seneca West) blocked a Plattsburgh shot in her own zone, scooped up the loose puck and was off to the races. Gehen put the burners on to get past the Cardinal defender on her to create a 2-on-1 chance with Harris. Gehen flipped the puck across the ice to the crashing Harris who one-timed it into the far side of the net to tie the game at three with 8:58 left to play in the third. Both sides had chances, but neither could score as the game went to overtime, tied 3-3.
Each team blocked a couple shots by the other in what was a cautious overtime period. Neither team recorded a shot on goal as Buffalo State and Plattsburgh skated to a 3-3 tie.
It is the first time in program history that the Bengals picked up a point against the Cardinals. Buffalo State was 0-33-0 against Plattsburgh coming into today’s contest. Following the game, the Bengals honored its three seniors for their contributions to the program over their careers: Hannah Tarr (Los Angeles, CA/Taft), Viivi Vaattovaara (Veikkola, Finland/Hameenlinnan Lyseon Lukio) and Heather Neuburger (Fayetteville/Millbrook).
Buffalo State hosts Potsdam in an ECAC West quarterfinal game to take place Thursday at the Buffalo State Ice Arena. Time of the game is still to be determined.
from BuffaloStateAthletics.com via IFTTT