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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, March 28, 2014 | 16 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" Oakville trio helps Cards soar to NCAA hockey title Plattsburg crushes defending champion 9-2 to win Division III crown By Herb Garbutt Oakville Beaver staff hen the Plattsburg Cardinals lined up for the opening faceoff against the Cortland Red Dragons in January, they did so with Mia Favretto and Andrea Ziesmann on the blueline. Though the Cardinals' defensive pairing are a year apart in age, they've known each other since their days at St. Bernadette Elementary School. On the hockey rink, they were teammates as far back as atom with the Oakville Hornets. "Our dads were involved in coaching so we've known each other's family for years," said Favretto, an alternate captain for the Cardinals. Behind them in the crease stood a third Oakville native, Cami Leonard, a freshman goalie for Plattsburg. The game would produce a fairly typical result for the Cardinals. Favretto and Ziesmann each picked up an assist and finished the game a plus-4 while Leonard stopped 17 of the 18 shots she faced in a 10-1 victory. The Cardinals allowed more than one goal just five times all season. The last of those came Saturday in the NCAA Division III women's hockey final. Of course, by the time Norwich University got its second goal there was less than two minutes remaining and the Cardinals had already scored eight times. Despite constant warnings that there was still plenty of hockey left, in the final minutes of a dominating 9-2 win, Favretto could finally allow herself to think about what she'd be dreaming about since arriving at Plattsburg. "It was pretty crazy. I could not believe it was happening. The crowd was loud and they were cheering us on," the junior blueliner said of the 1,619 fans that packed Plattsburg's Stafford Arena. "We were able to take it all in and enjoy it." W who went 3-0 with goals-against average of 1.00 and a .925 save percentage. "I went on the ice early and stayed on late to help girls who wanted to work on things. A lot of the stuff we were working on before and after practice, you saw them doing those things in games to help us win." With the steady play of the Oakville defensive pairing -- as well as another former Hornet, sophomore blueline Caitlin Gilligan -- Plattsburg held its opponents to an average of 18.3 shots per game. "I think we're a good passing pair," Ziesmann said. "Even though we don't get on the scoresheet much, we move the puck and get it out of our end." Ziesmann, who had 12 points in 29 games, may have come up with the biggest assist of the season, though. Late in overtime of last Friday's semifinal, the Cardinals got a power play. Ziesmann missed a chance for a one-timer but chased down the loose puck and dished it back to the point to Allison Era, who fired a high shot through a crowd and into the top corner of the net for a 1-0 victory. "We had over 50 shots (64, to be exact) and we'd really never been shut out so it was kind of scary," said Ziesmann, who helped the Cardinals avoid a third straight loss in the semifinals. "It was definitely a great feeling, and setting up Era, who's a senior, it was incredible." he following night, the Cardinals achieved the goal they had set by rolling over the defending champs. Plattsburg had beaten Norwich 6-0 in the opening game of the season, but "we thought maybe that was a fluke," Ziesmann said. The Cardinals did it again in January, though. That was the last loss for Norwich, which rode an 18-game winning streak into the final. The Cadets struck first in the championship game but Plattsburg replied just over a minute later and by the end of the first was up 4-1. A couple of hours later, the Cardinals were celebrating their national championship. "The thing I'll remember most is team atmosphere and how much of a family we were and the will and desire to win," Leonard said. "Everyone wanted to win so badly." In the days since the win, the team has been paraded through town on fire trucks and the entire community has joined in the celebration. "It was such a long journey and it was so hard to get to this point," Favretto said. "To actually be here, I'm just so happy we did it." T Oakville's Mia Favretto (left) and Andrea Ziesmann kiss the NCAA Division III women's hockey championship trophy following the Plattsburg Cardinals' 9-2 win over Norwich University last Saturday. (Below, from left), Favretto, Cami Leonard and Ziesmann helped the Cardinals go 28-1-1 this season and erase the memories of last year's loss in the national semifinal. | top photo supplied by Andrea Ziesmann / bottom photos Gabe Dickens V ictories are always a little sweeter when you've had a dose of adversity along the way. For the Cardinals, that came a year earlier. That was the year Plattsburg was supposed to win the national title. The Cardinals entered the national semifinal undefeated (26-0-2) and as the No. 1-ranked team in the country. But they fell behind Middlebury and trailed 2-0 entering the final period. Plattsburg got an early goal in the third but got no closer in a 4-1 loss. "It was probably the biggest heartbreak of my career," said Ziesmann, a freshman at the time. "It still hurts. The girls this year, they never wanted to feel like that again." "It's the hardest thing I've gone through in my hockey career," said Favretto, who had a goal and eight assists in 30 games for the Cardinals this season. "We came back with one goal on our mind -- to win the national championship." When they returned to the ice in November, the Cardinals' determination was on full display. Plattsburg did not allow a goal until its ninth game of the season, a 1-1 tie with Amherst College -- a rare blemish on its 281-1 record. Even Leonard, whose game time as a freshman was limited playing behind senior Sydney Aveson, who started 24 of Plattsburg's 30 games, found ways to contribute. "The biggest thing I learned this year was how to be a good teammate," said Leonard,