PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - The Augsburg College men's hockey team finished its season with a 9-5 loss to the host Plattsburgh State (N.Y.) Cardinals in the third-place game of the NCAA Division III Final Four on Saturday afternoon at the Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh.

Augsburg, which ended its season with a 21-8-4 overall record, finished fourth in the nation for the second time in school history. The Auggies, regular-season co-champions and playoff champions of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, have won three national titles in NAIA play (1978, 1980, 1981) and placed fourth in the NCAA tournament in 1984. Plattsburgh State finished its season at 25-8-1.

The Auggies gave up six goals in the first period while scoring only three, and the Cardinals maintained that advantage throughout the game. Plattsburgh State scored a power-play goal and had two shorthanded tallies in the contest against Augsburg goalies Jason Moen (Sr., Roseville, Minn.) and Ryan McIntosh (Fr., Calgary, Alberta). Both teams had 45 shots on goal in the contest.

"Plattsburgh got a big jump on us early and they got off to a great start," said Augsburg head coach Mike Schwartz, who completed his second season with the Auggies and has a 35-18-5 career mark at the school.

Mario LeBlanc (Jr., Mackenzie, B.C.) had two goals and an assist in the contest, while Brandon Steege (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn.) had a goal and assist. Joe Fehn (Sr., Minneapolis, Minn.), Kris Arro (So., Etobicoke, Ont.) and Trevor Tallackson (Jr., Detroit Lakes, Minn.) had single goals, with Martin Hlinka (Jr., Bratislava, Slovakia) adding two assists.

"We started out trading goals and I thought that it was going to be that way for the whole evening," LeBlanc said. "We hung in there for a while and all of a sudden, we turned around and we were down by four goals."

The loss was the second in a row for the Auggies, who entered the Final Four with a 14-game winning streak. Augsburg finished the season with 18 wins in their final 22 games (18-3-1).

Plattsburgh was paced by Eric Seidel (So., Nyack, N.Y.), who had two goals and four assists for a six-point night. Joe Russo (Jr., Bohemia, N.Y.) had a goal and assist, as did Jeff Paluseo (So., Plymouth, Mass.) and Mike Daoust (Fr., Brockville, Ont.).

PLATTSBURGH STATE UNIVERSITY 9, AUGSBURG COLLEGE 5

Augsburg College (21-8-4) 3-1-1---5
Plattsburgh State (25-8-1) 6-1-2---9

First Period - AUG-Mario LeBlanc (Kris Arro), 4:22. PSU-Steve Moffat (Eric Seidel, Tracey Belanger), 5:30 (pp). PSU-Derrick Shaw (Mike Daoust, Eric Weidenbach), 6:33. AUG-Joe Fehn (Chris McLeod, Brandon Steege), 12:10. PSU-Eric Silverman (Seidel, Jeff Paluseo), 13:46. AUG-LeBlanc (Steege, Jonas Giving), 17:01 (pp). PSU-Seidel (Joe Russo), 17:27. PSU-Russo (Silverman, Seidel), 17:57. PSU-Daoust (Shaw, Weidenbach), 18:22.
Second Period-PSU-Weidenbach (Pat O'Neil), 12:18 (sh). AUG-Arro (John Bramer, Martin Hlinka), 15:55.
Third Period-PSU-Seidel (Silverman, Paluseo), 1:51. PSU-Paluseo (Seidel), 4:18 (sh). AUG-Trevor Tallackson (Hlinka, LeBlanc), 19:31.

Shots on Goal:
Augsburg 14-11-20---45,
Plattsburgh State 25-15-5---45.

Goalie Saves:
AUG-Jason Moen 19-x-x---19 and Ryan McIntosh x-14-3---17,
PSU-Pat O'Neil 11-10-19---40.

Penalties:
Augsburg 14 for 28 minutes,
Plattsburgh State 17 for 42 minutes.

Power Plays:
Augsburg 2 for 8,
Plattsburgh State 1 for 7.

Officials: Referees Pat Crump and Paul Jorgenson, linesman Mike Emination.

Attendance: 2,700.