(Buffalo, N.Y.)- The SUNY Canton men's ice hockey team saw their season come to a close on Saturday as they fell to North Country Community College 9-4 in the semifinals of the NJCAA Ice Hockey National Tournament at Bud Bakewell Arena in Buffalo, N.Y.

The fourth-seeded Northstars end the year at 11-11-3 while the top-seeded Saints improve to 18-5-2 and will play for the championship on Sunday against the winner of No.2 Monroe Community College vs. No. 3 Morrisville State College.

SUNY Canton fell behind 1-0 4:12 into the opening period when Ryan Fraser scored his first of two goals in the game.

The Northstars stormed back and tied the game three minutes later when, on the power play Kyle Laurie (Canton, N.Y.) slid a beautiful past across the slot to Nick Emmick (Richford, N.Y.) who one-timed it past Saints goalie Alex Rundlof for his 15th goal of the year. Just two minutes later at the 9:21 mark, Austin Chase (Newport Beach, Calif.) took a pass from Emmick, skated down the slot and wristed a hard shot over the blocker of Rundlof giving SUNY Canton a 2-1 lead. The Northstars appeared to go up 3-1 at the 2:51 mark of the first period when a shot crossed the goal line after a scramble in front of the net but Rundlof was able to sit on the puck before the officials could see it cross the line.

But it was all North Country from there as they scored seven straight goals up to the 6:50 mark of the third period.

Jeremy Kolb (Rush, N.Y.) tallied the Northstars third goal with his second of the weekend and ninth of the season with 11:40 remaining in the third period. Matt Bailey (Parishville, N.Y.) concluded the scoring at the 13:21 mark after skating down the left wing and flipping a shot on goal that deflected off Rundlof and into the net.

Dustin Deleel (Massena, N.Y.) recorded 30 saves for SUNY Canton and ends his freshman year 8-8-1.

Emmick finished with a goal and two assists and had an outstanding tournament with two goals and five assists. Laurie also had two assists for the Northstars on Saturday.

Steve Atkins led the Saints with two goals and three assists. Jamie Larue also scored two goals, Craig Reyell, Albert Kavanaugh, and Ryan Watts each had one goal apiece and Rundlof finished with 27 saves.

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