Lakers lose Heartbreaker to Plattsburgh; Season now in Jeopardy

The Lakers lost a heart-breaker in the SUNYAC Championship game last night to the Plattsburgh Cardinals in a game that could end their season.  Oswego went into the game sitting in a strong first place in the SUNYAC and had breezed through the playoffs up until last night.  Plattsburgh was in a strong second place and had had trouble in the playoffs, getting taken to triple overtime last week at home against Buff State.

In a game that matched two strong defensive teams with two excellent D-I transfer goalies and great penalty kills, the first period went by scoreless.  Oswego got the scoring started at 9:15 in the second period when Jon Whitelaw scored on a five-on-three power play from an assist by Paul Rodrigues.  Plattsburgh struck back at 18:49 in the second when Jared Docking scored on a power play with assists from Nick Jensen and Paul Puglisi.

Tied at one in the third, Plattsburgh took a lead at 4:33 on a goal by Mike Grace with an assist from Matt MacLeod.  The Cardinals sealed the deal at 8:26 in the third on a second goal by Jensen with an assist from Kyle Kudroch.  Oswego started a comeback only seven seconds later when Kyle Badham scored on an unassisted goal at 8:33, but were stifled by Platty's defense the rest of the way.

Plattsburgh out-shot Oswego 27 to 17.  Mathieu Cadieux went 15 for 17 in the net for Plattsburgh while Andrew Hare went 24 for 27 in the net for the Lakers.  Both teams demonstrated a characteristically-strong penalty kill, and Oswego essentially lost the game when they went one-for-five on power plays against the Cardinals, and their only power-play-goal came on a five-on-three power play.  Plattsburgh only had two power plays and scored on one of them. 

With the win and the SUNYAC crown Plattsburgh receives an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament which will culminate in the Frozen Four at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid, New York on March 16 and 17.  They are in line to be ranked as the number two or three team in the East bracket. 

Oswego will now have to rely on an at-large bid from the NCAA if they have any hopes of continuing their season in the NCAA tournament.  Currently ranked number one in the nation, that bid should be all-but ensured, but the keywords in that statement are "all" and "but."  The number-one ranked team usually makes it into the tournament but stranger things have happened and you can never trust the at-large bid selecting committee.  Last season Castleton was ranked in prime position to receive an at-large bid but were snubbed in favor of Neumann, who were ranked seven positions lower than the Spartans at the time.  In addition, the well-known Oswego bias on the NCAA selecting committee could prevent them from receiving a bid into the tourney.

NCAA at-large bids, playoff rankings, and brackets will be announced tonight at 9:30.

Rematch Set: SUNYAC Championship on the Line

Oswego and Plattsburgh will once again face off for the SUNYAC Championship crown. Saturday night's game at the Campus Center Ice Arena in Oswego marks the 12th time the two SUNYAC juggernauts have met for the tittle. Historically Plattsburgh has had Oswego's number winning 9 of the previous 11 matchups. However, Oswego has dominated recently with a record of 6-0-1 (including the 2010 SUNYAC Championship) in their last 7 meetings. This season Oswego tied at Plattsburgh 2-2 and Oswego shutout Plattsburgh at home 3-0 a few weeks ago in the annual whiteout game.

Plattsburgh advanced to the final by edging out Buffalo State in a 4-3 triple OT game. Oswego advanced to the championship game after cruising by Fredonia 8-3 last Saturday.

What's on the line (besides the SUNYAC crown and obvious bragging rights)?

For Oswego: A win would give the Lakers an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and most likely seal their case on the #1 seed in the east bracket. This would give them a first round bye and allow Oswego to host a home NCAA quarterfinal game against the lowest remaining seed next Saturday night. Even if Oswego was the lose they would most likely be guaranteed an at-large bid into the NCAAs and still be ranked the #1 or #2 seed in the east bracket.

For Plattsburgh: A win would give the Cardinals an automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament and grant them a #2 or #3 seeding in the east bracket. They would mostly likely host their first playoff game either in the play-in-round or in the quarterfinals. If they lose they would also have to rely on an at-large bid to get into the tournament. They would be in great shape to receive the at-large bid but their seeding stock would fall and they would most likely have to play in the first (or play-in) round.

The puck drops tonight at 7pm in Oswego. For those unable to make it to the game you can listen live on WYNO, or watch online via Oswego Athletics. The game will also air on TV, Time Warner 96 in Oswego or Time Warner 1027 in Central NY.  

Oswego tops Fredonia to Advance to SUNYAC Championship

The Oswego State Lakers hosted the Fredonia Blue Devils in the quarter finals of the SUNYAC Tournament at the Campus Center Ice Arena yesterday.  Fredonia advanced to the quarterfinals after topping Geneseo 4-1 in the semi-final play-in round.  The winner of this game would advance to the SUNYAC Tournament championship game next Saturday.

Fredonia got the scoring started at 7:09 in the first period on an unassisted penalty shot goal by Bryan Ross.  Oswego struck back late in the first on a power play goal by Jon Whitelaw with assists from Chris Ayotte and Zack Josepher at 18:01 to even the score at one.  Oswego scored again only seconds later on a goal by Josepher with an assist from Ayotte at 18:13 in the first.

The Lakers got the scoring started quickly early in the second period on a power play goal by Paul Rodrigues with assists from Josepher and Whitelaw at 1:02 in the second.  Oswego sealed the deal only a few minutes later on a goal by Chris Brown with an assist from Jesse McConney at 3:15 in the second to move the score to 4-1.

The Lakers would tally four more times in the game, with two goals from Ian Boots and one from Hank Van Boxmeer, and an additional goal from P-Rod.  Tyler Leimbrock and Chris Muise would add two assists for the Lakers and Luke Moodie would tally one, with McConney adding another assist.

Fredonia tallied twice more in the lost-cause losing effort.  They received goals from Brett Mueller and Stepehn Castriota and assists from Mike Monfredo and Brad Nunn as well as an additional assist from Ross.

Andrew Hare went 17/20 in save opportunities to get the win for the Lakers.  Mark Friesen suffered the loss for Fredonia and went 42/50 for the Blue Devils.  Jeff Holloway also saw a little over three minutes in net for the Blue Devils and made one save.

Oswego will host Plattsburgh next week in the SUNYAC Championship game at the Campus Center Ice Arena.  Plattsburgh received a bye into the quarterfinals and advanced to the Championship game by beating Buff State 4-3 in triple overtime.  Oswego went 1-0-1 against Plattsburgh in the regular season, beating them 3-0 at the Campus Center last week.

SUNYAC Semifinal: Fredonia at Oswego

Courtesy WNYO Sports

Oswego Sweeps home Weekend

The Lakers swept two wins at home this weekend at the Campus Center Ice Arena in Oswego, New York.  The scoring got off started quick on Friday night against the Fredonia Blue Devils.  Luke Moodie got the scoring started a 4:47 in the first period on assists from Paul Rodrigues and Jon Whitelaw.  The Lakers tallied another goal a minute later from Chris Brown on assists from David Titanic and Chris Carr.  Whitelaw tallied another goal a couple of minutes later on an assist from Moodie, and that was about all that the Lakers needed.  Still, they scored another goal mere seconds later on a shot by Chris Ayotte with assists from Matt Singleton and Kyle Badham.  The Lakers added a fifth goal near the end of the period on a shot by Whitelaw with an assist by P-Rod to stretch their lead to 5-0.

The Lakers got the scoring started again in the second period on a goal by Chris Muise with an assist from Tyler Leimbrock.  Fredonia got on the board after that with a power play goal from Mike Monfredo and assists from Brad Nunn and Ben Waldman.  In the second half of the period Singleton scored a goal on assists from Hank Van Boxmeer and Ayotte.  The Lakers added a power play goal after that from Ian Boots on assists from Van Boxmeer and Muise.  And they added another power play goal a couple of minutes later on a shot by Muise with assists from Boots and Leimbrock to stretch their lead to 9-1.

The Lakers got the scoring started in the third period on an unassisted goal by Taylor Farris five minutes into the period.  Fredonia added a goal at 11:48 by Mike Muhs on assists by Bryan Ross and Matt Hehr, but it was too little, too late as the Lakers won this one 10-2.  Andrew Hare made 25 saves for the Lakers while Mark Friesen made three saves for Fredonia.

The Lakers hosted the Buff State Bengals on Saturday to complete the home weekend against their SUNYAC opponents.  The first period was a defensive match up as neither team scored.  Buff State got the scoring started at 6:46 in the second period on a shot by Justin Knee with an assist from Eric Bajc.  Leimbrock tallied the first goal for the Lakers at 13:08 in the second on an assist from Muise.  The Lakers scored again 30 seconds later on a power play goal by Whitelaw with assists from Moodie and P-Rod to take a 2-1 lead, and that was all the Lakers would need.

Whitelaw added a second goal on a power play at 11:25 in the third with assists from Ayotte and Hare.  Fredonia attempted to execute a Bob Embry special late in the third but got burned as Whitelaw completed the hat trick on assists from Moodie and P-Rod to seal the victory at 4-1 for the Lakers.  Hare made 28 saves for the Lakers while Kevin Carr made 37 for the Bengals.

Oswego will set their sights on the last series of the regular season, and it will not be an easy one.  Whiteout weekend is next weekend, with the Plattsburgh Cardinals coming to town on Friday and the Potsdam Bears arriving on Saturday for seniors night.

Fredonia Highlights: Courtesy WNYO Sports

Buff State Highlights: Courtesy WNYO Sports



Lakers win, tie on Toughest road trip of Year

The Oswego State Lakers skated to a tie against Plattsburgh and a win against Potsdam this past weekend in men's ice hockey action.  Both games were on the road and this tough trip probably ranks as their toughest one of the season. 

The Lakers beat the Bears last night at Maxcy Hall in Potsdam by a score of 6-4.  This game was a lot closer than it probably should have been with the Lakers having a rough defensive game, but it was still an easy win for Oz, who enjoyed a two-goal advantage for the majority of the game. 

The scoring was started by Jon Whitelaw early in the first period on assists by Paul Rodrigues and Luke Moodie.  Taylor Farris then found the net on an assist by Chris Ayotte less than three minutes later.  A little over two minutes after that Trevor Cope got the Bears on the board on a power play goal with assists from Adam Place and Erick Ware.  The Lakers scored one more time late in the third on a power play goal by Eli Kim-Swallow with assists by Whitelaw and Moodie.  The first period ended with a 3-1 Oswego lead.

Max Fogel scored a four-on-four goal late in the second to start the scoring in that period with assists from Kenny Simon and Matt Viola.  Cope found the net again four minutes after that with assists from Sy Nutkevitch and Dan McCamey.  This tied the game at 3-3, and Lakers Coach Ed Gosek opted to yank Dan Jones from the game and replace him with the resting Andrew Hare.  Tyler Leimbrock scored an unassisted goal a couple of minutes later to regain the lead for the Lakers.  The second period ended with a 4-3 Oswego lead, but Potsdam won the period 2-1.

Leimbrock scored late in the third period to give Oswego a two-goal advantage again, with assists from Ian Boots and Kim-Swallow.  This proved to be the game-winner, although Ware found the net for the Bears on a Power Player a minute later with assists from Nutkevitch and Mike Arnold to make this game close once again.  But the Lakers scored one more time with less than a minute to go on an open-netter to seal the deal, with Chris Muise scoring on assists by Andrew Mather and David Titanic.

The game in Plattsburgh was a different story.  Whitelaw got the scoring started for the Lakers early in the first period on assists by Rodrigues and Moodie.  This proved to be the only scoring in the period and Oswego won the first by a score of 1-0.

Paul Puglisi got the scoring started on an unassisted goal very early in the second period to knot the game up at 1-1.  Ayotte found the net five minutes later on assists by Matt Singleton and Titanic to regain the lead for the Lakers at 2-1.  But Alex Jensen scored for the Cardinals a minute later on an assist from Patrick Jobb to tie the game once again at 2-2.  The second period ended with the game tied, although Platty won the period 2-1.

The third period was one of the most exciting full periods the Lakers have played witness to this season, as both teams played their hearts out trying to put this game away.  It was a period for the goaltenders, though, as this game remain tied and went into overtime.

The five minute overtime period was even more exciting than the third, with sudden death spelling victory for one team and doom for the other.  But the goalies reigned supreme again as the period ended scoreless and the game ended in a tie.

Notes:

• There were 2,288 people at the Stafford Ice Arena for Friday's game, not exactly Campus Center numbers but a good crowd for Platty and a much better crowd than the 213 who turned out to watch the game in Potsdam on Saturday.
• Bob Emery brought in the best officials in D-III for Friday night's game, probably the only reason to enjoy watching a game with Emery in Plattsburgh.  The four were Drew White, John Everett, Adam Wood, and Larry Legault.  The game in Potsdam featured a more pedestrian crew of Mike Jones, Will O'Malley, Wood, and Travis Hanson.
• Speaking of Emery, the Bears got burned late in the third on a "Bob Emery Special" (open-net goal) to drill the nail in the coffin on Saturday.
• The Platty game is always intense for both sides in both arenas, but despite the intensity the game was played very cleanly both ways, with the whistle only being blown three times, all on two-minute penalties.  The aggressive Lakers only sent one player to the box.  Neither team recorded a power play goal.
• The goaltending was spectacular in Plattsburgh.  Hare made 35 saves and only allowed two goals to score.  His save percentage for the game was 94.59 %.  Platty's Matthieu Cadieux saved 34 of 36.
• The Platty game was probably the most evenly-matched game of hockey in the SUNYAC in recent memory, with the game ending in a tie and being close to even in almost every category.  The Cardinals out-shot the Lakers 37-36.
• By contrast, the Lakers out-shot the Bears 53-27, nearly doubling the output by Potsdam.
• The Bears made the most of their shots though, getting four into the net.
• The goalie problem in Oswego continues and the presence of Paul Beckwith is still sorely missed.  Although Hare stepped up big against Platty, he clearly doesn't have the full confidence of Gosek.  Jones was given the start in place of Hare against the lowly Bears on Saturday.  Hare probably would have benefited from a day off after a rigorous game against Platty and Potsdam usually is a pushover.  But Jones played terribly, allowing a fifth of the shots against him into the net and Hare was forced into action.  This is the fourth time in four years that Beckwith has been replaced by a backup due to injury or illness.  Chris Hyk was an abysmal failure and Tim Potter was passable in 2008-2009.  Kyle Gunn-Taylor played very well in 2009-2010 and led the Lakers to the Frozen Four.  And now we have had Hare and Jones for parts of the past two seasons.  Lakers fans have already had to endure images of Tyler Laws and Joe Hall dressed in goalie garb during Beckwith's much-maligned tenure, and things haven't gotten a whole lot better with Jones getting serious playing time this season, although he generally plays well.  All-in-all though, there's a reason he's a third-string goalie. 

Whiteout Weekend in the Land of Oz

Oswego, NY - Ace
With SUNYAC play well under way the Oswego State Men will face two tough home games this weekend. The 1-1-0 Potsdam Bears come into town Friday night with an improved program looking to score a big time upset. Potsdam returns two of their top three leading scorers from last season in Todd Hosmer (Jr) and Fraser Smith (Sr), and their goaltender Trever O'Neill (Jr). Oswego is 9-1-0 against Potsdam in their last ten meetings. Oswego should win this game easily but it could be much closer if Potsdam is overlooked for Saturday night's opponent. 

Saturday night features the annual Whiteout Rivalry game at the Campus Center Ice Arena with preseason ranked #4 Plattsburgh taking on preseason ranked #2 Oswego. Oswego comes into this game riding high with big wins over Elmira, Buff State, and Fredonia. The Lakers can put up some major points, led by their top line of Chris Laganiere (6pts), Justin Fox (5pts), and Ian Boots (5pts). They can also play great defense led by senior captains Kevin Huinink and Steve Mallaro, and so far this season Paul Beckwith as been spectacular between the pipes. The Plattsburgh Cardinals are looking to redemption after a blowout loss to Geneseo last weekend. A big win in Oswego would keep them in the national spotlight. The Cardinals return four of their five top scorers from last season and goaltender Ryan Williams is looking for redemption after giving up 5 goals to Oswego in last seasons SUNYAC championship. Either way we are in for one hell of a game. Tickets sold out in record time for this year's meeting and I expect the crowd to be louder then ever, and in true whiteout fashion snow is in the forecast. 

Listen to Leroy in the Afternoon tomorrow for our full breakdown of both games.