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 to Face Fredonia in SUNYAC Playoff

The Fredonia State Blue Devils will travel to the Campus Center Ice Arena to take on top ranked Oswego Saturday night in the SUNYAC semifinal round. Forth seeded Fredonia advances into the semifinal round after defeating Geneseo 4-1 in Wednesday's play-in round. Traveling into hostel territory is nothing new for the Blue Devils as they upset the Lakers at home in SUNYAC play last season and in 2007.

On the opposite side of the bracket will be third seed Buffalo State at second seeded Plattsburgh. Buff State advanced by beating Potsdam 4-3.