OSWEGO, NY — Former Oswego State Men’s Hockey goaltender David Richer has signed a professional contract with the Les Éléphants de Chambéry of the FFHG Division 2. The FFHG features four separate leagues with a regulation structure similar to Premier League Soccer. At the time the team’s season got canceled due to COVID-19, the group was getting set to play in the regulation tournament to figure out if the team would play in Division I next year. The team finished second in their division this year with 41 points.
Richer played 17 games for the Lakers this season in his senior year. The netminder finished with six shutouts to rank himself first in the SUNYAC conference. His goals against average was 2.20 and he finished with a save percentage of .911. He played three seasons with the Lakers and played in a total of 58 games for Oswego over the course of his career. Richer joins four other seniors to sign professional contracts after their senior seasons this year.
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SUNYAC announces return of Spring Sports
OSWEGO, NY — Tuesday afternoon, SUNY Chancellor Jim Malatras announced that the SUNYAC conference will be returning on March 20th with spring sports. The sports of baseball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, softball, women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s outdoor track & field will all return as all of their seasons were cancelled last year when the COVID-19 pandemic begun.
The conference will be split into east and west divisions to limit travel and cost expenditures. The divisions will be based on geographic location with Interstate-81 being used to split New York state in two. For the sports of Women’s lacrosse and softball, two five team divisions will be used. Since Fredonia and Buffalo State do not sponsor men’s lacrosse programs, Cortland will compete in the west division and there will only be four teams per division. Lastly, women’s tennis will be without Buffalo State and Potsdam due to their lack of teams.
The other details that were announced yesterday regarding this decision revolve around logistical aspects of this season. Masks will be warn at all time except during the heat of the competition. No spectators will be allowed to watch games in person due to current New York State Department of Health guidelines. There will be regular weekly testing through each campus for athletes and team officials. Along with that, athletes will be tested three days prior to road trips. On those trips, no eating will be allowed on the buses and capacity must be reduced to 50 percent. During the game, there should be no handshakes and group celebrations.
SUNYAC Commissioner Tom DiCamillo stated that there will be more guidelines announced later along with schedules for every team and school. As of right now, the season will be opened with two women’s lacrosse match ups as Cortland plays Plattsburgh and Potsdam travels to Oneonta. WTOP 10 will continue to deliver news regarding SUNYAC spring sports in the future.
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Oswego Men’s Lacrosse Takes on Brockport
OSWEGO, NY — The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse team is set to make their 2021 season debut on Friday vs. SUNY Brockport. The Lakers have had their previous two games (vs Morrisville State and vs SUNY Oneonta) either postponed or canceled due to positive COVID-19 cases. This will be the first time the Men’s Lacrosse team has played a game since March of 2020 and their first time playing Brockport since April of 2019.
Oswego will be led by starting goalkeeper, Kevin O’Donnell, who will begin his senior season on Friday. O’Donnell, a four-year starter for the Lakers, is only 2 saves away from reaching 400 career saves. Once accomplished, he will become the first Oswego Men’s goalkeeper to surpass 400 saves since Wyatt Russo in 2016. Junior starting attackman, Weston Gray, will lead the Lakers offensively vs Brockport. Gray has totaled 26 goals the past two seasons, including 20 goals in 2019. This contest will be Brockport’s second game of the season as they fell to Alfred University in an 8-7 loss on March 20th. However, Friday’s game will be both teams’ first SUNYAC matchup of the season, making it more pivotal than ever to secure an early-season victory. The Oswego Men’s Lacrosse team is currently 9-10 against Brockport all time, but can even things up with a win on Friday. The game is set for a 4 p.m. face-off in Brockport. WTOP 10 will continue to provide coverage on the Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse team for the remainder of the season.
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Oswego men’s basketball starts 2022 with win
OSWEGO N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s basketball started 2022 where they left off in 2021, winning. They took on the Saint Lawrence Saints at home and won by a score of 74-60. The game started close, 8-7 Saints after four minutes with the Laker Kaleb Cook scoring all seven of their points. The following four minutes saw Oswego take the lead on a 10-0 run. Saint Lawrence would close the gap to 22-18 before a 9-1 run, spurred by Jeremiah Sparks‘s two threes, would extend the lead for the Lakers once more. Some back and forth between the teams saw them go into the half with the Lakers up 38-26. The Lakers shot 38% from the field and 10-12 from the free throw line in the half.
The second half started with another Laker run, 13-5, with threes from Devin Green and Sparks. St. Lawrence would respond with an 11-0 run, but Green closed the scoreless Lakers run with another three and the score would be 54-42. The lakers would use the rest of the second half to extend the lead back to twenty points, 72-52. The final three minutes saw the Lakers close the game out and have a final score of 74-60. This game was Devin Green‘s, he led the Lakers in four stat categories. He had twenty points, shooting 4-7 from three, eight rebounds, and a season high six assists and five steals. Kaleb Cook also had a good night with sixteen of his own points, a respectable 7-13 from the field. Jeremiah Sparks and Julien Crittendon had eleven points each as well. The team shot 42% from the field and 41% from deep while also being lights out at the free throw line, shooting 12-14. The team also out rebounded the Saints 38-22.
The Lakers next game comes on the road against Buffalo State, 4-8 (2-4 SUNYAC), on January 11 at 7:30. The Lakers currently sit at 10-1 (4-0 SUNYAC) and are on a seven game win streak. There are fourteen games left in the season for the Lakers, all games are in conference.
IMAGE PROVIDED BY SHELBY PEPLOWSKI, WTOP 10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
