OSWEGO, NY — Last week, Student Affairs and Enrollment Management announced that current Associate Athletic Director Eric Summers would be named Oswego’s Interim Director of Athletics. The Fayetteville, New York resident has been with the Lakers since June of 2014, and will take his new position immediately. Summers has been with a few other colligate programs before coming to Oswego. He was the head of the Hamilton College Crew Program for over a decade. Prior to Hamilton, Summers oversaw the men’s varsity crew program at Colgate University for two years. The team was ranked nationally for the first time during his stint with the team. This move comes after the retirement of Sue Viscomi, who retired at the end of May after seven years. The 24 team Athletic Department will now be led by Summers as the Lakers prepare for the 2020 Fall Season. WTOP 10 will continue to deliver coverage to Oswego State Athletics as teams prepare for their 2020 seasons.
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Men’s Hockey splits high ranked opening weekend
OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Oswego State Lakers men’s hockey team took to both road and home ice this weekend for the first official games of their season. The weekend started with a Friday night trip to Geneva, NY to take on the Hobart Statesmen, followed by a Saturday night matchup in the Deb against the Elmira Soaring Eagles. The opening weekend was a real test for the Lakers as both squads they faced were ranked higher than them in the uscho preseason poll, Hobart #5 and Elmira #9.
The game started off pretty even for both the Lakers and the Statesmen as they each would get shots off on each others goalies. An early Hobart penalty gave the Lakers their first real opportunity for a goal all season, but the Statesmen killed it and only allowed a single shot on the net during the two minutes. Not even a minute later, Conor Smart would be called for hooking giving Hobart their first chance of the season and they would capitalize. Halfway through the penalty Hobart would score giving them the 1-0 lead 11 minutes into the contest. Oswego would be called for another penalty with eight minutes left, but net-minder Eric Green would save two shots and keep the Statesmen from extending their lead. Green finished the period with six saves.
Hobart came out of the gates swinging in the second half, getting four shots off in the first minute of play. It was Oswego who scored first in the period though. A Connor Sleeth face-off win would go back to Ryan Dickinson who passed the puck to Quinn Warmuth who buried the puck in the back of the net from the blue line. It was a very chippy period for both teams, each receiving three penalties, at one point, there was only a 3v3 on the ice. The Statesmen recovered from the 3v3 first and actually got themselves back to full strength 5v3, where they would score twice. The second period ended 3-1 Statesmen. Green had another 14 saves in the period.
It only took 11 seconds for Hobart to extend their lead in the final period, winning the opening face-off and quickly moving down ice to make it 4-1. The Lakers would hold them off for a while in the third, but with just under six minutes left the Statesmen struck again, extending it to 5-1. Oswego would pull one back on the power-play. Tommy Cahill scored, assisted by Matt McQuade. Hobart out-shot the Lakers in the contest 59-43 and dominated on the powerplay, scoring on 3-4 chances. Eric Green had 32 saves in the game. Connor Sleeth led the Lakers in shots with six and was 17-29 in the face-off circle.
The Lakers were back in the Deborah. F. Stanley ice arena Saturday night for their official home opener and the Teal Night Game. The Teal Night game for both the men’s and women’s teams raises awareness for Ovarian Cancer and takes donations for Ovarian Research in memory of the late Mary Gosek. For more information you go can to http://peacefulremediesoswego.com The Lakers were wearing their teal jerseys for the game against Elmira. The first goal of the game was in favor of the Lakers. A pass from Connor Sleeth back to the blue line to Shane Bull, usually a forward but was filling in on defense for the game, buried one past the goalie just before the half way mark in the first period. A little more than two minutes later the Soaring Eagles were called for holding and went a man down. With the Lakers on the power play, Matt McQuade brought the puck up the right side passed it off to Connor Sleeth who put it over the goalies shoulder for the Lakers second goal of the game. The Lakers put 22 shots on net in the first period.
The Lakers came out soaring in the second period, scoring 19 seconds in. Daniel Colabufo shooting one across his body and across the goal to give Oswego a 3-0 lead. Tommy Cahill got the assist. It was again the Lakers adding to their lead, halfway through the second frame. Coming off a face-off win by Ben Addison went back to Shane Bull. Bull passed it to Tommy Cahill who sent it pass the goalie. A penalty with five minutes to go gave Elmira their first scoring opportunity, and they took advantage of it. On a two-man advantage, they put on past goalie Richie Parent, who got the start in net. The Lakers had five players with two points by the end of the period.
In the final frame, the Lakers kept pushing the pace and scored again just under four minutes in. Tommy Cahill shot it low off the goalies blocker on a two-on-two opportunity and Daniel Colabufo took the rebound and scored for his second of the game. Another Lakers penalty allowed the Soaring Eagles to score the final goal of the game. Again with a two-man advantage, they put one past Parent for their second goal of the game and the final one of the game. Colabufo led the team with two goals, three different Lakers were credited with two goals. Seven different Lakers had two points. Richie Parent had 15 saves on the game. Elmira was two for three on the Powerplay during the game. This was the Lakers first point against a ranked opponent since February, 2019 when they tied a then ranked #2 Geneseo.
Oswego is now 1-1 this season. They jumped up to #10 in the uscho poll after the weekend. They have a big weekend ahead, opening SUNYAC play with Whiteout weekend. They take on Plattsburgh on Friday, puck drop set for 7:00, WTOP10 will have a hour long pregame show, going live at 6:00 P.M. The Potsdam Bears come to town on Saturday, puck drop set for 7:00 P.M.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE QUIACHON, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT.
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Women’s Hockey falls in close battle with Plattsburgh
OSWEGO, NY — Women’s Hockey played their first conference match up in over a month this past Wednesday. The Lakers lost 3-1 to the #1 Plattsburgh Cardinals that featured Oswego goalie Rachael Farmer saving 34 shots as she finished with a .906 save percentage. Oswego would get on the board first as freshman Megan Teachout tallied her seventh goal of the season, who is the current points leader for the Lakers. The Cardinals would answer just 32 seconds later to tie Oswego heading into the 2nd period. Plattsburgh would add another goal in the second, and a powerplay goal in the 3rd to surpass the Lakers and stay undefeated in NEWHL game play.
The Lakers still sit in second place in the conference standings directly in front of their next opponent the Cortland Red Dragons. Cortland remains 4 points behind Oswego with two games at hand. So far this season, these two teams have ended in a tie along with Oswego beating Cortland 3-2 on December 4th. Oswego will head to Cortland next Wednesday for a 7 p.m. puck drop.
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Oswego State men’s hockey team rolls through Whiteout Weekend
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s hockey team got two big wins this weekend to complete Whiteout Weekend in the Marano Campus Center. Friday night, the Lakers got a 3-0 victory against the SUNY Potsdam Bears and then on Saturday Oswego State secured a 5-2 win against Plattsburgh State in the rivalry game. Oswego State was able to secure six points in the SUNYAC conference and tie themselves with Geneseo for first place.
On Friday, Oswego State got their third shutout of the season with another win over the SUNY Potsdam Bears. The Lakers struck first in the first period as captain Travis Broughman tallied another goal this season which was assisted by alternate captain Josh LeBlanc and Tristan Francis. Broughman’s sixth goal of the season was the lone goal of the period. In the second period, Oswego State kept the pressure on with two more goals. The second goal of the game came off the stick of Rocco Andreacchi as sophomore forwards Connor Sleeth and Tyler Flack both got credited with the assists. The final goal of the contest was shot by Alex DiCarlo on the rush. The assist would go to senior defenseman Ryan Bunka as the Lakers snagged another goal before the end of the second period. Netminder Steven Kozikoski would get the victory and shutout in between the pipes for the Lakers as the goaltender made a total of 35 saves.
In the rivalry game Saturday night, Oswego State took on the Plattsburgh State Cardinals in another conference match up. The final score of 5-2 featured a stellular first period from the Lakers as Oswego State netted two goals in the stanza. Flack scored early to put Oswego State up one to zero and Sleeth added another to his season total before the teams headed to the locker rooms. Plattsburgh State would have an answer in the second period but Oswego would respond with another two goals to push the score to four to one in favor of the home team. Tommy Cahill recorded his first point as an Oswego State Laker after passing the puck to Garret Clegg who tallied the third Oswego State goal. The Cardinals scored another in the third period but Oswego State answered with an insurance goal on the rush off the twig of AJ Ryan. Kozikoski got another win in the net for Oswego and the team finished the weekend on a four game win streak.
In the SUNYAC standings, Oswego State has tied Geneseo with 22 points for first place. After Cortland lost to SUNY Potsdam Saturday evening, Oswego was able to get a lead over Plattsburgh and the Red Dragons from Cortland. The Cardinals and Red Dragons are tied for third place with a total of 17 points. Brockport trails the four teams in fifth place with 15 total conference points. In the last post season spot, Fredonia has nine points and is looking to get into the mix with a win over Buffalo State this past weekend.
For the Oswego State Lakers, the group will head on the road Friday night to take on SUNY Cortland. The game is scheduled to start a 7:00 p.m. on SUNY Cortland’s campus. WTOP 10 will continue to deliver updates on the Oswego State men’s hockey team and their 2021-22 season.
Image Provided By William Rogers, WTOP 10 Photography Department
