BROCKPORT, N.Y. – The Oswego State men’s hockey team had a big weekend that had implications for the final SUNYAC standings picture. A Friday night rematch with the Geneseo Knights, this time on home ice, was followed by a Saturday road game against the Brockport Golden Eagles. The best case scenario would have been taking both games, tying Plattsburgh on points with one less game played than them.

One of the most highly anticipated matches of the season for Oswego States fan was Friday’s matchup with the Knights. The Lakers had taken the first game of the season series in Geneseo, and were looking to sweep the series. Geneseo came out firing though, and quickly put the Lakers on their back foot. Nine minutes into the first period they put one past Schell. The Knights doubled their lead before the end of the period and went into the locker rooms with a 2-0 lead. Geneseo’s Matt Petizian was playing out of his mind through the entire game, in the first period alone he had 17 saves. Schell only had 6.

The Knights extent ended their lead once more in the second. In the eighth minute of the period they fired on past Schell for what was the only goal of the frame. The Lakers put themselves in a tough spot in the final minutes of the second, playing a good chunk of the final five minutes down two men. They did a good job killing off all of the penalties and went in to the break on a mini high. Petizian racked up another 13 saves in the period, while Schell had 12 of his own.

The Lakers made some good changes and took advantage of Geneseo’s sloppy play in the third frame. Matt McQuade finally got the Lakers on the board just before the halfway point of the final period of regulation. The Lakers second goal came just four minutes later, this time on the power play. Daniel Colabufo took advantage of the man-advantage to bring the Lakers within one. It was less than three minutes until the game tying goal. Again on the power play, the puck was bouncing around in a scrum in front of the goal when Connor Sleeth poked it out to a wide open Quinn Warmuth. Warmuth buried it past two diving defenders, sending the fan section into raptures. The goal sent the game to OT.  At the end of regulation Matt Petizian, despite giving up the three goals, had raked up 47 to that point. Schell had 21, the total he would end the game at.

In OT, the Lakers found themselves on the man advantage, once more, but couldn’t capitalize. It was Geneseo, in even-strength play, that would get the break-away opportunity, to seal the victory 4-3. Petizian was the star of the game, 53 total saves. Oswego’s Connor Sleeth led the team with eight shots. Seven total Lakers tallied a point, but not one of them more than one point.

After the heartbreaking loss, Oswego had to regroup and head on the road to take on the Brockport Golden Eagles. It was a scoreless first period, again highlighted by the opposing goal tender. Brockport’s Nolan Egbert had 20 saves in the first period, Schell back in net had 11 of his own.

The second period was where the Lakers found their stride from the previous night. Noah Bull found the back of the net first for Oswego, just past the nine-minute mark of the period. He was followed less than two minutes later by Jackson Arcan, this time on the power-play. Brockport was going to go away easily though, they scored a short-handed goal with just over a minute to go in the frame to make it a 2-1 game.

Oswego didn’t take long to recapture the two goal lead they had. Five minutes into the third period Daniel Colabufo found netting for the second time in the weekend, again on the power-play. Oswego scored one more goal to finish the game off, Quinn Warmuth also finding the back of the net for the second time in the weekend. The final score was 4-1. The Lakers out-shot the Golden Eagles 45-32 in the contest. Trent Grimshaw and Alex DiCarlo each had two assists in the game.

After splitting the weekend, but the loss being an OT loss, the Lakers took three points and retained the second place in the SUNYAC they went into the weekend with. Only two points separate the the top three teams, with Oswego sandwiched between Plattsburgh and Geneseo. The top five SUNYAC teams all clinched playoff spots, the rest of the game are all fights for seeding for them. Oswego’s next game is a mid-week matchup with the Morrisville Mustangs, a team they lost to earlier this season, and who are fighting for the final playoff spot in the SUNYAC.

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OSWEGO, NY – The Oswego State Men’s hockey team had a high pressure SUNYAC semi-final on Saturday night against the Buffalo State Bengals. The Bengals were coming off a mid-week upset over Cortland, and had their starting goalie, Emil Norrman, back from injury. The two sides had just played a week prior, but without Norrman, an All-SUNYAC goalie, in net, the Lakers put seven goals in the back of the net.

The first action in the first period was a slashing call against the Lakers, giving the Bengals an early man-advantage. The Lakers killed it without allowing a shot on net. A few minutes after the end of the penalty, Tyler Flack scored his first goal of the season to give Oswego a 1-0 lead. Just seconds after the puck-drop from the last goal, Alex DiCarlo found netting behind Norrman again. The rest of the period was tame, without anymore goals or penalties. The Oswego defense was strong in the first, and Cal Schell only had four saves. Norrman had eight saves.

At the start of the second, the Lakers were started quickly. It took just 40 seconds for Oswego’s Connor Gatto to score the Lakers third goal. Throughout the rest of the period, both squads traded shots though nothing found netting. With five to go in the period the Bengals took a too-many men penalty, though the Lakers couldn’t capitalize. With just over a minute to go in the period, Drake Semrad was called for a 5-minute major for contact to the head, meaning he also missed the remainder of the game. With the Lakers up 3-0 at the end of the period, things looked bleak for the Bengals, but with just under four minutes remaining on the penalty there was still hope. Schell only had to make another four saves in the period, Norrman made 14.

To start the third, Lakers killed the major penalty, but also picked up another meaning they were 5-on-3 for about 30 seconds. The Lakers killed that one as well, while only giving up two shots throughout the entire ordeal. The Lakers spent a good portion of five minutes on a man-advantage, with the Bengals taking back-to-back penalties. Oswego got five shots off during the penalties, but couldn’t find netting. With less than four to go, Buffalo State broke the shutout, burying a slap shot. It was long before the Lakers recaptured that three-goal lead. Tommy Cahill buried one just a minute later. A late penalty against Jackson Arcan gave Buffalo State one last shot, but they didn’t take advantage and the game ended 4-1. Troy Robillard had two assists, in the game. Quinn Warmuth and Matt McQuade led the team with five shots each, while also each grabbing an assist. Cal Schell only had 15 saves in the game, Emil Norrman had 33.

Oswego moves onto the SUNYAC Championship game against rival Plattsburgh in the Deborah F. Stanley Arena. The two sides have already met three times this season, twice as regular season games, once as a non-conference game. The winner of the game gets an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Puck drop is set for 7:00, in what will be a big weekend for Laker athletics.

IMAGE PROVIDED BY ERIN BLANK, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT