OSWEGO, NY — The American Hockey Coaches Association released their All-American teams this past Friday, which featured Oswego State Laker Max Novick. The Junior made the Third Team for the East Region as this is the defenseman’s second All-American Award. Novick was also named to the First Team All-Conference for the second straight season as the junior was in the top-15 for points and held a + 20 plus/minus rating. He ranked second on Oswego behind fellow defenseman Carter Allen. Novick helped the Lakers rank inside the top 20 nationwide for goals against with a game average of 2.41 goals. The defenseman also scored six goals and tallied 18 assists to tie for fourth in scoring between the Lakers.
Max Novick will join Mike Snell and Don Patrick as the only other Oswego Lakers to receive the award twice. This is the 32nd All-American honor for the Men’s Hockey team as the group finished 16-10-1 this season and ended their campaign as conference finalists. Novick will most likely join the Lakers once again next season for his senior campaign along side Carter Allen, Tanner Spink, and Carson Vance.
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Lakers Fly Past Cardinals in SUNYAC Tournament Berth
For the 19th straight season, the Oswego State Lakers have clinched the SUNYAC Tournament and what a better way to do it than on Valentine’s day. The Lakers defeated the Cardinals on Friday night during their six point victory thanks to a combined, 43 point effort from seniors Brandon Gartland and Joe Sullivan.
Plattsburgh kept it close throughout the first half while using their best rendition of ‘Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better’. Each time the Lakers grabbed a bucket on one end, the Cardinals always had an answer. Oswego held the lead by four points or less through the first ten minutes of the contest but three minutes later, with an already shallow selection on the bench, Plattsburgh Head Coach Mike Blaine had some decision making to do following the injury of Forward Jeremy Eisenmen. Eisenmen went down hard after crashing the boards and was clutching his left knee. He was able to put pressure on it but would not return to the game.
In his absence, Matt Bernhard, a 5’10” stud off the bench, executed a perfect first half of shooting off the bench. Aside from his one missed free throw, he shot 3-3 from distance and 4-4 from the field ending with 12 of the Cardinals 34 points at halftime.
Brandon Gartland shot five for eight from behind the arc in the first half, good enough to lead the book with 15 points at the break. Joe Sullivan was a vital part of the first half for the Lakers tallying nine free throw attempts and sinking five of them. Sullivan struggled to find his rhythm early on but that would change going into the second half.
General Joe flipped the switch coming out of the locker room scoring 12 of his 21 in the second frame. Sullivan shot 5-13 in the second half and ended with 8 rebounds and 8 assists to add onto his impressive scoring performance. Coach Leone was happy with his big man’s performance.
“Joe plays hard every night,” Leone said. “He’s a senior and he is doing what we would hope seniors do at this point in their senior season. I’m really pleased with the things he did tonight. He deserves it.”
However, Gartland went in the opposite direction having a rather quiet second half. He scored just seven points adding his total to 22 without a single three pointer in after the break. “They were sticking a little tighter to me,” Gartland expressed. “Other people were making plays and we were still scoring.” For what he lacked on the offensive end, he made up for on the defensive end with four steals and a couple big time stops down the stretch.
Plattsburgh got into some foul trouble five minutes into the second half when Erik Salo was charged with his fourth personal. Now with Eisenmen injured and Salo playing restricted and cautious minutes, the only other options off the bench were Marlon Todd and freshman Lamont Hough Jr. who never saw the floor.
With six to go, the Lakers turned on the after-burners going on an 8-2 run in a minute and 28 seconds taking a 69-61 lead with 4:05 remaining. The Cardinals never came back from this lead, falling short to the Lakers 75-69. It came down to protecting the ball tonight and Plattsburgh was not proficient in that category. Averaging 15 turnovers a game, Coach Blaine’s Cardinals exceeded that margin with 16 and 11 of those turnovers came in the second half.
Coach Jason Leone was excited about clinching the SUNYAC tournament for the ninth time in his nine years as the head coach of Oswego State but recognized that there was still work to do following Friday night. “We’re in the playoffs,” Leone expressed. “So now we are in a battle to try and get a home game. Every game has a significant meaning from here on out.” With Potsdam traveling to Laker hall at 4:00 pm for the second game of the back to back, the Lakers have a win under their belt and look to continue their winning ways after Improving to 16-5 on the year.
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Oswego Women’s Lacrosse Gets Set For Fredonia Blue Devils
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State Women’s Lacrosse team is set to play their second game of the 2021 season on Saturday vs. Fredonia. After multiple games were rescheduled, this will be the Laker’s first action since their dominant season-opening victory over Morrisville State on March 20th. This will also be the Laker’s first SUNYAC matchup this season. As for Fredonia, they are coming off a 21-4 SUNYAC loss to SUNY Brockport and have a season record of 0-2.
Fredonia has given up 37 total goals in their first two games of the season which bodes well for the Lakers leading scorer, Sela Wiley, as she looks to top her outstanding performance in Oswego’s season opener vs Morrisville. The sophomore midfielder totaled 7 goals on only 10 shots, while also racking up 5 ground balls and 1 assist. Junior attack, Logan Castiglione, will also look to top her last performance as she totaled 5 goals, 2 assists, and 0 turnovers. Although Fredonia hasn’t played well as of late, the Lakers still have to play aggressively, especially against senior attack, Allison Coon. Coon has scored 20+ goals every year prior to last year’s shortened season and has 2 goals so far in 2021. The Oswego Women’s Lacrosse team is currently on a four-game win streak vs Fredonia, with their last matchup being a 23-3 Laker victory in 2019. Oswego will look to extend their win streak to five on Saturday at 1:00 PM. WTOP 10 will be live at Laker Turf Stadium for the matchup.
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Oswego Women’s Hockey secures Interim Head Coach
OSWEGO, NY — On Wednesday, June 17, the announcement was made by Oswego State Interim Athletics Director Eric Summers that the Women’s Ice Hockey team would be getting a new head coach, that being Mark Digby. Digby was the associate head coach of the team last season along side Diane Dillon, who will most likely retire from coaching. Dillon coached the team for 14 seasons. Digby will now be the Interim Head Coach heading into the 2020-21 season.
Digby graduated from SUNY Brockport in 2005 with a B.S. in Physical Education and M.S. in Recreation Management (2008). He would stay west of Rochester to be an assistant coach of the Men’s Hockey program from 2006-2010 before being hired by Oswego in the summer of 2010. Under Ed Gosek, Digby would be with the team while the group appeared in six NCAA tournaments, two frozen fours, and two national championship games.
In the Spring of 2019, Digby would make the switch to Women’s Hockey and join the team as the Associate Head Coach. During his first season with the group, the team would finish with a record of 16-7-4, the most wins for the program since the 2016-17 campaign. The Lakers would fall to the Plattsburgh Cardinals, the top team in the nation, in the NEWHL Championship. This was the first time the team has made the championship game after joining the conference. Overall, the group has made steady improvements and is in a good spot heading into the 2020-21 season under Digby. There looks to be a continued healthy relationship between the players and the coaching staff after Digby joined prior to this past season. WTOP 10 will continue to update you on all of the Oswego State teams heading into the fall season.
