WTOP-10 has been giving SUNY Oswego, and Oswego county its news during the school year for over 40 years now! People from all over tune into our broadcasts through our various platforms. If you’re looking for consistent up-to-date Oswego information, you can catch us on channel 10.2 on campus, Oswego County’s Public Access channel, our Facebook Live stream, or some of our other live streams right here on the website. Catch our nightly newscasts live every night at 9 pm, Monday through Thursday.
Oswego Athletics put on hold for remainder of Spring Season
OSWEGO, NY — SUNY Oswego sports teams will have to conclude their seasons early due to the cancellation of NCAA spring sports. This comes after the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus that has been affecting sport leagues and events all over the United States and the world. Four teams from the college will have to call their season short after three out of the four teams began their 2020 season. Softball was the only Oswego team out of both Lacrosse teams and the Baseball team ,who has been on the road for their season so far, to not start their 2020 campaign. Men’s Lacrosse started off 3-1 as the group got three wins right off the bat before falling to Clarkson last week. Women’s Lacrosse finished at 2-2 as the group went 1-1 at home and then headed on the road for a 19-2 victory against Lycoming.
Besides these four sports teams, many other individuals are affected due to winter sports having individual championships for sports like track and field. Some Oswego student-athletes were competing for individual championships. The big question moving forward will be based around eligibility for athletes for next season. The NCAA has to decide if seniors would be allowed to play for their team next season. WTOP 10 will have updates on Oswego athletics once sports resume.
Three Laker Hockey players sign with the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs
OSWEGO, NY — After the announcement of Oswego Men’s Hockey player Michael Gillespie signed with the Worcester Railers of the ECHL, three more seniors signed professional contracts. Two forwards along with a defenseman will join the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs, a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League. The SPHL is a ten team league that is made up in the Southeastern United States with a team located as far North as Illinois and as South as Florida. The league formed back in the 2004-05 season after two leagues merged together. The Rail Yard Dawgs were formed in 2016 after the relocation of the Mississippi Surge. Currently, Roanoke finds themselves in 7th place with 41 points. The Rail Dawgs are currently in a playoff spot if the season would continue.
Tyler Currie, Derek Brown, and Joey Molinaro will all join the Rail Dawgs, who’s current season has been put on hold due to CORVID-19. Defenseman Tyler Currie played 81 games in a Lakers uniform the past three seasons. The Ontario native had 36 points (6 goals and 30 assists) in his career with a career 18 points his junior season. Currie transferred from Adrian College after his freshman year where he notched 7 points for the team. Forward Derek Brown transferred to Oswego after playing two seasons at Niagara University as the Arizona native secured 9 points. The transfer would play in 50 games for the Lakers tallying a total of 24 points (6 goals and 18 assists). Lastly, Joey Molinaro also transferred from Niagara University but after his freshman season. The forward played 77 games in a Lakers jersey tallying 55 points (25 goals and 30 assists). The Ontario recorded 22 points his junior season. These three players will join alumni Josh Nenadal, who graduated from Oswego last season. Nenadal has played a total of 45 games for Roanoke so far this season and has tallied a total of 12 points (5 goals and 7 assists). The right winger only played four games the previous year.
Oswego Baseball cancels Spring Break trip
OSWEGO, NY — Oswego Baseball has gotten off to a hot start this season as the team sits at 6-3. The team has been traveling all over the East Coast to play colleges as Oswego hasn’t been warm enough to host baseball yet this season. The group recently got two wins in a double header against Arcadia this past Sunday. The 4-3 and 6-4 victory came at the end of a three game road trip that featured a lose to Salve Regina Saturday in Glenside, PA. Ryan Wiess leads the team with a batting average of .444 with 18 at bats. Lukas Olsson is the only Laker to hit multiple home runs so far this season as three Oswego players have hit balls out of the park.
Oswego was getting set to head on the road for Spring Break which would feature 8 games being played in South Carolina. Recently, this trip was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Now the team will get set to kick off their conference games as Oneonta is the first team on the schedule after their short break. The Lakers will head to face the Red Dragons on the road for a Saturday game, on March 27th, and a double header on Sunday, March 28th. Oswego has been the SUNYAC champion the past three seasons as the group looks to continue their success in the conference.
WTOP 10 will have coverage of Oswego athletics until further notice. The television station will stay up to date on whether Division III athletics will continue moving forward.
Michael Gillespie signs first professional contract
OSWEGO, NY — On Wednesday morning, Senior Michael Gillespie of the Men’s Hockey team signed a professional contract with the Worcester Railers of the ECHL, the East Coast Hockey League. The Railers are affiliated with the New York Islanders and are located in Worcester, Massachusetts. Michael Gillespie tallied 24 points (6 goals and 18 assists) in 25 games played during his senior season with the Lakers. The Laker would play three seasons in Oswego, each season finishing with a minimum of 24 points and putting a career high 26 points up his junior season. The forward finished with a career 74 points (23 goals and 51 assists) in 76 games played. The 5’ 8” New York native will fill a play maker role for the Railers as he prepares with his new team. Gillespie, along with recent signee James Anderson from Mercyhurst University, will join the group ahead a three game weekend featuring two home games. Both players are expected to make their professional debuts this weekend. The Laker will wear number 20 for his new team.
The Worcester Railers are currently last in the North Division with 46 points through 61 games played. The 21-36-4 group are set to play two divisional games against the main Mariners, who are currently in 4th, with a home-and-home series set to be played Friday and Saturday. The Railers will have puck drop at 7 p.m. at the Fidelity Bank Worcester Ice Center against the Mariners before traveling to Portland for another 7 p.m. matchup on the road. Worcester will then travel back home to welcome the Norfolk Admirals for a Sunday matinee game at 3 p.m. for an out of conference game. The Admirals are currently last in their given division with only 36 points in 60 games played. Of course, with the current state of the COVID-19, these games may not be played due to the league postponing competition. The NHL is set to announce their plans for action moving forward, and usually the ECHL along with the AHL will follow suit to their parent league.
Limited Commuter Parking At SUNY Oswego
Students from SUNY Oswego find it difficult to park in Commuter Lot 8. When the commuter lot is full, students know the consequences and park in a non-vehicle spot, red brick pavement. Students, like Juliann Geraci and Adam Pignatti, explain their opinion on their struggles.
“You notice people would pull over those pavements and even if they know they would get the ticket, they would park there and be late to class,” Adam Pignatti said.
According to University Police, Lieutenant Barbeau. He states the statistic of tickets on the month of February issues 85 tickets given due to non-vehicle parking. He also mentioned the total number of tickets compared from last semester to now, is more of an issue from the beginning of last semester to now.
Juliann Geraci suggests that schools should come up with a better method of developing the spaces in the commuter lot to prevent the issues.
New York State Plastic Bag Law In Effect
New York State passed a law banning plastic bags on March 1st of this year. However, the state will not begin implementing fines on retailers until at least April 1st. Most stores are switching to paper bags, but these tend to come at a charge because they are more expensive than the previously used single-use plastic bags.
Bosco’s manager. Theresa Himes, says the local grocery store has also began selling reusable bags to customers “We discontinued the plastic ones. We’re using paper bags for some people that don’t have the reusable or don’t want to purchase them.”
Customers are encouraged to bring their own bags when shopping, to not only reduce waste but money, as well. If anyone is in need of any reusable bags, they can stop by City Hall to pick some up for free.
Oswego’s Unusual Winter
Winter may not be over yet, but just by looking around you would think it ended weeks ago. The few signs that remain of winter slowly melted away last week as temperatures soared into the 40’s. According to Dr. Scott Steiger the local co-op observer for the National Weather Service, we’ve only received forty-nine point one inches of snow as of February 29th.
An alarming seven feet below the average snowfall for this time of year. Though it’s not surprising that we’ve seen so little snowfall, through the winter months Oswego ran 2.9 degrees above average temperature-wise. January saw the worst of the effects of the warm winter at an amazing 6 degrees above average.
Students, either way, have taken advantage of the spring-like conditions and have used the time to spend their days outside. While others were left waiting for the snow that never came like Florida native Bruno Rojas. Bruno had this to say about the past winter in Oswego “There weren’t that many lake effect events in Oswego so you never really got to see…big snow storms, where you could just sit down you know in the snow and just kind of watch the really big snowflakes kind of fall really gracefully. ”
Many have expressed similar views, asking constantly where was winter this year? The answer? There was a strong Arctic Oscillation or AO, that was in its positive phase. When it’s in a positive phase we oftentimes see a lot of the cold air trapped up in Canada. It’s when it enters its negative phase that it starts to allow the colder air to funnel down into the United States. and that’s what allows for those cold Oswego winters that we all know.
While this was certainly an anomalous winter, it is part of a longer-term trend of winter warming across upstate New York. The trend becomes obvious on this chart from climate central, showing how Syracuse’s average winter temperatures have warmed 2.8° since 1970. While this chart is only for Syracuse, the changes can be seen all across New York as our climate continues to change.
St. Patrick’s Day Parade
Oswego held its third annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade this weekend. The parade started at Alex’s on the Water, continued down Bridge Street and ended at Gibby’s Irish Pub on West Second Street. The parade was put on by the Oswego Chapter of the Ancient Order of Hibernians.
The temperature outside was cold, but the bands were red hot. A highlight of the parade was the Buffalo Bills Drumline, the bagpipes and drum bands. Entry to the parade is free in order to encourage growth of the parade.
Patrick Chalone, coordinator of the parade and a member of the Hibernians, hopes that the Oswego Parade can compete with the Syracuse Parade. He was also glad that local business and the community of oswego enjoyed the parade! He said “Well you know I think after today’s parade, I looked at it and my favorite part of the parade is seeing all of the smiling faces on the streets of Oswego in the crowd. I mean we had a great crowd today it justs makes me feel good knowing that we’ve done…made people happy and have done a good thing”.
Next year’s parade is expected to be even larger than this year and Chalone is hoping that more local businesses will be involved in the parade next year. If you are interested in attending next year’s parade be sure to talk to Patrick Chalone about signing up
Men’s Hockey Season Recap after SUNYAC run
GENESEO, NY — The Men’s Hockey team will head to Geneseo this weekend to battle for the SUNYAC Championship. The 16-9-1 Lakers have had an up and down season up to this point, as the group now is on a five-game winning streak fresh of a victory over rivals Plattsburgh. Oswego’s season started back on October 19th with an exhibition game against Carleton Place, then against Nazareth, both wins for the Lakers. The group would head into the regular season and secure four conference wins in a homestand at the Marano Campus Center that would give them first place in the SUNYAC standings.
One turning point in the season came from a road trip to Geneseo, to face a nationally ranked team in the same barn that Oswego lost the SUNYAC Championship in last season. The Lakers would fall apart and lose 9-1 as multiple Lakers would be tossed from the game and miss their next matchup against Hobart. This game would be the start of a three-game losing streak against nationally ranked teams, Hobart and Salve Regina in the Utica Thanksgiving Tournament. Oswego would turn it around on that Saturday in Utica against Plymouth State to give the Lakers hope as the team continued into the last week of the first half of the season. The Lakers would head on the road and swept the Buffalo teams in the conference to finish 7-3 in the first semester.
Oswego would come back from Christmas Break to play in the annual Pathfinder Bank/Oswego State Classic in which the team would first face off against Saint Mary’s. The defending champs would fall to the mid-west team 1-0 and face UNE the following day and also lose 4-3 to start the new year off on the wrong foot. This losing streak would continue against two more nationally ranked teams in the month of January as Utica and Elmira defeated the Lakers in the Marano Campus Center. The Lakers would not defeat any nationally ranked team this season as the group would go 0-6 against those teams, one of the biggest eyesores of the 2019-2020 season.
After losing to Cortland in overtime, Steven Kozikoski, the sophomore netminder that has not played in a regular season game for the Lakers, got his shot in between the pipes as both senior goalies David Richer and Cedric Hansen were not playing their best games. Kozikoski’s first start was against Canton, a team Oswego has figured out the past few seasons. The Lakers took a commanding win in the Marano Campus Center as the group defeated Canton 8-2 and was one of the turning points that occurred in the second half of the season. The new netminder would go 5-1-1 in net and win his first playoff game for the Lakers this past Tuesday.
The group secured the second seed in the standings with their success in the second semester and faced Plattsburgh on home ice. The team would defeat their rivals 4-1 and move on to Geneseo. The Lakers season once again would end in Geneseo as the Ice Knights defeated Oswego 4-1 in the SUNYAC finals. This would be the second time Oswego would not be able to get it done in the finals while being held at Geneseo. The Lakers would finish 16-10-1 to end the season as the group looks to rebuild as 13 seniors will move on from the program. Moving forward, Oswego looks to rebuild around players like Alex DiCarlo, Travis Broughman, and Steven Kozikoski heading into these next few years as these three players are all underclassmen.