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.
Men’s Hockey Max Novick named All-American
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.
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