CORTLAND, NY — Oswego High School Hockey went on the road last Thursday for the first round of Sectionals for Division II. The Buccaneers were the fifth seed and traveled to Cortland to face off against the fourth seed, Cortland-Homer. The Golden Eagles would take the 8-2 and move on into the semi final round. Oswego’s two goals would come from Brayden Miller and Adam Michalski along with Carson Colucci tallying an assist. Brandon Demling would make 26 saves even though the goaltender would give up eight goals in the contest. The Bucs would be outshoot by the Golden Eagles 34 to 32 as the Cortland-Homer netminder would make 30 saves.
This ends Oswego’s season as the group finished 11-10 overall. The Buccaneers are graduating a total of nine players this year, four defenseman and five forwards. All three goaltenders will stay with the team which is good news moving forward for the group. Cortland-Homer will move on to face Skaneateles as the Golden Eagles will travel there on Wednesday for the second semi final game for Division II.
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Oswego State men’s hockey splits weekend in SUNYAC play
OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s hockey team had another jam packed weekend with two conference games against Brockport and Geneseo. Heading into the games, Oswego was coming off a 2-1 win over the Cortland Red Dragons. The Lakers would extend their win streak Friday night on the road in Rochester at the Tuttle North Arena against the Golden Eagles. The Brockport team came into the contest with an overall record of 5-0 and receiving 24 votes in the USCHO Division III poll. Trent Grimshaw would strike first for the Lakers on the powerplay to give Oswego it’s first goal in the first period this season. The goal came 14:46 minutes into the period and was assisted by team points leader Connor Sleeth and defenseman Ben Addison. Oswego would add another power play goal in the second period off the stick of Rocco Andreacchi. The Lakers would complete the contest going 2/5 with the man advantage and Addison and Grimshaw would get credited with the assists on the goal. Brockport would answer during 4 on 4 hockey later in the period but would not be able to finish the comeback before the final buzzer sounded. Oswego netminder Steven Kozikoski would get the win in between the pipes and made 30 saves over the course of the contest.
The Lakers would head back to the Deborah F. Stanley Arena and set their sights on the number one ranked team in the nation, the Geneseo Ice Knights. These two teams faced off for the first time since the 2019-20 SUNYAC Championship game and Geneseo found themselves in a similar situation at the end of the contest. The Lakers would fall 6-1 to the Ice Knights, their fourth straight loss against the team. Geneseo would tally four goals in the first period, three of those against Kozikoski before the junior got pulled by head coach Ed Gosek. Eric Green would finish the contest for the Lakers. The junior goaltender also gave up three goals against making eight saves in between the pipes. The Lakers would win the shot battle 23 to 17 but would only be able to put one puck past Geneseo netminder Matt Petizian. Alex DiCarlo would ruin the shutout in the third period to find his third goal of the season.
After this weekend, Oswego remains towards the top of the SUNYAC conference with a record of 3-0-1-0-1 and 10 points. Geneseo remains at the top with 13 points and four wins and one tie. Plattsburgh State and Brockport along with Cortland all remain close behind the Lakers heading into Thanksgiving Break. Oswego will take this weekend off from conference play and head to Williamstown, Massachusetts to take on Williams College. Games are scheduled for Friday night and Saturday afternoon as the Lakers look to improve their overall record. WTOP 10 will continue to provide coverage of the Oswego State men’s hockey team as the group continues their 2021-22 season.
Image Provided by Shelby Peplowski, WTOP 10 Photography Department
Graphic Provided by SUNYAC Conference
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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.
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Oswego State Women’s Lacrosse Eliminated from SUNYAC Championship Contention
BROCKPORT, N.Y. — The Oswego State Women’s Lacrosse team lost their third SUNYAC game of the season on Wednesday, falling to the SUNY Brockport Golden Eagles 20-8. This is the Lakers second loss to the Golden Eagles in 2021 after previously losing 22-9 on April 17th. With Wednesday’s victory, Brockport moved to 7-1 in SUNYAC play and clinched first place in the west division.
Brockport came out of the opening faceoff firing as freshman midfielder, Logan Hibbard, scored back-to-back goals within the first 4 minutes of play. Oswego’s Shae McConnell responded quickly, bringing the score to 2-1. However, that would be as close as it game got. The Golden Eagles went on an 8-goal run throughout the first half and outscored the Lakers 7-5 in the second. Oswego wasn’t able to generate much offense in this contest. They shot the ball just 19 times all game and only 9 times in the first half. Freshman attack, Isabella Lembo, lead Oswego in scoring, totaling 3 goals on three shots. Logan Castiglione had 3 points of her own as she scored twice and added an assist. While Lakers leading scorer, Sela Wiley, didn’t have her usual outstanding game, she still scored once.
This loss drops Oswego to 3-3 in the West division and while they still sit in third place, they remain two games behind Geneseo. The Lakers have been mathematically eliminated for the SUNYAC Championship after their loss as Geneseo would secure the second spot in the division. Oswego was originally scheduled to take on SUNY Fredonia on April 24th, however, the game was cancelled following positive Covid tests from Fredonia. Now, Oswego will have the opportunity to improve to 4-3 against SUNY Geneseo on April 25th, their last scheduled game of the 2021 season. Game is set for 1 p.m. from Laker Turf Stadium and WTOP 10 will be at the field to cover all the action
