OSWEGO — Friday night at the Marano Campus Center will feature the beginning of Men’s Hockey annual Whiteout Weekend as they host rivals SUNY Plattsburgh. The Lakers look to continue their Whiteout success after shutting out the Cardinals last year. Plattsburgh comes into the match up after dropping their first two games against SUNYAC opponents Brockport and Geneseo (3). The Lakers however gained their first conference win against Cortland in their home opener this past Friday. Max Novick and Mitch Emerson were huge producers for Oswego, both putting up three points. Laker fans can get tickets at the SUNY Oswego box office or watch live at WTOP 10 starting at 6 p.m. for the pregame show. Puck drop will at 7 p.m. in front of an expected sellout crowd.
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Oswego Men’s LAX finish season 7-5
OSWEGO, NY- The Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse finished their 2023 lacrosse season as they played two games this week as they played Cortland and Potsdam on the road.The first game was an usual outing for the Lakers against Cortland but they would be lose 22-5. The Lakers would get off on the wrong foot in the first quarter as they trailed 7-0 with 4:36 left in the first quarter as Klay Stuver would score twice during that span for the Red Dragons. The Lakers would finally get their first goal of the game as Liam Sexton would score unassisted with 2:42 remaining in the first quarter. The Red Dragons would continue to find answers to the Lakers defense as Ryan Smith and Tyler Starrett would score for the Red Dragons to give Cortland a 9-1 lead at the end of quarter one. 33 seconds into the second quarter Klay Stuver would score his third goal of the game as Tyler Starrett assisted with the goal. The Lakers second goal would come 2:35 seconds later with Gavin Elston scoring his first goal of the game. Almost two minutes later Liam Sexton scored his second goal of the game as the Lakers trailed 10-3. Three minutes would go by without both teams scoring until Klay Stuver scored his fourth goal of the game to put the Red Dragons up 11-3. Connor Aspinal would score his first goal in four games to put the Lakers down 12-4 with 2:14 remaining in the first half. The rest of the second quarter would remain scoreless with the Red Dragons leading 12-4 at half. Cortland would dominate the face-off battle winning nine face-offs compared to Oswego’s five.
The second half would write the same story for the Lakers as the first. Three minutes and nine seconds would go by the in third quarter without a score from both teams until Caden Yancey scored for the Red Dragons to put them up 13-4. Two minutes and fifty two seconds later, Jason Dongelewic would score the final goal of the game for the Lakers to put them down 13-5. Klay Stuver’s brother Kole would score his first goal of the game to give the Red Dragons a 14-5 lead. The Red Dragons would lead 19-5 at the end of the third quarter. Tyler Starrett would score twice during that span with Caden Yancey, Ryan Smith, and Nick Stoecker scoring once as well during that 5-0 run during the end of the third quarter. The fourth quarter would start with a 6:32 scoring drought for both teams until Joe DeLany scored his second goal of the season for the Red Dragons to put them up 20-5. Bradley Cunningham and Tristan Triolo would score the final two goals of the day for the Red Dragons as both of them would score their first goals of the season as well as their second career goals. The Red Dragons would win 22-5 as they had 13 different players scoring for them. This marks the second time the Lakers have lost 22-5 to Cortland in their program’s history. This also marks the tenth time the Lakers gave up 22+ to the Red Dragons with their worst loss against Cortland losing 29-5 back on New Years Day 1984.
The Lakers would rebound against Potsdam in their last game of the season winning 13-12. The Lakers got things started scoring 1:23 seconds into the game with Jack Delany scoring for the Lakers. It didn’t take the Lakers long to score again as two minutes later Liam Sexton would put one in the net for the Lakers to give them a 2-0 lead with 11:37 remaining in the first quarter. Both teams went scoreless for 7:44 seconds until Corey O’Connor would score a goal man-up after a Potsdam penalty. Sixteen seconds later Logan Prescott would score for the Lakers to make it 4-0. Potsdam would finally get on the board with 1:38 left in the first quarter as Peyton Smith would score for the Bears to make it 4-1 at the end of the first quarter. Potsdam would add a goal early in the second quarter as Drew Rose would score unassisted with just 2:46 into the second quarter. Oswego would go score for 5:16 seconds until Corey O’Connor added his second goal of the game with Jack Delany assisting the goal. Eighteen seconds later O’Connor would add goal number four of the day to put the Lakers up 6-2. Potsdam would score another goal to make it 6-3 with 2:30 remaining in the first half. Trey Jones would score with 57 seconds left in the half to give the Lakers a 7-3 lead at half.
The Bears would cut the Lakers lead to three with just 19 seconds into the second half as Tyler Gould would put one in the back of the net for Potsdam. Thirty seven seconds later, Jason Dongelewic would score for the Lakers to make it 8-4. Potsdam would rally off two straight goals to cut the Lakers lead to 8-6 with 9:42 left in the third quarter. Hayden Coney and Logan Prescott would add two more goals for the Lakers to increase their lead to 10-6 with 5:55 left in the third quarter. The Bears would cut the score to two with 1:46 left in the third quarter as Peyton Walsh would have his second goal of the game and Ryan Wassmer would score his first of the game. Peyton Walsh would score his third goal of the game just 1:23 seconds into the fourth quarter to cut the Lakers lead to just one. Gavin Elston would bring the Lakers lead back to two with 11:34 remaining in the fourth. Potsdam would score man-down as Bryce Tyler was called for a cross-check but it wouldn’t matter for the Bears as Noah Strader would score to bring the score to a one-point game. Liam Sexton would make the score 12-10 with 8:24 left in the game. Potsdam would quickly respond as Peyton Walsh scored goal number four of the day with 7:36 left. Jack Delany would score his second goal of the game and would seal the deal for the Lakers with 2:34 remaining in the game to make the final score 13-12 Oswego.
The Lakers finish 7-5 to end their 2023 season as they will face off once against Cortland in the first round of the SUNYAC Playoff Tournament on Wednesday, May 3rd at Cortland at 4:00. The Lakers clinch their first playoff berth since 2019 where that season ended losing to guess who, the Cortland Red Dragons 13-10. This game will be a rematch of last week’s game as Oswego looks to avoid going 0-41 against Cortland all-time in their program’s history and finally get over the hump and beat Cortland.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ERIN BLANK, WTOP-10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT
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Oswego High School Hockey Season Recap and Sectionals Preview
CORTLAND, NY — Oswego Buccaneers Hockey has been preparing this past week as the team gets set to head on the road to Cortland-Homer for the first round of Sectionals. The Division II Section III 2020 Sectional Tournament begins this Thursday as the Oswego Cortland-Homer match up is the first of two quarterfinal games being played. New Hartford is set to travel to Clinton Arena to face Clinton Friday evening for the second game. All four of these teams have a tough road ahead however, as the lowest remaining seed will go on to face Skaneateles, the current number one team in the entire state. The highest remaining seed will head to play the 15-3-1 Whitesboro Warriors who finished the season with a 9-1-1 division record.
The Buccaneers season has been up and down as the group finished only 4-8 in division but had an overall record of 11-9. The team began back in November with two games against Section V opponents that ended with two wins over Notre Dame and Churchville-Chili. The Bucs would head into division play in December as the team would drop two games to New Hartford and Clinton before heading to Albany in which the group won two games against Section II opponents. The rest of December would be back and forth before the team went on a five game win streak to start the new calendar year. This streak began against Spencerport who is based out of Section V. At the time, the Rangers were ranked 13th in the state in which the team has now moved up to 8th. With this win streak, Oswego would end up being ranked as high as 13th statewide over the course of the season. This streak however would end quickly after losing 6-0 to Skaneateles and would continue into a three game losing streak that occurred against divisional opponents. The Buccaneers would get one win going into February against Auburn but would drop their final two regular season games, one being against their upcoming opponent Cortland-Homer.
Cortland-Homer finished 5-7 in division this season as the Golden Eagles scored a total of 42 goals against division opponents, second just behind Skaneateles who finished with 58. In comparison to Oswego, the Bucs only scored 26 points in their division games which is the second lowest out of the seven teams. In their two games against each other, each team got a win as Oswego defeated the Golden Eagles 4-3 during their 5 game win streak. However, on February 4th, the Bucs would fall to Cortland-Homer 6-1 at home.
Most of this season’s success have come from new upper class who have stepped up and taken larger roles on the team. Junior Ryan Bartlett has recorded 24 points (8 goals and 16 assists) in only his 12 games played. Bartlett has not played since Oswego’s game against New Hartford on January 13th. The junior has doubled his points totals compared to last season even though he has missed a good amount of the season. If the Buccaneers could add him back into the line up for Thursday nights game, Oswego’s chances of moving on in sectionals will definitely increase. Oswego also leans on their junior goaltender Brandon Demling who last year only got a total of 39 minutes in between the pipes. With a total of 359 saves and a goals against average of a 3.07, the junior has stepped into the starting position and has allowed the Bucs to win some close games. Demling has played both games against Cortland-Homer this season and you can expect him in net tomorrow evening in Cortland. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. from the J.M. McDonald Sports Complex in Cortland.
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Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse Looks to Turn Around Season
OSWEGO, N.Y. — Oswego State Men’s Lacrosse will be back in action on Friday, April 16th against the Brockport Golden Eagles. The Lakers are currently 0-3 overall in 2021 and lost their first game of the season to the Golden Eagles. Brockport defeated Oswego 12-5 in Rochester back on April 2nd and handed the Lakers their first conference lost. Since then, the Lakers have not been able to get it done in and out of conference play. The squad currently is in fourth in the SUNYAC West Division Standings behind third place Brockport. After Friday, the Lakers have three more games left before the end of the 2021 campaign.
Friday’s contest will be the biggest game to date for the Lakers because the result of this game could decide whether or not the Oswego team remains in the hunt for the SUNYAC Championship. Oswego comes into the contest being led by Lucas Cioch with eight points total. Through his first three collegiate games, the freshman midfielder has five points and three assists. Senior Liam Dollard has had a fast start to the 2021 season with three goals and one assist for four points. On the defensive side of the ball, senior goaltender Kevin O’Donnell has had a rocky start with the rest of the defense through the first three games of the season. The netminder is currently posting 43 goals against with a 14.33 goals against average and 39 saves for a .476 save percentage. Last season, O’Donnell had a .620 save percentage after their four game season in 2020.
The Lakers take on the Golden Knights on Friday, April 16th at 4 p.m. at Laker Turf Stadium. WTOP 10 will be live from the field to bring Oswego State fans all the action as the SUNYAC West Division heats up.
