OSWEGO, N.Y. — The Oswego State women’s hockey team narrowly defeated the William Smith Herons on Tuesday 1-0. With this victory, the Lakers improve to 5-2-1 this season and enter their Thanksgiving break on a two-game win streak.
Oswego and William Smith played and extremely physical game from buzzer-to-buzzer. Early on, Oswego found themselves in penalty trouble but were able to efficiently kill the clock. For much of the first period, the Lakers offensive zone pressure smothered the Herons, allowing only three shots in the opening 20 minutes. As the game started to heat up, Oswego found themselves in a 5-on-4 situation in the second period, but were unable to capitalize on the powerplay. However five minutes into the third period, junior forward Ariella Haas scored the game’s lone goal off assists from both Chyne Kennedy and Emily Gustafson.
Oswego continued their dominance in the faceoff circle again on Tuesday, winning 29-17. Haas les the Lakers in faceoff wins (10-5), followed by Morgan Shines (8-4) and Sara Cruise (6-2). Starting goalkeeper Joanna Hiebert also continued her hot streak in this matchup, recording her second consecutive shutout and third of the season.
The Lakers are now 5-2-1 on the season and sit third place in the NEWHL standings. Following Thanksgiving break, Oswego will have a prime opportunity to move up in the standings as they travel to Cortland to take on the Red Dragons, who sit second in the NEWHL. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 3.
Photo provided by Shelby Peplowski, WTOP-10 Photography Department
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Men’s Hockey splits high ranked opening weekend
OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Oswego State Lakers men’s hockey team took to both road and home ice this weekend for the first official games of their season. The weekend started with a Friday night trip to Geneva, NY to take on the Hobart Statesmen, followed by a Saturday night matchup in the Deb against the Elmira Soaring Eagles. The opening weekend was a real test for the Lakers as both squads they faced were ranked higher than them in the uscho preseason poll, Hobart #5 and Elmira #9.
The game started off pretty even for both the Lakers and the Statesmen as they each would get shots off on each others goalies. An early Hobart penalty gave the Lakers their first real opportunity for a goal all season, but the Statesmen killed it and only allowed a single shot on the net during the two minutes. Not even a minute later, Conor Smart would be called for hooking giving Hobart their first chance of the season and they would capitalize. Halfway through the penalty Hobart would score giving them the 1-0 lead 11 minutes into the contest. Oswego would be called for another penalty with eight minutes left, but net-minder Eric Green would save two shots and keep the Statesmen from extending their lead. Green finished the period with six saves.
Hobart came out of the gates swinging in the second half, getting four shots off in the first minute of play. It was Oswego who scored first in the period though. A Connor Sleeth face-off win would go back to Ryan Dickinson who passed the puck to Quinn Warmuth who buried the puck in the back of the net from the blue line. It was a very chippy period for both teams, each receiving three penalties, at one point, there was only a 3v3 on the ice. The Statesmen recovered from the 3v3 first and actually got themselves back to full strength 5v3, where they would score twice. The second period ended 3-1 Statesmen. Green had another 14 saves in the period.
It only took 11 seconds for Hobart to extend their lead in the final period, winning the opening face-off and quickly moving down ice to make it 4-1. The Lakers would hold them off for a while in the third, but with just under six minutes left the Statesmen struck again, extending it to 5-1. Oswego would pull one back on the power-play. Tommy Cahill scored, assisted by Matt McQuade. Hobart out-shot the Lakers in the contest 59-43 and dominated on the powerplay, scoring on 3-4 chances. Eric Green had 32 saves in the game. Connor Sleeth led the Lakers in shots with six and was 17-29 in the face-off circle.
The Lakers were back in the Deborah. F. Stanley ice arena Saturday night for their official home opener and the Teal Night Game. The Teal Night game for both the men’s and women’s teams raises awareness for Ovarian Cancer and takes donations for Ovarian Research in memory of the late Mary Gosek. For more information you go can to http://peacefulremediesoswego.com The Lakers were wearing their teal jerseys for the game against Elmira. The first goal of the game was in favor of the Lakers. A pass from Connor Sleeth back to the blue line to Shane Bull, usually a forward but was filling in on defense for the game, buried one past the goalie just before the half way mark in the first period. A little more than two minutes later the Soaring Eagles were called for holding and went a man down. With the Lakers on the power play, Matt McQuade brought the puck up the right side passed it off to Connor Sleeth who put it over the goalies shoulder for the Lakers second goal of the game. The Lakers put 22 shots on net in the first period.
The Lakers came out soaring in the second period, scoring 19 seconds in. Daniel Colabufo shooting one across his body and across the goal to give Oswego a 3-0 lead. Tommy Cahill got the assist. It was again the Lakers adding to their lead, halfway through the second frame. Coming off a face-off win by Ben Addison went back to Shane Bull. Bull passed it to Tommy Cahill who sent it pass the goalie. A penalty with five minutes to go gave Elmira their first scoring opportunity, and they took advantage of it. On a two-man advantage, they put on past goalie Richie Parent, who got the start in net. The Lakers had five players with two points by the end of the period.
In the final frame, the Lakers kept pushing the pace and scored again just under four minutes in. Tommy Cahill shot it low off the goalies blocker on a two-on-two opportunity and Daniel Colabufo took the rebound and scored for his second of the game. Another Lakers penalty allowed the Soaring Eagles to score the final goal of the game. Again with a two-man advantage, they put one past Parent for their second goal of the game and the final one of the game. Colabufo led the team with two goals, three different Lakers were credited with two goals. Seven different Lakers had two points. Richie Parent had 15 saves on the game. Elmira was two for three on the Powerplay during the game. This was the Lakers first point against a ranked opponent since February, 2019 when they tied a then ranked #2 Geneseo.
Oswego is now 1-1 this season. They jumped up to #10 in the uscho poll after the weekend. They have a big weekend ahead, opening SUNYAC play with Whiteout weekend. They take on Plattsburgh on Friday, puck drop set for 7:00, WTOP10 will have a hour long pregame show, going live at 6:00 P.M. The Potsdam Bears come to town on Saturday, puck drop set for 7:00 P.M.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE QUIACHON, WTOP10 PHOTOGRAPHY DEPARTMENT.
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Oswego State men’s hockey blanks Morrisville to earn fourth shutout of season
MORRISVILLE, N.Y. — The Oswego State men’s hockey team defeated Morrisville State 4-0 on Wednesday. This victory marks the 11th SUNYAC win for the Lakers and second win over the Mustangs in the 2021-22 season.
It was a back-and-fourth, scrappy first period that saw neither team find the back of the net. However, Oswego’s defense was stifling from the opening puck drop as they held Morrisville to just three shots in the first stanza compared to the Lakers 15. The Lakers remained relentless on the offensive end to start the second period, firing off 10 shots in the frame’s first nine minutes. Though, it wasn’t until the 13:17 mark where sophomore Connor Sleeth got things rolling for Oswego, scoring his sixth goal on the year. Ryan Bunka and Alex DiCarlo were awarded assists on the play. Just four minutes later, captain Travis Broughman put the Lakers up 2-0 as he tallied his eleventh goal of the year. To finish the period, Oswego went on to score another goal with Alex DiCarlo “one-upping” Broughman for his twelfth goal of the season. The team captain would not be upstaged for long however. As the Lakers took command in the final period, Broughman tacked on his second goal of the game, tying DiCarlo at 12 for the team lead. The Oswego defense, lead by senior Steven Kozikoski, played phenomenal all game long. The “Wizard of Koz” raked in 13 saves en route of earning his fourth shutout of the season. The team as a whole dominated the stat sheet, totaling 51 shots, 35 shots on goal and winning 36 faceoffs.
With this win, the Lakers improve to 16-5-1 on the season and currently sit atop the SUNYAC standings with 34 points. With just two regular season games remaining before SUNYAC playoffs begin on Feb. 23, Oswego will look to continue this momentum and finish the season strong. The men’s hockey team concludes the season with a weekend doubleheader against Fredonia on Feb. 18 and Buffalo State on Feb. 19. Puck-drop is set for Friday at 7:00 p.m. in Fredonia.
Image Provided by William Rogers, WTOP 10 Photography Department
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Lakers Fall Short Against Bears
POTSDAM, NY- The Lakers fell short to the Potsdam Bears 64-54 in Potsdam on Saturday in a game where the Lakers took the lead early but were unable to capitalize in the second half.The first quarter started off the way the Lakers wanted to draw it up as both Logan Castiglione and Shania Iglesias connected on three-pointers to give the Lakers a 6-2 lead with 8:11 in the first quarter. Castiglione would lead the Lakers at the end of the first quarter with eight points including two three-pointers. The Lakers would shoot from over 50% in the field in the first. The Lakers would lead 17-9 at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started with the Bears going on a 9-0 run to take an 18-17 lead over the Lakers. The Lakers struggled from the field only shooting from 25% in the quarter. Shania Iglesias led the Lakers with nine points at the half. The Lakers barely edged out the Bears at the half leading 26-24.
The second half started with Karleigh Leo making a layup to give the Lakers a 28-24 lead early in the third. After a missed three-pointer by Diamond Pickett, the Bears went on a 6-0 run that included a three-pointer as they took a 35-29 with 3:57 left in the third. The Bears managed to shoot at 57.14% from the field in third compared to Oswego’s 40%. The Bears would knock down three three-pointers in the third as they led the Lakers 43-39 at the end of the third quarter.
The Lakers managed to cut the lead to two with two Diamond Pickett free-throws. Karleigh Leo would hit the Lakers only three-pointer of the second half to cut the Potsdam lead to two at 48-46. The Lakers were unable to rally to tie the game or take the lead as the Bears maintained their lead throughout the rest of the fourth quarter. The Bears would knock down three more three-pointers in the fourth quarter as they would score six total three-pointers in the second half. The Bears would go on to win 64-54.
The Lakers will face off in Plattsburgh against the Cardinals on Sunday, December 11th at Memorial Hall. The Cardinals are coming off an embarrassing blowout to Cortland 70-39.
PHOTO CREDITS PROVIDED BY OSWEGO STATE ATHLETICS
