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.