Puck Flattsburgh: Oswego beats Plattsburgh 3-2

The No. 1-ranked Oswego State men’s ice hockey team defeated fourth-ranked Plattsburgh 3-2 on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd for the program’s first victory over the Cardinals at the Campus Center Arena. Jon Whitelaw (Fr., Huntsville, Ont.) tallied the eventual game-winning goal at 5:53 in the second period. The Lakers took a five-point lead over Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC standings with a 12-0-0 record and moved to 20-1-0 on the season, while the Cardinals fell to 13-3-4 overall and 9-2-1.
Oswego State raced out of the gates early as Neil Musselwhite (Sr., Burlington, Ont.) gave the Lakers an early 1-0 lead 34 seconds into the contest.  Tyler Leimbrock (Fr., Bolton, Ont.) carried the puck up the right side before putting a wrist shot on net.  Plattsburgh goaltender Josh Leis (Fr., Kitchener, Ont.) gave up the rebound, as Musselwhite took advantage putting the puck in the top-left corner.  Leimbrock and Brad Dormiedy (Sr., Ajax, Ont.) were credited with assists on the play.

The Cardinals evened the game at the 6:44 mark when Dylan Clarke (Jr., Belleville, Ont.) scored on a scramble in front of the net.  However, the Lakers regained the lead at 11:36 when they took advantage of a failed Plattsburgh clearing attempt.  Eric Selleck (So., Spencerville, Ont.) picked up the puck, closed in on the right side forcing Leis to commit before passing to Justin Fox (Jr., Whitby, Ont.), who did not miss, for his 11th goal of the year.  The score remained at 2-1 at the first intermission.

Between periods,  an odd string of events occurred when equipment malfunction in the Oswego State skate room resulting in the fire alarms going off, forcing the crowd to be evacuate the building.  Play was delayed slightly as the situation was cleared by the appropriate officials. 

Once the players returned to the ice, Jon Whitelaw made it a two-goal game 5:53 into the second period.  He carried the puck up the left side of the rink before ripping a shot that went between Leis’ legs to make the score 3-1.  Fox earned an assist on the goal, as Plattsburgh coach Bob Emery pulled Leis, replacing him with Ryan Williams.  The Cardinals turned up the intensity for the rest of the period as the Lakers committed several penalties giving Plattsburgh a chance to get back into the game.  However, a combination of strong penalty killing and nice saves by Kyle Gunn-Taylor (Sr., West Seneca, N.Y.) kept the Cardinals from getting back on the board. 

Oswego State had a chance to go up by three goals when Matt Singleton (Fr., Brooklin, Ont.) was awarded a penalty shot after being taken down on a breakaway, but Williams came up with the stick save.  Plattsburgh notched its second goal of the game minutes later when Phil Farrow threw the shot on goal that went above Gunn-Taylor’s glove to make the score 3-2, which was the final score.
Kyle Gunn-Taylor recorded 27 saves as he improved to 13-0-0 on the season.  Josh Leis made nine saves, while Ryan Williams stopped 12 shots in relief. 

The Lakers will host their final regular season game of the year on Friday night against Cortland at 7 p.m. for senior night.  Oswego State now needs to claim three points in its final four games to capture the top seed in the SUNYAC Post-Season Tournament.

Provided by Oswego State Sports Information
Box Score

Its Whiteout Night: #4 Plattsburgh @ #1 Oswego

The Oswego State Lakers and Plattsburgh Cardinals have one of, if not the best rivalry in all of D-III hockey. Tonight is  the next round of this historic rivalry between the two SUNYAC foes. The location is the Campus Center Ice Arena on the campus of SUNY Oswego. The Last time these two teams got together, it was a 5-2 win for the Lakers at the Ronald B Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh. That win snapped a long losing streak to the Cardinals. The Lakers have never defeated Plattsburgh on Campus Center ice, but is this a turn in the winds?

The shores of Lake Ontario is the backdrop for this game that you can hear on WNYO-FM 88.9 and online by clicking here. To hear the legendary Ducky Drake, you can listen to WIRY Radio in Plattsburgh and they also stream online by clicking here.You can also watch the game on WTOP-10 Oswego or Time Warner Cable Channel 96 if you live in Central New York.The game will also be on webcast via Oswego State Athletics.

Whiteout Night 2010


Whiteout Night Through the Eyes of THE VOTL.com

Review of Whiteout Night Last Year

Streak Now at 18... Oswego Wins 5-1 over Potsdam

The top ranked  Oswego State Lakers came out and got a spark from Luke Moodie (left)  and Andrew Mather as they powered the Lakers (19-1-0) to a 5-1 win over the visiting Potsdam Bears (7-10-2) at the Campus Center Ice Arena infront of the announced crowd of 2632.

Oswego got the offense going in the second period when Jon Whitelaw scored his 8th of the season with Captain Tyler Lyon and Paul Rodrigues getting the assists at 1:58 into the middle period. Senior Assistant Captain Neil Musselwhite got his 15th of the year from fellow senior Assistant Captain Brad Dormeidy at the 4:06 mark for the official game winning goal.

Potsdam got on the board off of a powerplay goal from Connor Treacy with Brett Waters and Todd Hosmer getting the helpers 2:32 into the third period. Luke Moodie got his 9th of the year with Whitelaw and Rodrigues getting their second points on the night at the 8:43 mark to give the Lakers their second two-goal lead on the night. Andrew Mather (right) got his third goal on the season on the powerplay with Eric Selleck and Chris Laganiere getting the helpers and then Mather got his 4th of the year with Selleck getting the assist to round out the scoring and to cap the 5-1 win for Oswego.

Paul Beckwith picked up his 7th win on the season to give him a record of 7-1-0) after recording 27 saves in net. Potsdam netminder Andy Groulx stopped 21 out of the Lakers 26 shots he faced and falls to 1-3 on the year.

Saturday night, the Campus Center Ice Arena will be in all white as it is the Whiteout game against the number four ranked Plattsburgh Cardinals at 7:00 pm. Plattsburgh comes into the showdown with the top team in the nation coming off of a 4-1 win against Cortland Friday night. Potsdam will head off to Cortland to complete their road trip to Central New York.

The game against the Cardinals is SOLD OUT so you can listen to the game on WNYO-FM 88.9 "the Voice of Oswego" or you could watch the webstream courtesy of WTOP-TV 10 via the SUNY Oswego Athletics website. 

Boxscore

Game Time in Oswego: Lakers host Potsdam

Whiteout Weekend officially kicks off tonight as the Oswego State Lakers are set to host the Potsdam Bears. These two teams met already this season, on November 6th at Potsdam in which the Lakers won the contest 8-1. Offense for Oswego on that night was provided by Jon Whitelaw, Justin Fox (2), Luke Moodie, Brad Dormidy, Eric Selleck Neil Musslewhite, and Paul Rodrigues. Last years meeting here at the Campus Center was on Senior night in which Potsdam won 4-2.

Key Stats and Players to watch
Team Offense:
Oswego- #2 with 5.53 goals per game
Potsdam-3.33 goals per game

Team Defense:
Oswego-#2 with 1.68 Goals per game
Potsdam- 4.06 goals per game

Power Play:
Oswego- #9 31-122 25.4%
Potsdam- 13-88 14.9%

Penalty Kill:
Oswego- #7 98-110 89.1%
Potsdam- 103-130 79.2%

Players to watch:
Oswego:
Eric Selleck-17 goals 24 assists 41 points
Chris Laganiere-14 goals 23 assists 37 points
Justin Fox- 10 goals 25 assists 35 points
Neil Musselwhite- 5 shorthanded goals

Potsdam
Conor Tracy- 8 goals 20 assists 28 points
Todd Hosmer- 11 goals 13 assists 24 points
Fraser Smith- 8 goals 8 assists 16 points
Colin McClennan- 2 shorthanded goals

Story provided by WNYO Sports

GCC Hosts Alfred State in a Basketball Doubleheader

The Genesee Community College Cougars Basketball program is hosting the Alfred State Pioneers this evening at the Anthony T Zambito Gymnasium on the GCC Batavia Campus. The Women come in tonights 6 pm contest with the Pioneers with a record of 12-5 while Alfred State comes in with a record of 10-8. The Cougar Women defeated the Erie Community College Cats 85-62 on Tuesday night in Buffalo while Alfred State's last contest was last Saturday when they dropped to the Jamestown Jayhawks 72-50.

The Cougar Men also host the visiting Pioneers tonight with a 8:00 pm tip-off. Genesee has a record of 10-7 after being defeated by nationally ranked ECC on Tuesday night by the score of 81-77. Alfred State comes in with a record of 9-11 after losing to Monroe Community College on Tuesday night 84-68

Now This is Really Seeing Red...

Boise State has its infamous "Smurf Turf," and Nebraska has what it likes to call the "Sea of Red" to describe the vast crowd inside Lincoln's Memorial Stadium. As of next fall, though, neither of them will have anything on I-AA Eastern Washington, which announced plans Wednesday to install an actual field of red:

Taking a cue from Boise State's famous blue turf, Eastern Washington is planning to install an artificial red playing surface inside its football stadium. The Big Sky program's official school colors are red and white.
Former EWU star Michael Roos, now in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans, has pledged $500,000 toward the "Red Turf Project.'' School officials in Cheney hope to raise additional private money and have the field installed for the 2010 season.
[...]
"There is no doubt that one of Boise State's claims to fame has been their blue turf and like it or dislike it, it has certainly brought them a tremendous amount of notoriety," EWU athletic director Bill Chaves said. "In a similar vein we have a tremendous opportunity at Eastern to do the same by differentiating ourselves with the red turf while providing a superior playing surface."

The NCAA has no provision addressing the color of playing surfaces -- at least not yet -- because it hasn't had to consider the issue outside of the relatively obscure venues at Boise State and Division II University of New Haven, which installed its own blue turf last year. If it goes through with it, then, EWU's lava motif will be breaking ground on what promises to be a run on multi-colored turf by publicity-starved schools across the country; eventually, somebody somewhere is going to go with black. (I'm looking at you, Idaho.)
Until then, Woodward Field, thy name is "Blood."

Story provided by Matt Hinton/Yahoo Sports
Picture provided by Eastern Washington University Athletics

Buffalo Beats New Jersey 2-1 in a Shootout

Its Official: Oswego vs Plattsburgh is Sold Out

The Oswego State Athletic Department has announced that  the Oswego State men’s hockey game versus Plattsburgh on Saturday,  January 30 is sold out, including student seats and standing-room spaces. Fans still wishing to see the game may catch the action via  webcast, WTOP-TV 10, or Local Access Cable Channel 96. The game may also be heard at WNYO 88.9 FM.

Game time is slated for 7 p.m. as part of the White-Out Weekend  festivities. Tickets are still available for Oswego State versus  Potsdam on Friday night at 7 p.m. Laker fans are encouraged to wear white each night to show their support for the men’s hockey team. The Oswego State Athletic Department will also be handing out white towels to the first 2,000 fans at each game to further create “white-out” conditions.

Courtesy of Oswego State Sports Information Department

Knighthawks Drop at Hands of Toronto 17-3

The Toronto Rock (3-0) rose above the Rochester Knighthawks (2-1) in front of 10,104 fans Saturday at the Air Canada Centre. In what was anticipated to be a well-matched game, the final result was a 17-3 victory for the Toronto Rock, building on their winning streak this season.

Defensively, the Rock set the tone of the game from the start, containing the Knighthawks' veteran offensive players. The system the Rock coaching staff has referred to since the beginning came out strong Saturday, making scoring chances next to impossible for the Knighthawks.

Toronto Rock Captain Colin Doyle, who scored one goal and recorded six assists in the win, was happy with the way the system was executed.

"They made it so hard for them to do anything they wanted to do and I think they frustrated them to a point where they just started doing things that are uncharacteristic of them," said Doyle of the Knighthawks, who had scored a combined total of 23 goals in their previous two games.

Offensively, the Rock out shot the Knighthawks 17-3 in the first quarter alone and continued to lead in shots with a total of 56 in the game versus Rochester's 47.

Toronto defenseman Cam Woods opened the scoring for the Rock with a goal at 1:39 in the first quarter but it was Rock rookie Garrett Billings who had a big game for the team, scoring five goals and three assists in the win.

Billings, who was drafted sixth overall by Toronto, has scored 11 goals so far this season for the Rock and is already one of the top goal scorers in the league.

Toronto Rock Head Coach Troy Cordingley is nothing but pleased with the way Billings has come out to play in every game for the team.

"He's the guy that we wanted," said Cordingley of Billings. "I mean his shot is accurate, he sees the floor well and he's doing a great job for us."

Rock forward Kasey Beirnes had three goals and Mike Hominuck had two against Knighthawks goaltender Pat O'Toole. Forwards Blaine Manning and rookie Stephen Leblanc also added one goal each. Defensemen Woods, Jeff Gilbert, Mike Hobbins and Pat McCready all recorded their first goals of the season.

Bob Watson displayed, once again, his irreplaceable talent between the pipes tonight, denying 44 shots from the Rochester offense.

The Toronto Rock have missed the playoffs for the past two consecutive season and with Doyle's return to the roster, the team is ready to continue this winning streak after Saturday's win over Rochester.

"It was certainly not the game we expected," said Doyle. "We believe we can play in here and I think sooner or later people will stop taking us for granted."

If any motivation was needed tonight, the Toronto Rock were informed of another great reason to score goals before the game.

The horrific events in Haiti recently inspired Toronto Rock Owner Jamie Dawick to take the floor before the game to share news with the fans at the Air Canada Centre. For every Rock goal scored Saturday, Dawick would donate $1,000 to the Haiti Relief Fund through World Vision.

"You realize what a disaster it is there and we just want to do our part and I'm thrilled they scored 17 goals," said an excited Dawick after the win. With a 17-3 victory, Dawick will be donating a total of $17,000 to the fund.

The Toronto Rock dominated the first of three meetings with the Rochester Knighthawks Saturday and will travel to Rochester to take on the Knighthawks at home next Saturday, January 30 at The Blue Cross Arena.

Box Score is available by clicking here

Courtesy of NLL.com 

Streak's Now Up to 17 as Oswego Beats Fredonia

The No. 1-ranked Oswego State men’s ice hockey team tallied two power play goals to snap Fredonia’s eight-game winning streak by defeating the Blue Devils 3-1 on Saturday night at the Campus Center Arena in Oswego. Jon Whitelaw and Stephen Mallaro recorded both power play goals for the Lakers, while Kyle Gunn-Taylor stopped 17 shots to remain undefeated at 12-0-0. Oswego State extended its own winning streak to 17 games to improve to 18-1-0 overall and 10-0-0 in the SUNYAC. Fredonia fell to 14-5-0 and 6-4-0 in the league.

Scoring started in the second period after a Fredonia boarding penalty led to a goal by Jon Whitelaw (Fr., Huntsville, Ont.) at 7:58. Whitelaw took a wrist shot from the left face-off circle that went into the right side of the net after receiving a pass from Chris Laganiere (Jr., Owego, N.Y.). It was the only goal of the stanza, as Oswego State skated into the third period with a 1-0 lead.

The Lakers took a two-goal advantage following another boarding penalty at 1:22 in the third period when Stephen Mallaro (Jr., Syracuse, N.Y.) blasted a shot that bounced off the left pipe into the net. Andrew Mather (So., Ottawa, Ont.) and Whitelaw received the assists on the play. Minutes later while on a 3-on-2 breakaway, Eric Selleck’s (So., Spencerville, Ont.) wrist shot beat Kody Van Rentergem glove-side to give the Lakers a 3-0 lead as Mallaro and Laganiere earned assists.

Fredonia ended the shutout bid at 6:33 when Bryan Ross’s slapshot from the center of the blue found the back of the net as the Blue Devils had a 4-on-3 chance. The goal was also the first power play goal allowed by Oswego State in 2010 (29 opportunities). Fredonia continued to pressure the Lakers, but was unable to put more goals on the scoreboard.

Gunn-Taylor made seven of his 13 saves in the third period, while Blue Devil netminder Kody Van Rentergem stopped 25 shots, including 15 in the first period.

Next weekend Oswego State will host Potsdam and Plattsburgh as part of the annual White-Out Weekend. Both games start at 7 p.m. with the first 2,000 fans at each game receiving white towels to help show their support.

Courtesy of Oswego State Sports Information Department 

"Three Puckateers" Power Oswego to Win Against Buffalo State

The Oswego State Lakers gave up the first goal of the night just over a minute played in the opening period. But the Lakers scored the next 10 goals in defeating the guest Buffalo State Bengals 10-1 at the Campus Center Ice Arena on the campus of SUNY Oswego. The "three Puckateers" - Eric Selleck (left),Justin Fox (center) and  Chris Laganiere (right) combined for ten points (4 goals and 6 assists) to lead the top ranked offense in the nation.to the win infront of the announced crowd of 1706.

The opening period started with D'Arcy Thomas beating Paul Beckwith 1:09 into the game that silenced the crowd at the Campus Center Ice Arena. Thomas goal was assisted by Mike Luzarraga. Then the Lakers wasted no time in scoring the tieing goal courtesy of Hank Van Boxmeer. Van Boxmeer scored at the 5:27 mark to even the game. Then the Lakers took the lead courtesy of Chris Laganiere. The Owego, NY native was set up by Eric Selleck and Jon Whitelaw at 7:43 on the power play. Then five minutes later, Laganiere would score his second of the night with linemates Selleck and Justin Fox getting the helpers. With eight seconds remaining in the first, Captain Tyler Lyon scored with the man advantage to give the Lakers a 4-1 lead with the assists going to Assistant Captain Neil Musselwhite and forward Paul Rodrigues.

The second period startedwith Buff State changing goalies as Mike Mesaros came in for starter Alan Fritch who gave up four goals. Oswego would get on the young goalie early as Musselwhite would make it a 5-1 lead just 5:27 into the middle frame with the assists going to Selleck and Assistant Captain Brad Dormeidy. The Lakers would bump the lead to 6-1 as Matt Singleton would score his first collegiate goal of his career with Chris Muise getting the lone assist three minutes after Musselwhite's talley.

The offense would continue to pound the Bengals as the Lakers would score just 2:12 into the final period with Selleck getting the goal with Laganiere and Fox getting the assists. Then Owen Kelly would take a pass from Singleton and Kevin Huinink for a 8-1 lead for the home team. Selleck would then get his second of the period on the power play with Hank Van Boxmeer and Stephen Mallaro getting the assists. Tyler Leimbrock would finish the scoring for the Lakers as he would beat Mesaros with Jon Whitelaw and Jesse McConney getting the assists.

Oswego outshot the visiting Bengals 49-15 with Mesaros getting most of the saves after coming in for Fritch after the first period. Beckwith stops 14 Buff State shots for his sixth of the season. Oswego finishes 3/7 on the power play while the Bengals were 0/5.

Both teams will be in action tomorrow night as the Bengals will be visiting the Cortland Red Dragons at Alumni Arena in Cortland while the Lakers host the Fredonia Blue Devils at the Campus Center Ice Arena. Faceoff time on the shores of Lake Ontario will be at 7:00 pm and you can hear the game on WNYO-FM 88.9 "the Voice of Oswego". 

Box Score

Its Hockey Night in Oswego... #1 Oswego vs Buffalo State

The #1 Oswego State Lakers return to action tonight at the Campus Center Ice Arena as they take on SUNYAC foe Buffalo State to welcome in the start of the Spring Semester. The Lakers come into the 7:00 pm showdown with the Bengals with a record of 16-1-0 with a perfect 8-0-0 record in conference play while Buff State comes in with a record of 6-10-1 and 2-6-0 in SUNYAC. The first time that these two teams met this season was back on October 30th with the Lakers taking the 4-1 win over the Bengals at the Buffalo State Ice Arena. Eric Selleck, Stephen Mallaro, Luke Moodie and Michael Gilchrist put the puck in the net for Oswego while Nick Petriello scored the lone talley for Buffalo State. Paul Beckwith made the start in net for the Lakers while Alan Fritch was his counterpart in net for the Bengals that evening in Downtown Buffalo.

Tonights game features the top three point getters in the entire SUNYAC Conference with Eric Selleck (35 points -14 goals + 21 assists), Justin Fox (33 points - 10 goals and 23 assists) and Chris Laganiere (32 points - 12 goals and 20 assists) leading the way. Buffalo State's top performers this season inlcudes Nick Petriello (10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points), D'Arcy Thomas (6 goals and 12 assists) and Joel Sheppard (5 goals and 7 assists).

In net, former Bengal Kyle Gunn-Taylor has a record of 11-0-0 with a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 1.64 and has a save percentage of .929% (or almost 93% ). Paul Beckwith has a record of 5-1-0 with a GAA of 2.01 and has a save percentage of .930%.
Buffalo State netminder Alan Fritch comes in with a 5-9-1 record with a GAA of 3.96 and a save percentage of .879%. Bengal freshman Mike Mesaros comes in with an overall record of 0-1-0 with a GAA of 4.79 and has a save percentage of .841%

Puck drops tonight on the shores of Lake Ontario at 7:00 pm and you can hear the game on the "Voice of Oswego" WNYO-FM 88.9 and the webstream is available by clicking here.

Oswego State Defenseman Inspired By Memory of Father

In the past few years, Stephen Mallaro had thought he detected signs that his father, Marc, was growing a little soft and mushy. Marc, a stoic man with an uncompromising sense of right and wrong, started concluding his conversations with his son by saying “I love you.” When Stephen left his house in Onondaga on the night of Dec. 17, 2008, to skate with some friends, he shouted a goodbye up the stairs to his father. “All right. Be careful. I love you,” Marc replied before Stephen hurried out the door.

They were the last words Stephen ever heard from his father. Around noon the next day, Marc, 48, who worked for the Solvay Electric Department, was electrocuted while doing wire work in a cherry picker. He was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Stephen, at home at the time, got a call from a family friend that his dad was hurt. He was initially only mildly concerned, because the dad he knew had an unbending body and spirit. When he arrived at the hospital and parked his car, he started running because a sense of dread overtook him. The crowd around the scene inside confirmed his fears.

Thirteen months later, virtually everything is going great for Stephen. He’s worked his way into the lineup as junior defenseman for the Oswego State hockey team. The Lakers are ranked No. 1 in the country in Division III and he paces the team’s blueliners with 12 points (6-6). It’s all almost perfect, except that the man who spent his life putting Stephen in a position to succeed isn’t around to enjoy it. Wait. That’s not exactly how Stephen views it. The way he phrases it, Marc isn’t there in person. But he knows, Stephen explains, exactly what’s going on.
“Every time I score a goal, or do something great, and someone says, ‘Good job,’ I can picture my dad saying, ‘Good job,’” Stephen said. “I just think about him all the time. That’s enough for me to succeed.”

Whenever Stephen would catch Marc’s eye at games — whether they were at West Genesee, Northwood prep school or Oswego State — Dad was usually standing off by himself near a railing or right behind the glass. Mom Tracy and any combination of Stephen’s two sisters and one brother might be sitting together in the stands. Marc liked to remove himself from the fray, analyze without emotion.

“I don’t think he liked to hear other people complain a lot. I think he liked having his own thoughts,” Stephen said. “He’d give me the details after the game. He always was honest with us. He would never say anything to us that didn’t mean something.”
Marc’s voice was always the one that Stephen ran to. When the children played around the neighborhood, Marc’s booming call from his doorway was the signal to come home. Their return pace had better be brisk.
There were the usual scraps and tiffs between the four children, but nothing out of the ordinary. They knew better than to let their raucousness elevate to the level of a problem that might reach Dad’s ears. Marc would tell Stephen that fire and aggressiveness are acceptable traits if channeled in the right direction, especially when it came to hockey.

“Growing up, I was always competitive. He taught me a lot about how to control my aggressiveness. He taught me a lot about life,” Stephen said. “He stayed on me to stay out of trouble. He always had my back. My mom was on top of me for school. My dad was on top of me for hockey. He always had this saying, do well in school for your mom. Maybe he didn’t want her to get mad at him.”

Tatoos? Pierced ears? A baseball cap worn askew? Not under Marc’s roof. Marc worked long and hard on his job and his home projects, and everything proceeded best with a sense of order and cleanliness. Those are two of Marc’s many traits that live on in his son.
“If I start cleaning one thing, I have to clean the whole place,” Stephen said of his campus residence. “I hate being messy. I like everything organized.”

Stephen, 22, played at West Genesee through his junior season before switching to Northwood in Lake Placid for a couple years. Marc and Tracy made the four-hour commute to his games as often as possible. Stephen’s last Northwood competition was a tournament in Indiana. When he saw Marc’s vehicle in the parking lot before the game, he thought, no way.
But Marc had made the surprise drive. Northwood won the tournament, and Dad shed his cool veneer to snap pictures like an awestruck fan. Stephen said he thought he saw Marc cry for the first time. “He was a tough man. It was the first time I saw that emotion,” Stephen said. “He just said, ‘I’m so proud of you.’ That’s something that’s burned in my mind, I’ll always have.”

After Northwood, Stephen played one season of juniors in Nepean, Ont., before moving on to the Lakers. That was his biggest hockey challenge. Oswego State’s roster was stocked with veteran players who had helped bring it a national title and Mallaro didn’t play much as a freshman. “He’s not a complainer,” said Lakers coach Ed Gosek. “He rode it out. His story should be an inspiration to other kids.”

Mallaro’s sophomore season began much like his freshman year ended — with a lot of healthy scratches. But, as the Christmas break rolled around, there was finally reason for optimism. Gosek decided that Mallaro had earned more minutes, and he was going to get them as soon as the second half of the season started.
Mallaro finished his finals and headed home to settle in for the Christmas joy that was about to be shattered. And, just as Marc had envisioned on so many cold winter nights, Stephen was in Oswego State’s lineup for the team’s first game back on Jan. 2. Tracy sat in the stands, barely able to control her emotions.

“I was crying,” she said. “But I loved hockey. I know my husband would have wanted me there. You do what you have to do. You have to support your children. That’s what my husband would have expected me to do. I have to think my husband is watching (Stephen). What else is there to think?”
Hockey remained Stephen’s passion, more than ever. But it also became his haven.

“Coming back and skating with all my friends was easier for me than sitting at home thinking about it more than I should,” he said. “What keeps me going is the guys sitting next to me (on the bench). It’s almost a sense of pride for my dad. I’m not going to go out there and feel sorry for myself. My dad raised me to be tougher than that.”

Stephen could honor the memory of his father by keeping his picture in his locker, or writing his initials on his skates, or coming up with some other symbol of personal significance.
But that’s just not him. There’s only one way to appropriately remind himself of what he’s lost.

Stephen looks in the mirror.
“I am who he was. I feel like I’m pretty much the same person as him,” Stephen said. “All the time I have with him I have in my memory. He taught me everything.”

Story provided by Lindsay Kramer at the Syracuse Post Standard 

GCC Basketball Splits with Jamestown CC

The Genesee Community College Basketball program had the Jamestown Community College Jayhawks in the Anthony T Zambito Gymnasium last night for some NJCAA action. The Women dropped to the Jayhawks by the score of 80-74 while the Men defeated Jamestown 75-65.

The Women came into last night's battle with Jamestown winning 7 of their last 8, including a 78-71 victory over Mercyhurst NE on Tuesday. The game was the tale of two halfs. The first half saw the Cougars shoot 31% from the floor while the Jayhawks shot 42%. From behind the arch, Jamestown was 1-5 in the opening half while Genesee was 2-14 from three point land. Jamestown had a 39-31 lead going into the locker room.

The Cougars were led by Jamia Martin (Syracuse, NY) with 18 points while Krystie Laurey (Horseheads, NY) with 15 points. Good games were also put in by Marcades Caver (Bedford Heights, Ohio) and Shakatta Brown (Rochester, NY). The Jayhawks were led  Alicia Stebbins (Olean, NY) with a game high 23 points and Meaghan Rowland (Falconer, NY) with 17 points. Only two lead changes during the entire contest with Jamestown having a 18 point lead to open up the second half to put the game away. Overall the Cougars shot 38% from the floor while the Jayhawks shot 48% from the field. Genesee drops to 10-5 overall.

In the nightcap, the host Cougars came out firing from everywhere on the floor and defeated the Jayhawks 75-65. The Cougars were led in scoring by Leon Nelson (Buffalo, NY) with a game high 23 points. Jordan Henry (Mississauga, Ontario) put in 15 points while Aaron Allen (Claridge, PA) had 10 to lead Genesee to their 8th victory on the season. Jamestown was led by Thomas Lee (Performing Arts HS) with 16 points and Ashton Brown (Randolph, NY) with 15 points.

The Men's next contest is on Saturday at 3:00 pm while they take on Jamestown CC-Olean while the Women take on Erie Community College at the Burt Flickinger Center in Downtown Buffalo at 6:00 pm on January 26th before the Men do battle with the Kats at 8:00 pm that same night. The Cougars return home next Thursday (January 28th) for a doubleheader against Alfred State at 6:00 and 8:00 pm.

Laker Women Blanked By Host Hamilton Continentals 5-0

The Oswego State women’s hockey team struggled offensively as it fell to non-conference Hamilton 5-0 on Tuesday night in Clinton, N.Y. The Lakers trailed 2-0 heading into the third period, but allowed three goals in the final period in the loss. Laura DiCarlo led the Continentals with two goals and an assist. Oswego State fell to 5-9-0 on the season, while Hamilton improved to 5-6-2 overall.

DiCarlo notched the lone goal of the first period at the 15:53 mark for the Continentals with assists credited to Becky Cairns and Bret Lineberry. Hamilton tacked on a second goal midway through the second stanza as Cairns tallied her first goal of the season.

With the Continentals holding a 3-0 lead with 17:01 remaining in the contest, the Lakers had three power play opportunities in the final period for a chance to get back into the game, but were unable to capitalize. Hamilton sealed the victory late in the period after receiving unassisted goals from DiCarlo and Emily Baxter.

Oswego State goaltender Lana Peterson (Fr., Anchorage, Alaska) stopped 27 of 32 shots in the losing effort, as she fell to 0-2-0 on the year. Becca Hazlett recorded 17 saves for the shutout to improve to 4-4-1 this season.

The Lakers return to the Campus Center Arena for their first home games in two months on Saturday against conference for Chatham. The puck is slated to drop at 3 p.m. before the #1 mens team takes to the ice against SUNYAC foe Fredonia.

Story Provided By Oswego State Sports Information Department 

Box Score

Ice Devils Edge the Fighting Irish in the "Battle of Batavia"

The Batavia Ice Devils defeated their cross-town rival Notre Dame Fighting Irish 2-1 infront of another packed crowd at the Falletti Ice Arena. With the victory, the Ice Devils are now 12-3-1 all time against the Irish.The last win for Notre Dame during the regular season against Batavia was a 3-1 decision during the 2008-2009 season. 

The 16th edition of the "Battle of Batavia" started with Notre Dame drawing the first goal of the night as Jason Harasimowicz set up Beau Richter on the power play at 13:10 of the first period to give the Irish a 1-0 lead at the end of the first period.

Then the Ice Devils got one to even the score as Will Mulcahy walked in all alone and beat Irish junior Thomas Dehr top shelf after a great cross ice pass from Cory Kocent. Both teams went into the locker room tied at 1-1 after 30 minutes. (Just a side note that in high school hockey, they only play three 15 minute periods.) The third period saw Batavia control most of the period, including getting the game winner off the stick of senior Tim Finnell with Kocent and Mulcahy getting the assists at the 12:20 mark of the final frame.

Notre Dame would then try to muster up a late game comeback to tie the game and send it to overtime but Ice Devil netminder Adam Kurek was up to the task as he stopped 26 shots to pick up the victory. Thomas Dehr made 14 saves in the loss for the Fighting Irish who drop to 11-3-0-1 as the Ice Devils are now 6-7-1-0 and now take over third place in the division standings behind Notre Dame and Victor.

The Irish's next contest is on Thursday January 21st at 6 pm as they take on the Victor Blue Devils at the Falletti Ice Arena while the Ice Devils return to action on Saturday afternoon at Brighton/East Rochester/Honeoye Falls-Lima at 2 pm.

For a complete box score of the matchup, CLICK HERE

I Know its Just a Little Bit Early... But its almost time for Whiteout Night

The Oswego State Lakers and Plattsburgh Cardinals have one of, if not the best rivalry in all of D-III hockey. January 30, 2010 is the date for the next round of this historic rivalry between the two SUNYAC foes. The location is the Campus Center Ice Arena on the campus of SUNY Oswego. The Last time these two teams got together, it was a 5-2 win for the Lakers at the Ronald B Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh. That win snapped a long losing streak to the Cardinals. The Lakers have never defeated Plattsburgh on Campus Center ice, but is this a turn in the winds?
The shores of Lake Ontario is the backdrop for this game that you can hear on WNYO-FM 88.9 and online by clicking here. To hear the legendary Ducky Drake, you can listen to WIRY Radio in Plattsburgh and they also stream online by clicking here.You can also watch the game on WTOP-10 Oswego or Time Warner Cable Channel 96 if you live in Central New York.




And now the review of what happened last year on Whiteout night between Plattsburgh and Oswego. This video was shown on WTOP's Laker Lowdown with Matt Armstrong, Mike Toper and Ben Amey. A link to the Lowdowns YouTube page is available by clicking here. Or you can see them on Facebook by clicking here.



Two weeks away before the biggest game of the season. But both the Lakers and Cardinals have tough opponents to play before they play eachother at the Campus Center. The Cardinals have away games at Geneseo and Brockport this weekend and then on the 29th take on Cortland. While the Lakers are home for three straight starting with this weekends contests with Buffalo State and Fredonia before hosting Potsdam on the 29th before the 7:00 pm matchup with rival Plattsburgh. Stay right here at Steve Petty Sports for all of the action leading up before the showdown at the Campus Center, Whiteout 2010 between Plattsburgh and Oswego.

Laker Women Drop 10-2 at #4 RIT

Fourth-ranked RIT scored three goals in the first five minutes and never looked back as it defeated the Oswego State women’s ice hockey team 10-2 on Saturday night in Rochester. Batavia native Katie Stack registered a hat trick for the Tigers, who out-shot the Lakers 59-16.

Kelly Collins, pictured (So., Fairport, N.Y.) and Jenna Kirkwood (Sr., Chilliwack, B.C.) tallied the goals for Oswego State, which fell to 5-8-0 overall and 3-5-0 in the ECAC West. RIT raised its overall mark to 10-2-3 and its conference mark to 5-1-2.

The Tigers started the scoring 2:05 into the game when Megan Kobar notched her second goal of the season, and had a 3-0 lead nearly four minutes later after goals by Stack and Kristina Moss.  RIT added its fourth goal of the period at the 14:25 mark as Tenecia Hiller fed Ali Hills for the score.
With the Tigers holding a 7-0 lead, Kelly Collins ended the shutout bid at 17:43 in the second frame after she received a pass from Jillian Bergeron (So., Brockville, Ont.).  However, RIT tallied two more goals in the next minute to skate into the locker room with the score 9-1. 

After an Oswego State goaltending change, Jamie Parhar scored the last Tiger goal at 5:17 with assists going to Hiller and Belina Hooper.  Jenna Kirkwood posted her eighth goal of the season short-handed, as assists were credited to Natalie Rossi (Jr., Edison, N.J.) and Angie Friesen (Sr., Chilliwack, B.C.), for the final score of 10-2.

The Lakers’ Emi Williams (Jr., Anchorage, Alaska) made 32 saves and allowed nine goals in the first two frames, while Lana Peterson (Fr., Anchorage, Alaska) compiled 17 saves and allowed one goal in the third period.  Amy Torgerson finished the game with 14 saves on 16 shots.

The Lakers travel to Hamilton College on Tuesday night for a 7:00 pm showdown with the Continentals. Oswego State returns to the Campus Center Ice Arena for the first time in two months with a weekend series against Chatham starting on Saturday, Jan. 23 at 3 p.m.

Box Score

Story provied by Oswego State Sports Information  

Amerks beat Crunch to Win Third Straight

The Rochester Americans defeated the Syracuse Crunch 4-3 tonight at the War Memorial at Oncenter.  The win improves Rochester to 25-15-2-0 (52 points), boasting an 8-0-0-0 record against the I-90 rivals. Syracuse falls to 16-20-3-3 (38 points) with the loss.

Leading the way for Rochester was Jeff Taffe and Clay Wilson who both recorded two points on the night, Taffe’s coming on two goals, while Wilson picked up a goal and an assist. Wilson scored the final goal of the contest in the 13th minute of the third period, which proved to be the game-winner.  Wilson’s sixth goal of the season was assisted by Andrew Sweetland and Shawn Mathias.

Michal Repik scored the game’s first goal just 31 seconds in to give Rochester a 1-0 lead.  Assisting on Repik’s goal was Evgeny Dadonov and Keaton Ellerby.  Syracuse followed nearly six minutes later with a goal from Maksim Mayorov, who was assisted by Jared Aulin and Dylan Reese. Taffe closed out the first period with his first goal of the night, an unassisted backhander past Syracuse goaltender Dan LaCosta.

Syracuse’s Jordan Smotherman scored the only goal of the second period, with help from Nick Holden and Aulin, to even the playing field entering the third.

In the final period, Taffe found the back of the net yet again, with assists going to Wilson and Jamie Johnson.  Syracuse responded to make the game 3-3 when Derek MacKenzie beat Amerk netminder Alexander Salak.

Salak finished the night with 29 saves in his 19th win, while Dan LaCosta had 19 stops in the defeat.

In their next game, Rochester will face the Hamilton Bulldogs on January 22nd at The Blue Cross Arena.  Face-off is slated for 7:05 p.m.  The game will be broadcast live on SportsRadio 1280 WHTK and FM 107.3, Rochester Sports Talk. The matchup will also be televised live on Time Warner Cable SportsNet Channel 26.

From www.amerks.com 

Knighthawks are 2-0 with 13-11 Victory over Buffalo

Rochester Knighthawks forward John Grant had his second eight-point game as he continues his comeback tour in a 13-11 victory over the Buffalo Bandits at HSBC Arena tonight. Rochester improved to 2-0 to a start a season for the first time since the 2000 season.

Grant has led the way for the Knighthawks with three goals and five assists to tie Tom Marechek for fourth in NLL history with 399 goals. Shawn Williams also had two goals and three assists, and Craig Point chipped in four goals and 15 faceoff wins. Rochester also converted four of seven power-play chances.

O'Toole (6,168) made 33 saves to climb within just 188 saves away from breaking Dallas Eliuk's league record of 6,356. The win was the 99th of O'Toole's Knighthawks career, placing him two away from becoming the first Rochester goalie to reach the century mark.

Mark Steenhuis led Buffalo with four goals and two assists, while Mike Accursi collected five points (1 4). The NLL's all-time goal-scoring leader, John Tavares, was a late scratch. Goalie Ken Montour stopped 29 saves in the loss. The Bandits dropped to 0-2 to start the season.

Buffalo jumped out to a 3-0 first-quarter lead and a 4-2 second-quarter lead, but each time Rochester responded to tie the game. Grant provided both goals to even the game at four. The teams then traded goals before Steenhuis gave Buffalo a 6-5 lead on the power play at 10:20 of the second.

Rochester scored four of the next five goals to open the third quarter to take a 9-7 lead at 7:25 of the third quarter as Cory Bomberry netted his only goal of the game. Brett Bucktooth cut the lead to one before the end of the quarter with a power-play marker at 11:52.

The Knighthawks controlled the beginning of the fourth quarter with three of quarter's four goals. Bobby McBride, Point and Gary Gait tallied to give Rochester a 12-9 lead. Buffalo chipped in two late goals before Steve Toll clinched the game with an empty-netter.

From NLL.com

WCIS and SST Racing Series Celebrates Night of Champions

WARSAW, NY… Wyoming County International Speedway (WCIS) and the Super Short Track Racing Series (SST) honored their champions at their annual awards banquet Saturday evening at the Breezy Hill Reception Center in Warsaw, NY.  

The first of what was many awards being presented were to the drivers that ran weekly at the Perry Bullring. The top 10 drivers in each of the weekly divisions were honored for their success during the 2009 season. The 4 Cylinder Stock divisions saw drivers of all ages finishing in the top 10 in points for the entry level division. Brian Johnson of Castile was crowned season Champion over Eric Hastreiter and Austyn Fugle with Kevin Grom and Gert McDonald completing the top five in points. Each driver was given the opportunity to say one sentence and the phrases went from “thanks Mom and Dad and our sponsors” to “10^th sucks” and “the worst best year we’ve ever had”.

The Mini Cup class started out as a club when they were first introduced to WCIS but by the time the 2009 season started, they were competing every week and this club turned into a very competitive weekly division. Michelle Becker was crowned division champ over her brother Robbie and James Binder. Daniel Majchrzak and Amy Becker rounded out the top five at seasons end with Kennedy White, Johnny Scutt and Jesse Harloff completing the field.

The Super Stocks are one of the most competitive divisions that take to the 1/3^rd mile Bullring every Friday night. Bobby Lippa was crowned Champion over Brian Gordon, Brian Gleason, Mike Chenaille, Todd Stone, Brad Collings, Lexi Wilson and Jeremy Gray. The drivers all thanked their crews, sponsors and families for supporting them throughout the racing season.

The mighty Modifieds took the podium next with John Barber taking home the track championship. 2008 SST tour champion Joe Evans finished right behind Barber in the points chase followed by the veteran Dick Kluth, Steve Fuchs, Patrick Emerling, Mike Bliss, Greg Utberg, Dan Hoag, Ed Schueler and Don King. Out of the one sentence answers that the drivers were giving to track announcer Steven Petty were some of the better answers of the evening. For example, “7^th sucks less than 10^th”, “I think I got sided tracked this year” to “4^th doesn’t suck as much as the rest” to “I’ve got to thank my wife. Jody said I wouldn’t say that”.

There were many special awards that were presented included the Most Improved Driver award and that went to Austyn Fugle (4 Cylinder), Mike Chenaille (Super Stock) and Steve Fuchs (SST Modified). The Hard Luck award went to Brad Collings (Super Stock) and Joe Evans (SST Modified). The Hard Charger award was presented to James Binder (Mini Cup), Eric Hastreiter (4 Cylinder), Brian Gleason (Super Stock) and Joe Evans (SST Modified).

The Best Appearing Cars for the 2009 season were Eric Hastreiter (4 Cylinders), Kennedy White (Mini Cups), Brad Collings (Super Stock) and John Barber (SST Modified).  The Lady in Racing award was presented to Cassie Logsdon of the 4 Cylinder division. Cassie also ran in the Super Stocks as well and she will be running full time in a Super Stock for 2010.

There were three special awards that were presented and one of them went to Infield Director Mike Adamczak. The percervience award went to Brian Gordon and for the family effort; the Kluth family was honored for all what they do for the sport.

The Sonny Grimes Sportsmanship Award is in honor of Sonny Grimes, a former starter at WCIS who passed away. In his memory, the award was presented this year to Greg Utberg of the SST Modifieds. Entering the WCIS Hall of fame for the class of 2009 is Jim Roberts. Jim was the welder at the speedway from day number one back in 1998. He started building microds in 1949-1950 and from there the racing grew from running a B-Mod in the mid 60’s to running a Super Modified at Oswego Speedway in 1966. His three sons, Donny, Ronnie and Billy were all racers in their own right and now they carry on the tradition to help the racers in whatever way they know how. Jim Roberts passed away during the summer of 2009 and his family accepted the award with a standing ovation from the crowd.

The SST racing series was presented with their awards and 2009 WCIS Super Stock Champ Bobby Lippa Jr taking top honors for the SST Super Stock tour.  Bobby was followed by Jay Mudra and fellow WCIS campaigner Todd Stone with Robert Fink, Pete Pieczynski, Brittany Jack, Bill Semmler, Brian Gleason, Brian Gordon and Cassie Logsdon completing the top 10 for the Supers.

Amy Catalano was crowned SST Modified Tour Champion in 2009. Amy also took top honors at the Spencer Speedway in the Sportsman-Modified division. Her son Tommy accepted the award on her behalf as well as receiving the Mechanic of the Year award for his father and Amy’s husband Dave Catalano. Andy Jankowiak was the runner up this year in the final standings. Andy was also the runner up in points at his home track, Dunn Tire Raceway Park over track champ Billy Burd. Veteran Dick Kluth was third in points with Joe Evans and Jon Price completing the top five in points.

The SST Series would like to thank their sponsors and tracks that support the series, Dunn Tire Raceway Park, Holland NASCAR Motorsports Complex, Oswego Speedway, Spencer Speedway and Wyoming County International Speedway.

For more information on Wyoming County International Speedway or the SST Racing Series, log on to www.wyomingcountyinternationalspeedway.com or www.sstracingseries.com

Oswego Drops First of Weekend Double vs #4 RIT

The Oswego State Lakers Women's Ice Hockey team played very well in their ECAC-West contest against the host RIT Tigers tonight at the Ritter Arena. The Lakers fell to5-7-0 on the season while the host Tigers move to 9-2-3 with the victory on home ice. 

RIT got on the board in the second period as Melissa Hall scored her 7th on the season at the 17:26 mark. The goal by Hall was the offense that Amy Torgerson needed as she stopped all eight shots that the Lakers put on net in the contest. The Tigers would score on a empty net goal by Shireen Irani. For Irani, that was her third on the season with the lone assist going to Kylie Mazzetta.

Emi Williams (pictured)  was outstanding in net for the Lakers as she stopped 49 of the 51 shots RIT put on the net. Williams falls to 5-5-0 on the season while Torgerson moves to 5-0-2 for the number four ranked Tigers, that according to the last USCHO D-III Womens poll. For her performance tonight, Williams was honored as the first star of the game. Other stars of the game included Melissa Hall and Kristina Moss, both of RIT. Both powerplays struggled in the contest as the Lakers went 0-10 as RIT, who came in with the best powerplay in D-III Womens hockey ended up 0-11. 

RIT leads the all-time series between the two schools, 15-6-0. Last season, RIT defeated the Lakers, 9-2 and 5-0 in their two meetings at the Campus Center Ice Arena. The same two teams will get together on Saturday night for a 7:00 pm faceoff from the Ritter Arena at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

The Box Score of the game can be found HERE

Batavia Muckdogs Have 2010 Schedule Set

One of the oldest teams in the New York Penn League announced their 2010 schedule to the public. The Batavia Muckdogs will open their 2010 campaign on Friday June 18th when the Dogs head down Route 5 to Falcon Park to be entertained by their long time rival Auburn Doubledays. The following night, the same two teams will hook up for Batavia's home opener at 7:05 pm from historic Dwyer Stadium.
After that game, the Single -A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals will play their next six games away from Batavia as they head off to Auburn, State College and Mahoning Valley.

The Muckdogs will also be hosting Hudson Valley, Oneonta, Jamestown, Lowell, Williamsport and Aberdeen during the season. The 'Dogs will be visiting Staten Island to take on the Yankees, Brooklyn, Vermont, Tri City plus stops in Jamestown against the Jammers and Williamsport to take on the Crosscutters.

For more information, you can call the Muckdogs front office at (585) 343-5454 or visit them online at www.muckdogs.com

For a complete 2010 Batavia Muckdogs Schedule... CLICK HERE   
        *just a note that the schedule is in PDF format

Knighthawks Try for Two with Win Saturday in Buffalo

The Rochester Knighthawks (1-0) will complete the tail end of a home-and-home series with the Buffalo Bandits (0-1) on Saturday, January 16th. The 7:30 p.m. contest at HSBC Arena will be broadcast live on The Zone 94.1 FM and thezone941.com. Fans can also watch the game live on the NLL Network. Rochester is attempting to open a season 2-0 for the first time since 2000. The Knighthawks opened their 16th season on January 9th with a 10-5 victory over the Bandits as John Grant Jr. and Gary Gait combined for 13 points (5+8) in their first pro game together.

Grant, who missed the entire 2009 season, led the way with two goals and six assists. He now stands just four goals away from reaching the 400-goal plateau. Gait chipped in three goals and two assists. Goalie Pat O’Toole was also stellar in goal making 42 saves and holding Buffalo to one second-half goal. Rochester was also deadly on the power play, going 5-for-9

Buffalo was led by a three-point (1+2) effort from Mark Steenhuis. Buffalo was limited to just five goals without the presence of the league’s all-time leading scorer, John Tavares, who was scratched Saturday night. Goalie Ken Montour stopped 46 Rochester shots in the loss. Rochester now leads the all-time series with a mark of 23-14.The game is the second of three this season between the two teams.

New Knighthawks debut: First-overall pick Sid Smith, Kevin Fines, Aaron Bold all suited up for the first time for the Knighthawks.
Closing in on history: Pat O’Toole (6,135) is just 222 saves away from breaking Dallas Eliuk’s league record of 6,356.

Buffalo Notes: Buffalo opens the season with three of their first four games on the road. The lone home game is on Saturday, January 16th against Rochester. Forward Roger Vyse had one goal and one assist against the K-Hawks to give him 16 goals and six assists against Rochester in the last six games. Steenhuis also recorded three points on one goal and two assists, which marked the third straight game Rochester has limited him to one goal and two assists. Second-round draft picks Chris Corbeil and Steve Priolo made their NLL debuts last Saturday. Head Coach Darris Kilgour is still four wins shy of passing legendary Head Coach Les Bartley for the all-time record for wins (93).
 
Next Game: Rochester remains on the road for the second of three straight road games as they travel to meet Colin Doyle and the Toronto Rock at 7:00 p.m. at the Air Canada Centre. The contest will be broadcast live on The Zone 94.1 FM and thezone941.com. Fans can also watch the game live on NLL Network.

The following was provided by the Rochester Knighthawks Media Relations Office 

Oswego Unanimously Number One in Latest USCHO Poll

The Oswego State Lakers recieved all 20 votes by the USCHO voters in the latest USCHO D-III Men's Ice Hockey polls that were released on Monday. The Lakers are coming off of a 5-2 win over Adrian last Friday night at the Campus Center Ice Arena.

Arch-rival Plattsburgh has tumbled from the number two spot to number four. The Cardinals suffered a 4-1 defeat at the hands of Norwich on Jan. 5 before skating to a 1-1 tie at Elmira on Jan. 9. Norwich , the nation's last unbeaten team is now ranked second, 25 points behind the Lakers. St. Norbert is third while St. Scholastica is fifth. Rounding out the top 10 is Elmira, Middleberry, Hamline, Amherst and Williams.
  

Knighthawks Defeat Rival Bandits 10-5 on Opening Night

The Rochester Knighthawks were led by two figures that are mainstays in the game of indoor lacrosse, John Grant Jr (pictured left) and Gary Gait (pictured lower right)  as they led the Knighthawks to a 10-5 victory over their long time rival Buffalo Bandits tonight at the Blue Cross Arena. In their first pro game together as teammates, Grant and Gait combined for five goals and five assists to lead the Knighthawks offensive attack against a strong Bandits team in which their Hall of Famer John Tavares was not in the lineup due to a lower body injury.

Rochester got the game going with the first three goals in the contest coming off of the sticks of Gait, Shawn Evans and Grant. Then Buffalo would sneak their way back into the contest with goals from Roger Vyse and Mark Steenhuis. Then in the second quarter, Buffalo would tie the game at 3-3 with the shot from former Knighthawk Mike Accursi that beat Pat O'Toole. Then the Bandits would get their first and only lead of the game with AJ Shannon beating O'Toole. Then the Hawks would tie the game with Gait scoring his second of the contest. Then the Rochester offense got going with Grant netting his second and then Gait getting his hat trick goal to make the score 6-4 and then former Bandit Cory Bomberry would make the score 7-4 in favor of the home squad at halftime.

Then in the second half, Buffalo would cut the lead to 7-5 on a Tom Montour goal. But that would be as close as the Bandits would get on this evening as Craig Point, Shawn Williams and Bomberry would score to make it a 10-5 Rochester final infront of the announced crowd of 8191. The Knighthawks would out shoot their Thruway rival 56-47 in the game.

The same two teams will go at it two more times this season including next Saturday night as the Bandits will try to revenge their opening night loss with a win for their home opener. HSBC Arena was not kind to Rochester last season as the Bandits would beat the Hawks 23-6 and 13-9 in their two meetings in Downtown Buffalo. The next time these two hook up on the shores of the Genesee River will be on Saturday March 27th with the faceoff being at 7:35 pm.

Colorado Ends Buffalo's 6 Game Win Streak

Matt Hendricks (pictured) scored the deciding goal in the 11th round of the shootout, rookie Matt Duchene scored twice in regulation, and the Colorado Avalanche snapped Buffalo's six-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory over the Sabres on Saturday night. The struggling Avalanche blew a two-goal lead in the final 20 minutes before Hendricks beat Sabres backup goalie Patrick Lalime with a nifty move to give Colorado (25-15-6) just its second victory in the last five games.

After three shooters on each team had scored, Hendricks faked a wrist shot in the slot before going to his backhand to slide the puck in. The move worked out better than it had earlier in the year when Hendricks ultimately fell into Chicago goalie Cristobal Huet after the fake. "I had a little too much speed the last time," said Hendricks, who also had an assist on Duchene's first goal. "Tonight it worked, and we got the win. That's the most important thing."

Duchene also scored in the shootout, fellow rookie Brandon Yip, playing in just his 10th NHL game, tallied for the fifth time and added an assist, and Craig Anderson made 32 saves for the Avalanche, who snapped a two-game losing streak. Colorado has yet to lose three straight this season. "It says a lot about the character of our team," the 18-year-old Duchene said. "We never got down, and it was a good effort by us."
Anderson was able to stop Buffalo defenseman Henrik Tallinder right before Hendricks' tally.
"They've got a great offensive team, a lot of firepower, and got momentum," Anderson said. "We did a good job of just sticking it out, and didn't panic."

Buffalo (28-11-5), looking to earn its longest win streak since opening the 2006-07 season with an NHL-record 10 consecutive victories, got goals from Drew Stafford, Thomas Vanek and Jochen Hecht 
Stafford added an assist, and Lalime made 27 saves in the loss.
Down 3-1 after 40 minutes, the Sabres beat Anderson twice on 15 third-period shots, with Hecht sending the game into overtime when his wrist shot got through from the right point with 4:12 left in regulation.
"We battled hard, and came out flying in the third," said Lalime, who was in search of his 200th career NHL goal. "That's the way we should play all the time. We had a lot of great chances, but we just didn't close the deal." Colorado played without captain Adam Foote, who returned to Denver after injuring his ankle during the second period in Friday's loss to Carolina. Head coach Joe Sacco said that Foote's injury was not as bad as originally thought, and is hoping the defenseman is back skating in a few days.

Duchene opened the scoring 7:35 into the game with a splendid individual effort. After stealing the puck from Tallinder in the right circle, Duchene fed Hendricks in the slot, then received a return pass before flipping the puck over Lalime. Duchene notched his second of the game, and 13th of the year, with 6:32 left in the first period, jamming home a loose puck in the crease. Stafford made it 2-1 with a power-play goal with 2:55 remaining in the second period, but Yip gave Colorado its two-goal lead back 62 seconds later when his wrist shot from the right circle eluded Lalime. Vanek scored midway through the third period to cut the deficit to 3-2. Then Jochen Hecht tied the game with less than five minutes remaining to send the game into Overtime.  "It's always a good point when you battle back," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "If you have energy in the third, you should have energy in the first. I wasn't happy with the first period, but we responded well for some of the things we did poorly early in the game."

NOTES: The 11 shootout rounds tied for the most in the NHL this season, and the seven combined goals scored in the shootout tied a league record, done on 10 other occasions. ... Avalanche defenseman John-Michael Liles returned after missing one game because of flu-like symptoms. ... The Sabres open a season-long seven-game road trip on Thursday in Atlanta. ... Buffalo is 7-0-3 at home since Dec. 9. ... No Avalanche player has recorded a hat trick since Milan Hejduk scored three times against St. Louis in December 2007. ... Tim Connolly extended his career-high points streak to nine games with an assist on Hecht's goal.

From the Associated Press 

Knighthawks Take Flight in 2010 Season Opener

The Rochester Knighthawks open their 16th season against a longtime rival, the Buffalo Bandits, in an 8:05 p.m. East Division showdown at The Blue Cross Arena tonight. The game will be broadcast live on The Zone 94.1 FM and thezone941.com. After the game, the Knighthawks will hold a full-team autograph session on the turf. The first 5,000 will receive a magnetic schedule. The Knighthawks will also debut the Labatt Commemorative Cup series. Fans will receive a Pat O’Toole cup with the purchase of a 16-ounce Labatt Blue or Blue Light draft at The Blue Cross Arena.

Rochester leads the all-time series with their Thruway rivals with a mark of 22-14, including a 14-5 record at home. The game is the first of three games against the Bandits this season. Rochester travels to Buffalo on Saturday, January 16th and the Bandits make a return trip to Rochester on Saturday, March 27th.

The Knighthawks enter the season after earning their 14th postseason berth in 15 seasons in 2009. Rochester finished with a 7-9 record and fell one-goal short of advancing to the East Division Finals. The 2010 version of the Knighthawks has undergone some changes, as 10 different players are on the roster compared to opening night one year ago. The two biggest “additions” are John Grant and Scott Evans, who both missed 2009 with injuries. The duo combined for 91 goals and 180 points in 2008. Goaltender Pat O’Toole also starts the season on the active roster after missing the first three games last season with an injury. Key additions also include Cory Bomberry, Sid Smith, Andrew Potter, Peter Jacobs, Scott Ditzell, Kevin Fines and Aaron Bold. The game will mark the first time that John Grant, who is sixth in NLL history in points, and Gary Gait, who is second all-time, will play for the same professional team.

Rochester is 7-8 on opening night and 7-8 in home openers. The Knighthawks are also looking for their first home-opening victory since they defeated Toronto 10-6 on January 13, 2007. In goal, Pat O’Toole returns for his 16th season of professional lacrosse and 12th as a member of the Knighthawks. He is second in league history in saves (6,093) and is just 264 away from breaking Dallas Eliuk’s league record of 6,356.
Penfield native and McQuaid Jesuit High School product Chris Schiller will play defensive midfielder for Team USA at the 2010 International Lacrosse World Championships in July in Manchester, England.
Knighthawks forward John Grant was voted the favorite local athlete in the Democrat and Chronicle’s first Holiday Sports Poll. Fan favorite Scott Evans signed a five-year contract extension this week. Evans, 28, enters his sixth season with the Knighthawks and returns after suffering a season-ending injury in training camp in 2009. The former first-round pick had a career-high 44 goals and earned an NLL All-Star Game selection the season before his injury.

The Bandits enter the game after finishing second in the East Division (10-6) last season and advancing to the divisional finals. Buffalo won the Champion’s Cup back in 2008. Buffalo is led by the league’s all-time scoring leader, John Tavares, who enters his 19th season with 671 goals, 749 assists and 1,420 points. Buffalo also locked up forward Mark Steenhuis for another five seasons after he finished fourth in the NLL with 101 points (51+50) last season. Tavares and Steenhuis finished tied for the league-lead with 51 goals apiece as Buffalo recorded a league-best 223 goals. In goal, Ken Montour, the 2009 NLL Goaltender of the Year, is coming off a career season that saw him post an NLL leading 9.57 goals-against average and .813 save percentage. Head Coach Darris Kilgour begins 2010 just four wins shy of passing legendary Head Coach Les Bartley for the all-time record for wins (93). Defenseman Chris White was named the team captain of the Bandits and will begin his full-time duties as he plays in his 100th professional game tonight.

Rochester hits the road for a three-game road trip that makes stops in Buffalo, Toronto and Orlando. The first road game is set for Saturday, January 16th at 7:30 p.m. at HSBC Arena. The game will be broadcast live on The Zone 94.1 FM and thezone941.com. Fans can also watch the game live on the NLL Network on NLL.com. Rochester’s next home game is Saturday, January 30th against the Toronto Rock at 8:05 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on The Zone 94.1 FM and thezone941.com. Fans can meet their favorite Star Wars characters, purchase lightsabers and get autographs on Star Wars Night. All the proceeds raised will go to charity.

From Knighthawks.net