Oswego is in WNY for a pair of SUNYAC Contests

The top ranked team in all of D-III Men's Ice Hockey makes a return to the ice tonight as the Oswego State Lakers make the trip to snowy Western New York for a showdown with the Buffalo State Bengals at the Buff State Ice Arena on Friday night. On Saturday, Oswego travels to Fredonia to take on the Blue Devils at Steele Hall.



The Oswego State Lakers are coming in as the top team in the land according to the latest USCHO D-III Poll. Oswego (15-2-0, 8-0-0)  is on a three game winning streak, including two shutouts by goalies Andrew Hare and Dan Jones. The Lakers potent offense is led by Junior transfer Ian Boots with 22 points (9 G 13 A), Sophomore Luke Moodie with 19 points (10 G 9 A) and Senior Justin Fox also with 19 points (8 G 11 A).

As already mentioned, the goaltenders for Ed Gosek's squad have been hot lately as they put back to back shutouts between the pipes. Dan Jones (3-1-0) comes into the weekend with a Goals Against Average (GAA) of 1.68 with a save percentage of .944 Andrew Hare picked up his first win as a Laker since transferring in from Niagara University and Hare (1-1-0) has a save percentage of .896 and GAA of 2.76 Starting goaltender Paul Beckwith (11-0-0) may or may not be ready to go this weekend as he is coming back from an injury. Beckwith has a GAA of 1.37 and has a save percentage of .949

The Buffalo State Bengals (8-7-2, 4-2-2) are coming in after a weekend sweep of Johnson and Wales last weekend. The Bengals are led offensively by Senior Nick Petriello with 21 points ( 7 G 14 A), Sophomore Trevor McKinney with 19 points (11 G 8 A) and Sophomore forward Justin Knee with 15 points (7 G 8 A). Between the pipes, Freshman Kevin Carr has had most of the load playing 16 games for the Bengals. Carr has a record of 7-7-2 and has a GAA of 2.66 and has a save percentage of .924

On Saturday, the Lakers will travel to Steele Hall in Fredonia to face off against the Fredonia Blue Devils. Fredonia (8-9-0, 3-5-0) is coming off a sweep of Franklin Pierce last weekend. The Blue Devils are led by Senior forward Jordon Oye with 30 points (13 G 17 A), Junior Brian Ross with 29 points (8 G 21 A) and Senior Alex Horton with 19 points (8 G 11 A). Fredonia's netminders include three Freshmen. One of the Freshmen is Hark Friesen who has played 11 games (5-6-0) in his first season in the Southern Tier. Friesen's GAA is 2.63 and has a save percentage of .917

Oswego's WNYO-FM 88.9 will have the play by play action of both games this weekend.

Notes: top picture left - Buff State Ice Arena, right - Steele Hall Ice Arena at Fredonia

"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.

From the Fanside of Steve Petty

This will be a first of many of what I call "From the Fanside". This will be a weekend review of the teams that I cover on the Steve Petty Sports site. Lets get right to it shall we?

First off...A great weekend for Oswego State Hockey as both the Women and Men came out and picked up wins against Buffalo State and Morrisville. The Women's hockey team defeated Buff State on Saturday by the score of 3-2. Team Captain Angie Friesen, sophomore Kelly Collins and fellow sophomore Jillian Bergeron scored the goals for the Lakers. On Saturday night ,the men took to the ice of the Campus Center and came out with a 8-1 win over SUNYAC foe Morrisville. Chris Laganiere scored a Hat Trick to lead the Lakers to thier 6th win on the season in SUNYAC play and a 8-1-0 record overall. Sunday afternoon, the women returned to action and competed the two game series sweep of the Buff State Bengals by the score of 3-0. Kendra Lemire and Kelly Collins scored the goals for the Lakers and Emi Williams had the shutout in net.

Off to Foxboro as the New England Patriots come back from losing to Indianapolis with a big 31-14 victory over their bitter rival, the New York Jets. Tom Brady was 28/41 for 310 yards and a touchdown for the Pats while Mark Sanchez was 8/21 for 136, one TD and four interceptions. Wes Welker had 192 yards recieving and Randy Moss caught a TD pass from Brady. The Pats are now 7-3 and have a two game lead over Miami in the AFC East Division while the Jets fall to 4-6. Next games for both teams: The Jets host Carolina while New England heads down to New Orleans to battle the 10-0 Saints on Monday Night Football.

Now lets "shuffle off to Buffalo" and discuss the losing weekend for Buffalo sports. The Bills, within a week of firing coach Dick Jauron, went to Jacksonville and was defeated by the Jags by the score of 18-15. Ryan Fitzpatrick played well and hooked up with T.O. for the longest play in Bills history for a 98 yard TD to give Buffalo the lead. However, the Jags came back and took the lead with less than a minute remaining in regulation. The next possession, Fitzpatrick threw a pick to secure the win for Jacksonville. The Bills host Miami on Sunday before heading North of the Border and the showdown with Mark Sanchez and the Jets at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The Sabres had a difficult weekend against two strong opponents in the Northeast Division. The Sabres dropped a 2-1 decision in OT to the visiting Boston Bruins on Friday night as Thomas Vanek scored the lone goal for Buffalo. The follwing night, the Sabres went off to Ottawa for a battle with the Senators and the Sens took care of business, defeating Buffalo 5-3. Next game for Buffalo will be on Wednesday night as they head down to our nations capital and take on the Washington Capitals. Next home game will be on Saturday as they take on Oswego native Erik Cole and the Carolina Hurricanes.

Down the road in Rochester, the Amerks came off of a Keaton Ellerby Hat Trick on Friday night as they defeated their Thruway rival Syracuse Crunch by the score of 5-2. Next game for the first place Amerks will be on Tuesday night as they take on the Hamilton Bulldogs at Copps Colliseum. Friday night, they return to the friendly confines of the Blue Cross Arena for a showdown with the Wilkes-Barre Penguins at 7:05.

Thats it for the first installment of the Fanside with Steve Petty. I hope you had fun enjoying the first of what will be many installments.

It's Hockey Night in Oswego

Today marks the first doubleheader hockey games of the season as both Oswego State teams take to the ice of the Campus Center Ice Arena.

Game Notes: Buffalo State @ Oswego 3:00 PM ECAC-West

Last Season, Oswego got 3 out of the possible 4 points as they tied 2-2 on November 21st and had a 1-0 victory the very next day. The goals for the 21st contest were scored by Kathryn Sbrocchi and Emily Grippin. The next day, Sarah Hannon scored the game winning goal in OT in the Lakers 1-0 victory over the Bengals. Erin Robson had a 26 save shutout that afternoon in Downtown Buffalo. The last time the Bengals and the Lakers got together on the shores of Lake Ontario was back in 2007-2008 as Buffalo State swept the Lakers at the Campus Center, putting the Lakers out of the ECAC-West Playoffs. The Lakers have not defeated the Bengals in Oswego since Oswego returned to the Women’s Hockey action

Oswego comes into this weekend’s action against the Bengals with a record of 2-3 with a 1-3 record in the ECAC-West Division. The Lakers started strong with a record of 2-0 entering the second game against Potsdam and the Lakers would lose that contest with the Bears by the score of 3-1. Then the losing skid continues as Oswego went to Neumann and was defeated by the Knights by the scores of 4-2 and 3-2 in OT respectfully.

Buffalo State comes into this weekend with a record of 2-3 with a record of 2-1 in the ECAC-West. The Bengals swept Cortland last weekend at the Buffalo State Ice Arena by the score of 3-2 both days.

Key Player Matchup: For Oswego State... Jenna Kirkwood (leads the team with 6 goals), Emily Grippin (1 goal and 4 assists), and Sarah Hannon (1 goal and 4 assists)

For the Buffalo State Bengals... Marissa McMullan (leads the team with 4 points – 2 goals and 2 assists), Lauren Mallo( 2 goals and 1 assist), and Christine Williams (2 goals and 1 assist)

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In the Pipes:  Oswego – Emi Williams (.921 save %, 2.38 GAA, with a record of 2-3 – Started in all 5 games for the Lakers to this point)

Buff State – Alyssa Koniar (.920 save %, 2.94 GAA with a record of 1-1), Jess Garland (.854 save %, 4.49 GAA with a record of 0-2) and Kelly Mendola (.867 save %, 2.00 GAA with a record of 1-0)

Game Notes: Morrisville @ Oswego 7:00 pm SUNYAC

Last Season the Oswego State Lakers and the Morrisville Mustangs had a series to remember, depending on what teams want to remember. Morrisville came into the Campus Center last November and came out of Oswego with a point in conference play as they skated with the number 3 ranked team in the nation at the time by the score of 5-5 with a goal with less than .3 seconds in regulation. Oswego returned the favor in the spring semester as the Lakers went to the Ice Plex and picked up two points in the 3-1 win against the Mustangs.

Oswego comes into tonights game with a record of 7-1 and a perfect 5-0 in SUNYAC play. The Lakers are also the second ranked team in all of the nation. Oswego came off last weekend with two victories over Cortland and Utica. Kyle Gunn-Taylor was in net for both games for Oswego as Paul Beckwith was out due to an illness.

Morrisville comes in being 5th in SUNYAC with a record of 2-3 after dropping 6-4 last night at the hands of the Red Dragons of Cortland.

Both contests will be live on 88.9 FM WNYO "The Voice of Oswego" with Countdown to Faceoff starting at 2:30 this afternoon for the Women's game and at 6:30 before the Men's game at 7:00 pm.