Oswego Has Up and Down Saturday on the Ice

Saturday was an up and down day on the ice for the Oswego State Lakers. The two hockey programs were on the ice at the same time, but one team was in Oswego and the other was about 82 miles down the road in Henrietta, NY.

The Oswego State Lakers Women's Hockey team traveled to the Frank Ritter Memorial Arena on the campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Lakers defeated the Tigers by the score of 2-1, handing RIT its first loss of the season. Mackenzie Lee and Olivia Boersen scored for the green and gold while Batavia native Katie Stack scored the lone talley for RIT.  Laker netminder Emi Williams was outstanding again as she made 46 saves for the win over the number one ranked team in the country for D-III Women's Ice Hockey. The women return to the ice on Tuesday February 22nd at 3:00 pm as they take on Castelton State at the Campus Center Ice Arena

While back in Oswego, the number one ranked team in the country for D-III Men's Hockey were set to take care of business against the "little ponies that could", Morrisville Mustangs. However, the Lakers were simply outworked Saturday night as they returned home for the first time in a month, dropping a 5-2 decision to Morrisville. Taylor Vince and Bobby Cass scored the first 2 goals of the game at the 5:45 and 12:03 marks of the 1st period, respectively. Paul Rodrigues would score late in the period to get Oswego on the board. Tyler Swan, who scored twice in the last head-to-head matchup back in November, made it 3-1 as he trickled one past Beckwith following a 5 minute penalty kill by Oswego for a Dan Bremner hit from behind.  Jamie Nelson made it 4-1 just 1:11 into the 3rd period and although Justin Fox scored his first goal in 2 months and the Lakers had several powerplay opportunities, Oswego could not rally. Jame Jarvis would add the Mustangs' 5th goal at 12:02. The Lakers are next in action Friday as they play host to the Brockport Golden Eagles.

Oswego Comes Back and Beats Morrisville; Meet Plattsburgh in SUNYAC Finals

Men's Ice Hockey Overcomes Early Deficit For 8-5 Win Over Morrisville; Faces Plattsburgh In SUNYAC ChampionshipThe No. 2 nationally ranked Oswego State men’s ice hockey team erased a three-goal deficit to come back for an 8-5 win over Morrisville in the SUNYAC Semifinals on Saturday night at the Campus Center Arena. The Lakers trailed 3-0 in the first ten minutes of the game, but charged back behind a hat trick from freshman Tyler Leimbrock and two goals from senior Neil Musselwhite. Oswego State, which improved to 24-2-0 overall, will face Plattsburgh in the SUNYAC Championship game on Saturday, March 6 at 7 p.m. in Oswego. The Mustangs finished the season at 9-17-0.

Morrisville put up the game’s first goal after a rare Oswego State turnover in the defensive zone resulted in Chris Cerbino (Fr., Highland, N.Y.) flipping a backhand above Laker goaltender Kyle Gunn-Taylor (Sr., West Seneca, N.Y.) at 7:50.  Minutes later, Oswego State caught Morrisville in a line change creating a 4-on-1 rush, but Mustang goalie Caylin Relkoff (Jr., Grand Forks, B.C.) made two saves to keep the Lakers off of the board.  The Mustangs charged the other way, as Gunn-Taylor stopped Dave Shultz’s (Jr., Trucksville, Pa.) shot, but Geoff Matzel (So., Chittenango, N.Y.) was there to cleanup the rebound to put Morrisville ahead 2-0 at 8:47 in the first period.

The Mustangs kept their momentum going after a Laker tripping penalty near the midway point of the frame.  Morrisville’s Andrew Alarie (Sr., Carlisle, Ont.) won the ensuing face-off, feeding the puck back to Bobby Cass, who snuck a shot through traffic and into the back of the net.  The goal resulted in Coach Ed Gosek making a goaltending switch replacing Gunn-Taylor with Paul Beckwith (So., Cleveland, Ohio).

Oswego State got on the scoreboard at 12:53 when Tyler Leimbrock (Fr., Bolton, Ont.) was in position to pound home the rebound after a Neil Musselwhite (Sr., Burlington, Ont.) shot.  Brad Dormiedy (Sr., Ajax, Ont.) also earned an assist on the play.  The Lakers cut the deficit in half minutes later when Dormiedy played the puck from behind the net to Musselwhite, who was sitting in front of the crease, for the tap-in goal to make the score 3-2 at the first intermission.

Morrisville regained its two-goal advantage at 1:02 in the second when Johnathan Cristini (So., Mississauga, Ont.) picked up the puck in neutral territory.  He broke free of the Oswego State defense for an uncontested shot to make the score 4-2 in favor of Morrisville.  The Lakers responded quickly, though, when Tyler Leimbrock netted his second goal of the game at 3:18 when his slap shot from the slot went over Relkoff’s glove into the top left corner of the net.  Leimbrock completed the hat trick at the end of the frame when he deflected in a blast by Kevin Huinink (Jr., Whitby, Ont.) from the left point to send the teams into the locker room knotted at 4-4.
The Mustangs started the third period with a skater-advantage, but Neil Musselwhite beat two Morrisville defenders to the puck after causing the turnover for the breakaway.  His shot got past Relkoff giving Oswego State its first lead of the game 27 seconds into the stanza for his sixth short-handed goal of the season. 

Jon Whitelaw (Fr., Huntsville, Ont.) gave the Lakers a 6-4 edge when Relkoff came out of the crease to play the puck.  Whitelaw caused enough of a disruption to get control of the puck for the empty-net goal forcing Morrisville to call timeout with 8:27 left in the game. 

Oswego State later capitalized on its eighth power-play chance of the game when Eric Selleck (So., Spencerville, Ont.) posted his 21st goal of the season after receiving a feed from Justin Fox (Jr., Whitby, Ont.) and Chris Laganiere (Jr., Owego, N.Y.) to go ahead 7-4.  However, Morrisville was not done as Tom Longland (So., Dunnville, Ont.) posted his sixth goal of year with three minutes remaining.  Huinink sealed victory for the Lakers when he scored an empty-net, short-handed goal at 19:00.

Oswego State’s Paul Beckwith earned his eighth win of the season by making 16 saves in the final 50:17 of the game.  Caylin Relkoff stopped 32 of the 39 shots he faced.  Both teams struggled on the power play as the Lakers went 1-for-8 and the Mustangs went 1-for-5 and allowed two short-handed goals.

Tickets for the SUNYAC championship game will be available for SUNY Oswego students and current season ticket holders on Monday, Mar. 1 at the Campus Center Box Office. Season ticket holders and students will receive ticket priority through the end of the day on Tuesday, Mar. 2, while tickets will be made available to the general public on Wednesday, Mar. 3.

Ticket prices are $8 for adults and $3 for SUNY Oswego students with college ID.  Students that purchase tickets in advance will be entered into a drawing for three pairs of all-session passes at the NCAA Division III Men’s Ice Hockey Championships in Lake Placid on March 19-20.  Students must be present to win and have SUNY Oswego ID to claim the prize. The Campus Center Box Office hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and may be reached at (315) 312-3073.

Box Score

Story and Pictures Courtesy of Oswego State Sports Information  

SUNYAC Semi-Finals Preview

This weekend two teams will emerge and then play for the SUNYAC Championship next weekend. However, all four teams should not think that far and worry about their upcoming opponents this weekend. To no one's suprise the top two teams in the conference are Oswego and Plattsburgh. However, their two opponents are somewhat of a suprise.

The top seed Oswego State Lakers will host the Morrisville Mustangs on Saturday night at 7:00 pm from the Campus Center Ice Arena. Oswego (23-2-0) was one game away from sweeping the entire SUNYAC Conference this season until dropping a 3-1 decision at the Ira S Wilson Rink in Geneseo against the Ice Knights on the last day of the regular season. Oswego is also coming into this contest being the number 2 ranked team in the nation, according to the latest USCHO D-III Polls.  Morrisville is coming in to ths game with the Lakers with a overall record of 9-16-0 and they are here after defeating the Fredonia Blue Devils 3-2 in Overtime on Tuesday evening during the play in game. Just three days prior to that, Fredonia lit up the Mustangs 7-1.  Oswego swept the regular season against the Mustangs, beating them 8-1 in Oswego back on November 21st and 5-3 on February 13th at the Ice Plex in Morrisville. Oswego is led offensively by their top line of Eric Selleck, Chris Laganiere and Justin Fox. Selleck, hit the 50 point plateau while Laganiere and Fox both have 42 points respectfully. The Lakers are solid in net with both Kyle Gunn-Taylor (16-1-0, 1.78 GAA and .924 save %) and Paul Beckwith (7-1-0, 1.85 GAA, .931%) performing well. Morrisville is led offensively by juniors Rob Sgarbossa, Andrew Alarie and Bobby Cass. Sgarbossa only has 21 points, thats half the points that both Laganiere and Fox has for Oswego. Look for Morrisville to come out all hyped up after beating Fredonia and look for Oswego to put the pressure on Mustang netminder Caylin Relkoff  (9-13-0, 4.05 GAA and .890 save%) early and often and therefore the Lakers will host the SUNYAC Championship game on the shores of Lake Ontario. 

The second ranked Plattsburgh Cardinals are set to host the Brockport Golden Eagles Saturday Night at the Stafford Ice Arena. The Cards, (17-4-4) are looking to find their way back into the SUNYAC Championship and try to defend their title. Plattsburgh is coming into this showdown ranked forth in the nation according to the USCHO D-III Polls. The Brockport Golden Eagles (14-11-1) are coming to Plattsburgh after shutting out the Potsdam Bears 3-0 in their Play in Game on Tuesday night. Plattsburgh, like Oswego swept their opponent during the regular season, defeating the Golden Eagles 4-1 at Stafford and then 7-1 in Brockport. The Cardinals are led offensively by Juniors Dylan Clarke ( 7 G, 17 A for 24 points) and Eric Satim (10 G, 13 A for 23 points).  Brockport is led by Sophomore James Cody (13 G-14 A- 27 P) and Junior Ray Tremblay (6 G- 19 A- 25 P). The battle will be in net as Brockport's Todd Sheridan is coming in with a 11-10-1 record, 3.02 GAA and a .913 save %. Plattsburgh's two  Freshmen netminders, Ryan Williams (10-1-1, 1.89 GAA, .917 save %) and Josh Leis (7-3-3, 1.63 GAA and .933 save %) have performed well for Bob Emery after the early departure of former netminder Bryan Hince. Look for Brockport to come out and skate well with the Cardinals but as the game goes on, Plattsburgh's pressure on Sheridan will take over and look for the Cardinals to play for the SUNYAC Championship next weekend.

Here are the scenarios for the right to play in the SUNYAC Championship
If Oswego wins - they will host the SUNYAC Championships
If Plattsburgh Wins - Either host the Championship game (with Oswego loss) or they will travel to Oswego
If Brockport Wins - Travel to Oswego or host Morrisville for the Championship
If Morrisville Wins - Travel to either Brockport or Plattsburgh

Media Coverage of SUNYAC Semi-Finals 
For those who cannot attend the game in Oswego... Time Warner Cable Sports will broadcast the game live as well as WTOP-10 and locall access channel 96. They are also webstreaming the game live courtesy of Oswego State Sports Information with WTOP personnel providing commentary for WTOP and the webstream. A live radio broadcast will provided by WNYO (88.9 FM) and is available at www.wnyo.org, as well as live stats, which can be accessed at www.sidearmstats.com/oswego/mhockey.

As for the Plattsburgh game, long time play by play announcer Ducky Drake will broadcast the match up with Brockport on WIRY radio in Plattsburgh. Live stats is also available by CLICKING HERE. For the Brockport fans, 89.1 The Point will cover the game on the radio dials with Live Stats doing that game as well as Fast Hockey.com providing video.  

Lakers Continue Winning Ways With Blowout of Morrisville

The Oswego State Lakers contined their winning ways last night infront of 2600 + at the Campus Center Ice Arena as Oswego punnished SUNYAC foe Morrisville 8-1. The win gives Oswego their eighth victory of the season and also gives the Lakers a perfect 6-0 in SUNYAC play to this point in the season.

Morrisville (3-5-0, 2-4-0 in SUNYAC) got the scoring started 12 minutes into the opening period as Dana Calderone scored his second of the season with the assist going to Andrew Alarie. Morrisville outworked, outplayed and out husseled Oswego during the first twenty minutes, outshooting the Lakers 8-7 in the first.                                                       

A tale of two periods occured in the second as the Lakers got their legs moving and that got the offense going as it didnt

even take two minutes into the second as rookie Tyler Leimbrock scored his second of the year with the assists going to Alternate Captains Brad Dormeidy and Neil Musselwhite. Then Oswego gained the lead as Owego, NY native Chris Laganiere scored his seventh of the year with linemates Justin Fox and Eric Selleck getting the assists. Three minutes later, the Lakers would grab a 3-1 lead on the Power Play with a goal scored by Jon Whitelaw with Stephen Mallaro and Laganiere getting the helpers. The scoring didnt stop in the middle frame as Oswego tacked on one more before the end of the period Luke Moodie scored his third on the year with Paul Rodrigues getting the lone assist at 17:22. Oswego outshot the Mustangs of Morrisville 16-4 in the second period and 23-12 after 40 minutes.

The third period started the same way the second ended as Captain Tyler Lyon scored just 19 seconds in with Musslewhite and Dormeidy getting their second helpers on the night. Then the game would become the Chris Laganiere show as Laganiere would score his eighth  of the season with Fox and Whitelaw getting the assists at 6:27. Then Laganiere would get the hat trick just three minutes later on the power play for his second consecuative PPG with linemates Fox and Selleck getting the assists. Then Eric Selleck would cap the scoring for Oswego as he would strip the puck at center ice and head in on a breakaway and would beat goaltender Mike Will at 13:12. The line of Laganiere, Selleck, and Fox finished the night with 10 points on four goals and six assists. Final shots were 36-23 in favor of the second ranked Oswego State Lakers.

Laker netminder Kyle Gunn-Taylor improved to 5-0-0 on the season as he stopped 22 shots and allowed one goal. Morrisville goaltender Caylin Relkoff made 25 saves on 32 shots before Mike Will came into the game to record three saves and allow one goal. Oswego returns to the ice on December 4th as they take on SUNYAC opponent Brockport and then the following night, the Geneseo Ice Knights come into the Campus Center and challenge the Lakers. Face-off for both nights will be at 7:00 pm. You can listen to the games live on WNYO 88.9 FM Oswego or you can watch the game on WTOP-TV 10 on campus or Cable Access 96. You can also follow the game with live stats live on the Oswego State Athletics Page.

Top Photo: Courtesy of Oswego State Athletic Dept.

Bottom Photo: Courtesy of Jared Crast

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.