Neil Musselwhite is Heading to the Motor City

Oswego State senior men’s ice hockey player Neil Musselwhite of Burlington, Ontario has been selected as one of six players to represent the men’s East squad in the fifth annual NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge on April 9 at Ford Field in Detroit. The competition will be conducted in an East versus West format with each team having six male position players, six female position players, two male goaltenders and two female goaltenders as part of the festivites at the 2010 NCAA Division I Men's Hockey Frozen Four. Musselwhite, who was the only Division III men’s hockey player to be named to the East and West final roster, will compete in the fastest skater challenge.

Musselwhite has been known around the league for his speed during his four-year career at Oswego State, but made a national splash on December 4 when he tallied three short-handed goals in a span of 2:59 against Brockport. He is believed to be just the third player in college hockey history to achieve a natural short-handed hat trick. Musselwhite is currently second on the squad with 18 goals and leads all NCAA Divisions with six short-handed goals. Musselwhite was speechless when told the news at practice on Wednesday, but would like to thank all of the Oswego State fans who voted for him over a two-week period as selection to the team was partially based on those fan votes.

Other members of the men’s East squad include Sean Backman, Yale; Bobby Butler, New Hampshire; Owen Meyer, Army; Ben Smith, Boston College and Brandon Wong, Quinnipiac. The two goalies are: Jared DeMichiel, RIT and Ben Scrivens, Cornell.

The No. 2-Lakers will host No. 6-Bowdoin in the NCAA Division III Men’s Hockey Quarterfinals on Saturday, March 13 at 7 p.m. at the Campus Center Arena in Oswego. Tickets are available for the contest and may be purchased by calling 315-312-3073.

Courtesy of Oswego State Sports Information Department 

Oswego Men Dominate SUNYAC Post-Season Awards

The State University of New York Athletic Conference released its 2009-10 Post-Season Men’s Ice Hockey awards on Wednesday and Oswego State garnered the majority of the awards. Sophomore forward Eric Selleck (pictured)  was named the Herb Hammond Most Valuable Player, freshman forward Jon Whitelaw was named Rookie of the Year, and Ed Gosek was selected as the Coach of the Year. Three players received First Team All-Conference recognition including junior forward Chris Laganiere, junior defenseman Stephen Mallaro, and Selleck, while senior forward Neil Musselwhite was named to the Second Team.


In addition, senior defenseman Tyler Lyon and senior goaltender Kyle Gunn-Taylor received honorable mention All-Conference honors.  After finishing the SUNYAC regular season with a record of 15-1-0, the Lakers, who are 23-2-0 overall, earned the top seed in the conference post-season tournament.
Eric Selleck, a native of Spencerville, Ontario, led the league in the majority of offensive categories including points (39), assists (25), goals (14), power play points (14).  He was tied for the league-lead in goals scored at 14.  Last year’s SUNYAC Rookie of the Year was named SUNYAC Player of the Week on November 9 and December 14.  Selleck is the second player in conference history to receive both SUNYAC MVP and Rookie of the Year honors following Oswego State’s Ryan Ellis and is the first to accomplish this in consecutive seasons. 

Chris Laganiere, an Owego, N.Y. native, led the conference with four game-winning goals and ranked second in the conference at 30 points.  He tied Selleck for a league-best 14 goals and was tied for first in power play goals at six.  Laganiere also ranked second in power play points at 11 and fourth in assists at 16.

Stephen Mallaro (right), a defenseman from Syracuse, N.Y., was fourth among conference defensemen in scoring with 11 points on four goals and seven assists.  He also posted three game-winning goals for Oswego State.

Assistant captain Neil Musselwhite led the conference with four short-handed goals and was tied for third in the league with 11 goals.  The Burlington, Ontario native was selected as the SUNYAC Player of the Week on December 7 and January 11.  He became the ninth player in NCAA history to tally a short-handed natural hat trick on December 4 against Brockport. 

Jon Whitelaw (right), a forward from Hunstville, Ontario, led all league rookies with 22 points on eight goals and 14 assists and was fourth among all players with nine power play points.  Whitelaw was named the SUNYAC Player of the Week on February 1 and was a three-time SUNYAC Rookie of the Week selection.  He is the ninth Laker to be selected as Rookie of the Year and the seventh since the 2000-01 season. 



Captain Tyler Lyon (left), who hails from Foxboro, Ontario, anchored a defense that allowed the fewest goals in the league at 1.75 goals per game, and helped set up the offense for the top-scoring squad in the SUNYAC at 5.44 goals per game.  Lyon, who started all 16 conference games this season, was also a key figure in the Laker penalty kill.

Kyle Gunn-Taylor, an honorable mention selection, registered a conference record of 11-1-0 and posted a 1.69 goals against average, which was second among SUNYAC goalies, and a .927 save percentage.  The West Seneca, N.Y. native was also chosen as the SUNYAC Goaltender of the Week three times during the season.

Head Coach Ed Gosek (left) was chosen as the SUNYAC Coach of the Year for the second time in his seven-year tenure. Gosek led Oswego State to its first No. 1 seed in the SUNYAC Post-Season Tournament since 2003 despite 15 newcomers on the team.  His squad finished the season atop every conference team statistical category including scoring offense (5.44 goals per game), scoring defense (1.75 goals per game), power play efficiency (28.1 percent), and penalty kill (86.8 percent).  Gosek was named Coach of the Year for the 2004-05 season.

The Lakers start post-season play on Saturday when they face Morrisville at 7 p.m. in the semifinal round of the SUNYAC Playoffs.The game will be broadcasted live on Time Warner Cable Sports, WTOP-10, and on the radio on WNYO-FM 88.9.

Courtesy of Oswego State Sports Information

The Grandmaster of Shorties Needs Your Help!!!

Oswego State senior men’s ice hockey player Neil Musselwhite (Burlington, Ont.) has been selected as one of 78 finalists to compete in the 2010 NCAA Frozen Four Skills Challenge at Ford Field in Detroit. To help determine the final 32 student-athletes who will participate in the skills challenge, the NCAA has incorporated a fan-voting element. Fan voting begins Monday, Feb. 1, on www.ncaa.com/frozenfourskillschallenge and will conclude at Noon Eastern time, Monday, Feb. 15. Fans may vote once day at this site by clicking on the “Men’s East” team.
Musselwhite is one of only three Division III men’s hockey players to be named among the finalists, and is the only Division III men’s hockey player from the East.  He ranks second on the squad with 16 goals and leads all NCAA Divisions with five short-handed goals this season.

The Frozen Four Skills Challenge will be held April 9 and will highlight the “Friday Night at the Frozen Four”. The night will also include the presentation of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, the Hockey Humanitarian Award and the announcement of the American Hockey Coaches Association All-American teams.

Oswego State returns to the ice on Friday night at 7:00 pm when they faceoff against the Cortland Red Dragons on Senior Night. The Lakers will honor the four seniors (Kyle Gunn-Taylor, Brad Dormeidy, Neil Musselwhite and Tyler Lyon) during the evening. Oswego recieved 19 out of 20 first place votes in the latest USCHO D-III Poll after sweeping Potsdam and Plattsburgh last weekend at the Campus Center. Norwich recieved the other first place vote and is second followed by St Norbert, St Scholastica and Plattsburgh, who dropped to 5th after the 3-2 loss at the hands of the Lakers. SUNYAC foe Fredonia recieved 11 votes in the latest polls that were released Monday afternoon.


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Story Courtesy of Oswego State Sports Information

Lakers Keep Winning Ways Going After a Wild 5-2 Win

The Oswego State Lakers knew that tonights matchup against the #9 Adrian Bulldogs at the Campus Center would be a tough test for the number one team in the nation. The Lakers jumped out to a 2-0 lead at the end of the first period and did not look back as they defeated the Bulldogs by the score of 5-2, powered by the second hat trick of the season and career of Neil Musselwhite. A crowd of 1748 braved the cold January night on the shores of Lake Ontario to see two of the top three offenses in D-III hockey go at it.

Oswego got the scoring started on a goal by Neil Musselwhite (pictured)  with Jon Whitelaw and Captain Tyler Lyon getting the assists on Musselwhite's 11th on the season. Whitelaw sent a cross ice pass right onto the stick of Musslewhite who was able to beat the Adrian netminder Brad Fogal. The very next shift, Paul Rodrigues was one and one with a Bulldog defenseman and slapped the puck past Fogal into the top left corner of the net for his fourth of the season and gave Oswego a 2-0 lead going into the first intermission. The Lakers outshot Adrian 13-7 after twenty minutes.

Then the Bulldogs came out like an entire different team in the middle frame which resulted in Mike Dahlinger beating Laker netminder Kyle Gunn-Taylor just past the halfway mark in the period to put Adrian on the board. For Dahlinger, it was his seventh on the year with Brad Houston and Sam Kuzyk getting the assists.
However, Oswego State regained its two-goal advantage late in the period when Musselwhite registered his second goal of the contest with 1:08 remaining.  Fogal misplayed the puck behind the net where senior Brad Dormiedywas waiting and then he set up Musselwhite for his second of the game and that gave the Lakers a 3-2 heading to the third period. 


The third period resulted in two more goals for Oswego and one more for Adrian. As the clock was expiring, the Bulldogs pulled Fogal for the extra attacker allowing Dahlinger to get a rebound past Gunn-Taylor to make it a one-goal contest at 3-2 with 1:43 remaining for his second on the night. Quinn Waller took the original shot that gave Dahlinger the rebound. Adrian kept Fogal off the ice, but the Lakers were able to clinch the victory in the final minute as Stephen Mallaro and Musselwhite registered empty-net goals eight seconds apart.

Neither club was effective on the power play despite numerous opportunities.  Oswego State went 1-for-7 with the extra skater, while the Lakers forced the Bulldogs’ top-ranked power-play unit to go 0-for-8.
In an extremely physical contest, the teams combined for 25 penalties and 77 penalty minutes.Kyle Gunn-Taylor made 28 saves to improve to  11-0-0 while Bulldog goalie Brad Fogal stopped 42 shots and fell to 10-3-0.Adrian now has lost three straight and Fogal was in net for all 13 games the Adrian has played this season while the Lakers are now 16-1-0 on the season. The Lakers return to SUNYAC play when they host the Buffalo State Bengals at the Campus Center on January 22, 2010 at 7:00 pm.

The complete boxscore is available here

Portions of this were provided by SUNY Oswego Sports Information Department
Picture was provided by SUNY Oswego Sports Information