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.  

Home Sweet Home: Oswego is Perfect on Home Ice

The Oswego State Lakers defeated the Cortland Red Dragons 5-2 tonight at the Campus Center Ice Arena. With the win, it was the 20th straight victory for Oswego State and gives them a perfect record on home ice this season. Also with the win, Oswego is just one point away from clinching the number one seed in SUNYAC and will have home ice advantage throughout the SUNYAC playoffs. Oswego now has a record of 21-1-0 and Cortland falls to 7-15-0.

The Lakers got on the scoreboard first as Paul Rodrigues deflected the Tyler Lyon shot on the powerplay at the 5:24 mark in the first period for a 1-0 lead in favor of the home team. Luke Moodie added an assist on Rodrigues's 5th goal on the season. Then Oswego would bump the lead to 2-0 four minutes later as Chris Laganiere scored on the powerplay with linemates Eric Selleck and Justin Fox getting the helpers. For Laganiere, it was his 15th goal on the season.

Oswego would add to their lead as Selleck would score his 18th on the year from Fox just 3:27 into the middle frame. Then the lead would grow to 4-0 right at the end of the period as Moodie would put the puck in the net with Neil Musselwhite and Lyon getting the assists. Then in the third, Cortland would get a even strength goal from Jake Saville with Joey Christiano and Dave Williams getting the assists a minute into the final frame. Then Luke Moodie would get his second on the night a minute later to give the Lakers their second four-goal lead at 5-1. Then Chris Kaleta would beat Laker netminder Paul Beckwith at 13:09 to cut the lead to three. Beckwith came in after the referees gave starting goaltender Kyle Gunn-Taylor a game misconduct. Kaleta is the brother of Buffalo Sabres forward Patrick Kaleta.

Oswego out shot Cortland 37-30 in the contest with Gunn-Taylor and Beckwith stopping 28 out of the 30 shots they faced combined. With the win, Gunn-Taylor now has a record of 14-0-0. Cortland goalie Brittan Kuhlman recieved the loss for the Red Dragons as he falls to 2-6-0 on the season.

The top-ranked Lakers travel next Saturday for a Valentine's Weekend date with the Morrisville Mustangs at 7:00 pm on Saturday February 13th. WNYO-FM 88.9 will have all the action for you from the IcePlex. Cortland travels to Morrisville on Friday the 12th for a showdown against the Mustangs.

Box Score Provided by College Hockey Stats 

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

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.
  

Hockey Night in Oswego - #9 Adrian @ #1 Oswego

The number one and nine teams in the nation according to the last USCHO D-III Polls will meet tonight in a non conference game at the Campus Center Ice Arena on the campus of the State University of New York at Oswego. The Lakers are coming off a victory over #6 Elmira last weekend to capture their third Pathfinder Bank Oswego Hockey Classic Title and second win this season against the Soaring Eagles. Adrian is coming in on a two game skid as they were swept by Hamline last weekend. This will be a huge test for both teams as they both have strong offenses and strong defenses as well.

Matchup provided by WNYO Sports Director Matt Solomon
Team Offense: 
Adrian-#1in the nation at 7.50 Goals a Game
Oswego-#3 in nation at 5.44 Goals a Game

Team Defense:
Oswego-#5 at 1.75 Goals a Game
Adrian-#20 at 2.75 Goals a Game

Power Play:
Adrian-#1 28 for 76 36.8%
Oswego-#12 25 for 101 24.8%

Penalty Kill:
Adrian-#12 61 of 69 88.4%
Oswego-#13 81 of 92 88%

Key Players:
Oswego
-Eric Selleck- 14 goals 21 assists 34 points
-Justin Fox-10 goals 23 assists 33 points (107 for his career and counting)
-Chris Laganiere- 12 goals 20 assists 32 points 5 Power Play goals
-Neil Musselwhite- 10 goals, 5 shorthanded

Adrian
-Mike Dahlinger- 6 goals 20 assists 26 points
-Sam Kuzyk- 13 goals 12 assists 25 points 8 Power Play goals
-Brad Houston- 12 goals 11 assists 23 points
-Eric Miller 11 goals 10 assists 21 points
-Zach Graham- 7 goals 14 assists 21 points

If you are unable to attend tonights matchup on the shores of Lake Ontario, WNYO-FM will have the call of the game starting at 6:30pm for Countdown to Faceoff with the puck set to drop at 7:00 pm. WNYO-FM is found on the FM dial at 88.9 FM and stream worldwide at www.wnyo.org

Oswego Earns 19 out of 20 First Place Votes in Latest USCHO Polls

The Oswego State Lakers earned 19 out of the possible 20 first place votes in the latest USCHO poll, released Monday afternoon. The Lakers remain ahead of SUNYAC rival Plattsburgh with Norwich, St. Norbert and St. Scholastica rounding out the top five. Elmira, who lost to Oswego in the Championship game of the Pathfinder Bank Oswego Hockey Classic is still sixth in the polls. Adrian, who visits the Campus Center on Friday night is ninth in the polls after losing two games to Hamline State over the weekend.

Third Times the Charm... Oswego and Elmira for the Pathfinder Title

The number one ranked team according to the USCHO Oswego State Lakers will take on the number six ranked Elmira College Soaring Eagles tonight at the Campus Center Ice Arena in Oswego, NY for the right to be called Pathfinder Bank Oswego Hockey Classic Champions. The last time these teams met for the Pathfinder title was back during the 2006-2007 season as Oswego came out victorious by the score of 4-1. Scoring the goals for the Lakers on that night were team Captain Ryan Woodward, Ryan Ellis, Matt Whitehead and current Assistant Captain Neil Musslewhite.

The history of the Pathfinder Bank Classic is short but this tournament has turned out two of the last three National Champions as Oswego (2007) and St. Norbert (2008) won the Classic title on their way to win National Championships. Last year, Oswego did infact win their second Pathfinder title last season with a 5-2 victory over Augsburg. Garren Reisweber was named Pathfinder Classic MVP for his performance over the two games played.

Tonight's matchup against Elmira is the third time these two programs have met this season. In the season opener back on October 23rd, Oswego beat up the Soaring Eagles 7-2. But Elmira would get the last laugh and give Oswego their only loss on the season to this point by defeating the Lakers 2-1 the following night in Elmira.

The consolation game in this year's edition of the Pathfinder Bank Oswego Hockey Classic features the Connecticut College Camels and the Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders. Action starts at the Campus Center at 4:00 pm and the action will be heard on WNYO-FM 88.9 with Tyler Atkinson and Joe Crahan with the call. Then at 7:00 pm, its the game that "is for all the marbles" as Oswego takes on Elmira. Rob Lippolis and Matt Solomon will have the action on WNYO.

Its Hockey Night Tonight: #1 Oswego State Lakers vs Utica Pioneers

Tonight makes the first trip to Utica for the Lakers since January 23, 2007 when the host Pioneers handed Oswego their first loss of the season by the score of 5-2 on that evening. It was that season that Oswego went on to win the National Championship... the first for any sport in school history. Earlier this season, these two teams had a meeting up at the Campus Center Ice Arena with the Lakers coming away with a 3-2 victory.Goals for the Lakers came off the sticks of Stephen Mallaro, Justin Fox and Chris Ayotte, who scored his first collegiante goal.

Utica comes into tonights contest at the Aud with a 4-5-2 record. This years team has many resemblances to the team that defeated Oswego three years ago. The Pioneers started this season with a record of 2-0-1 in their first three contests but since then, they've gone winless in six of their last eight games, a streak that started with the already mentioned 3-2 loss in Oswego on November 14th.


Oswego comes in to the Aud with a record of 10-1 and winners of nine straight. Including the weekend sweep of Brockport and Geneseo at the Campus Center. Neil Musselwhite scored a natural shorthanded Hat Trick in the 10-1 victory against the Brockport Golden Eagles. Eric Selleck scored the game winner in the 4-2 win over the Ice Knights of Geneseo on Saturday night.

The Steve Petty Sports Spotlight for the Lakers tonight will be the line of Eric Selleck, Justin Fox and Chris Laganiere. Selleck has nine goals and 19 assists for 28 points in this his sophomore season. The freshmen Justin Fox has six goals and 17 assists for 23 points and linemate Chris Laganiere has 12 goals with 13 assists for 25 points. Between the pipes for the Lakers, Kyle Gunn-Taylor has a record of 7-0 with a goals against average of 1.43 with a save percentage of over 93.

The Spotlight for the host Pioneers include sophomore Tim Coffman. Coffman has 13 points on seven goals and six assists through their first 11 games this season. Coffman collected five points during Utica's last three games (0-2-1). Fellow sophomore Bryan Gibbons has 11 points while scoring four goals and collecting seven assists. In the pipes for the Pioneers, senior Anthony Luckow has a record of 4-4-2 with a goals against average of 3.13 and having a .894 save percentage.

Oswego has not swept Utica during the regular season since 2004-2005 and have split the season series in 2005-2006 and in 2006-2007. The Lakers have a 7-3-1 all time series lead against the Pioneers.
The puck drops at 7:00 pm live from the Utica Memorial Auditorium. The Aud as its known has been open for the last 51 seasons and was the host of the 1962 Frozen Four. Also, scenes from the 1977 hit Slap Shot was filmed there. The Aud also served as the model for the renovation of the "Worlds Most Famous Arena", Madison Square Garden in New York City back in 1968.

Photo Courtesy of  www.uticaaud.org with information provided by both teams and the VOTL.com 


 

Read All About It: Oswego is Number 1 in the USCHO Polls

The Oswego State Lakers were tied with rival Plattsburgh for the right to be on top of the latest USCHO D-III National Polls. This week, with a rout of Brockport 10-1 and then knocking off Geneseo 4-2, the Lakers are by themselves as they are ranked first.The last time Oswego was ranked first in the polls were October of 2007 following them winning the National Championship on the goal of Williamsville, NY native Garren Reisweber.

The Campus Center saw history in the making during Friday night's victory over Brockport as Neil Musselwhite's three shorthanded goals not only gave him a hat trick, but the first Natural Shorthanded Hat Trick in D-III history. Saturday night saw the Lakers come back from trailing 2-1 halfway through the second period and then having two big goals in the third to defeat Geneseo 4-2.
Oswego heads back to work this week as they have a three games in five days as they travel to Utica on Tuesday night to take on the Pioneers. In their first meeting this season, Oswego hung on for the 3-2 win in Oswego. This trip will be the first for Oswego to the Utica Memorial Auditorium since January 23,2007 and on that evening Utica defeated the Lakers by the score of 5-2. Former Oswego State Captain Peter Magagna and current senior Assistant Captain Brad Dormeidy scored for the Lakers as the Pioneers were led by a Hat Trick by Brandon Laidlaw. Friday night sees Oswego take on Hamilton College in Hamilton and then return to the safe confines of the Campus Center Ice Arena as they host the Hobart Statesmen. Last season, Oswego defeated Hamilton in Oswego by the score of 2-1 and then they lost at the "Cooler" in Geneva by the score of 6-3. Faceoff each night this week is set for 7:00 pm and you can hear all the action on 88.9 FM WNYO "The Voice of Oswego".


USCHO.com Division III Men's Poll - December 7, 2009
Team              (1st Place Votes)       Record       Points         Last Poll
1 Oswego                  (12)                   10-1-0        290                  1
2 Plattsburgh               (5)                     7-1-2         270                 2
3 Norwich                  (1)                    5-0-1          251                 5
4 Adrian                     (2)                   10-0-0         233                 4
5 St. Norbert                                       10-2-1        224                 3
6 Elmira                                                 9-2-0        204                 6
7 St. Scholastica                                    6-2-2        180                  7
8 Middlebury                                        3-1-2        132                  8
9 Wis.-River Falls                                 7-3-1        116                10
10 Bowdoin                                          5-0-0        97                  14
11 Curry                                               7-0-1        96                  12
12 Wis.-Superior                                  7-3-1        88                    9
13 Hamline                                           6-1-2       65                  15
14 Williams                                           5-0-1      63                  NR
15 Salem State                                      5-1-1      45                  NR
Others Receiving Votes: Gustavus Adolphus 19, Wentworth 19, Amherst 5, New England College 2, Hobart 1

Photo Courtesy: Jared Crast/Facebook

Oswego Rocks Brockport 10-1

The Oswego State Lakers Men's Ice Hockey team defeated the Brockport Golden Eagles tonight at the Campus Center Ice Arena by the score of 10-1. Oswego, coming into tonights matchup as the number one team in the latest USCHO Division III polls overall outshot Brockport 37-15. The Lakers, who are now 9-1-0 overall and 7-0-0 in SUNYAC,  were powered by the Special Teams unit. Both the powerplay and pelenty kill units provided six of Oswego's ten for the game while Brockport's lone talley came while on the powerplay.
The Eagles, (4-6-0, 2-4-0 SUNYAC) got the scoring going just 3:16 into the game as Sean O' Malley scored his sixth of the season with Ray Tremblay and Mike Hayward getting the assists. That would be the only lead that the Golden Eagles would have all night as just three minutes later, Chris Laganiere tied the game with Justin Fox getting the assist. It was Laganiere's tenth of the young season. Then Oswego would grab the lead as Laganiere had help from both his linemates, Fox and reigning SUNYAC Rookie of the Year Eric Selleck on the powerplay at 8:24. Then the Lakers would take a commanding 3-1 lead as senior and Assistant Captain Neil Musselwhite (pictured) scored with the assist going to fellow linemate and senior Assistant Captain Brad Dormeidy. Oswego would outshoot Brockport 10-3 in the opening period. 
The second period saw Oswego score three more times as Eric Selleck scored on the powerplay to jump the lead to 4-1 in favor of the home squad. The lead would grow to 5-1 as Musselwhite scored his second of the night shorthanded. Then Dormeidy would make it 6-1 on another shorthanded goal but Musselwhite would get the hatrick as he scored his second shorthanded goal on the night to make it 7-1 in favor of the Lakers early in the third period. 
Chris Muise would score his first collegiante goal with Andrew Mather and Hank Van Boxmeer getting the assists. Luke Moodie would bump the lead to 9-1 and then the Captain Tyler Lyon would complete the scoring to make it 10-1 in favor of the Lakers getting the assists from Paul Rodrigues. 
The Lakers take to the ice on Saturday night as they host the Geneseo Ice Knights at 7:00 pm while Brockport travels to Cortland to take on the Red Dragons. 

photo courtesy of Jared Crast through Facebook 

Oswego Sits On Top of Latest USCHO Poll, But Not By Themselves

The Oswego State Lakers were awarded with three consecuative victories and with a loss by St. Norbert over the Thanksgiving holiday, the Lakers are the number one ranked team in the nation, according to the latest USCHO D-III Polls. The polls, which were released Monday afternoon, has Oswego State first, but in a tie with the arch-rival Plattsburgh Cardinals. Plattsburgh came off this weekend with a win and a tie while the Lakers sat idle after a 8-1 win over Morrisville.
The Cardinals and the Lakers both have 282 points, however Plattsburgh recieved more first place votes than Oswego. The two teams met in early November up at the Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh and the Lakers skated away with the 5-2 win. The rivalry will continue with the annual Whiteout game in Oswego on January 30th.

Polls Totally Different After a Week of Shockers in D-III Men's Ice Hockey

The latest USCHO polls sees Oswego jump six spots and Manhattanville eight positions after this past weekend. The Lakers recieved six first place votes after sweeping Potsdam and defeating the number one ranked team in the nation in Plattsburgh. The Cards slipped to third while Manhattanville moved up eight positions from 12th to 4th. Adrian completes the top 5 in the USCHO D-III Polls that were released yesterday.


Team (First Place Votes) Record 

1 St. Norbert ( 7) 4-0-1
2 Oswego ( 6) 5-1-0  
3 Plattsburgh ( 4) 3-1-0 
4 Manhattanville ( 1) 3-0-0
5 Adrian ( 2) 2-0-0
6 Neumann 2-1-1
7 Middlebury 0-0-0
8 Wis.-River Falls 4-1-0  NR
9 Wis.-Stout 2-2-0 
10 St. Scholastica 3-1-0
11 Amherst 0-0-0
12 Norwich 0-0-0 
13 Hobart 2-2-1 
14 Wis.-Superior 2-2-0
15 Elmira 3-2-0

Others Receiving Votes: St. Olaf 41, Gustavus Adolphus 35, Hamline 26, Utica 18, Milw School of Eng 10, Lawrence 5, New England College 5, Castleton 3, Babson 2, Curry 2, Morrisville 1, Nichols 1, St. Thomas 1, Williams 1