SUNY Oswego welcomes back championship hockey team

By Sam Watkins

Oswego, NY- The 2007 Division III champion Lakers men’s ice hockey team will return to the rink this weekend to celebrate the ten year anniversary of their historic win.

The team will be honored on Saturday during the first intermission of the game against the Plattsburgh Cardinals.

Ed Gosek has been head coach of the Lakers since 2003. He is excited to see many of his former players return home to celebrate the occasion during Whiteout weekend.

“With our sport, we see a three to five year lull where we don’t really hear from them or see them,” Gosek said. “Then right around after that five year mark is when we see a resurgence in their involvement with the program.”

The 2006-2007 team won 23 regular season games, winning the championship with a score of 4-3 in overtime against the Middlebury Panthers. The Lakers have returned to the national championship game twice since 2007, but have been unable to bring home another title. Gosek hopes to change that this season.

“Their word that year was ‘belief’,” he said. “They believed in their staff, believed in each other, and believed in their own ability. That would sum them up; there wasn’t one point where they doubted how far they could go.”