Oswego Moves Past Skidmore, Returns to SUNYAC Championship Game

By: Cameron Shutts & Eric Palmeri

OSWEGO, N.Y. – A highly anticipated season that brought championship expectations, then turned bumpy and tumultuous, raising questions about key players and whether this team had it in them to match last year’s squad, was soundly answered Saturday night as everything came up golden for the green and gold.

The Oswego State Lakers pummeled the Skidmore Thoroughbreds 6-3, earning them a spot in the SUNYAC Men’s Ice Hockey Championship for the second year in a row.

The Lakers dominated offensively and physically from the get-go, playing keep away from the Thoroughbreds, putting their defenders in a blender with the constant and effective cycle game, while also stunning them with crushing open ice hits.

“Well, it’s not just to get the bumps and to get them to get their heads up and maybe get rid of pucks before they’re ready to, as much as it gets us skating, right?” Oswego Head Coach Ed Gosek said. “In order to finish your check, you gotta skate, you gotta be aggressive, and you know we’ve been preaching, especially you know the first five minutes of games to get pucks in deep.”

The Lakers’ early strategy paid off quickly. After a bouncing puck, buzzing like a pinball, finally settled for Johnathan Balah at the top of the hashmarks, he ripped a shot through bodies to find the back of the net, giving Oswego a 1-0 lead, and igniting a buzz throughout the large crowd in attendance.

The goal onslaught ensued in the second half of the first period. Both Michael Urgo and Adam Grenier would light the lamp to give Oswego a commanding 3-0 lead.

At this point, the game looked lost for Skidmore, but a greasy goal from Brandon Spaulding with 50 seconds left in the first session cut the lead to two and gave the Thoroughbreds some momentum going into the intermission.

After the break, which got an unexpected extension thanks to a fire alarm that sent fans streaming out of the building for about 10 minutes, the Lakers came back and completely shut down Skidmore.

Keep away was the name of the game in the second, a relatively quiet period overall. The Lakers kept Skidmore goalie Tommy Aitken on his toes, peppering him with shots until Justin Ryan finally found the back of the net to extend Oswego’s lead to three.

In the third period, the feeling in the Deb was a mixed bag full of ups and downs. The game turned into a seesaw affair, with Skidmore getting one back at 11:23 of the third to make it 4-2. The Lakers would get it right back, with a goal from Brandon Cohen, his ninth of the season.

Again, the three-goal lead would disappear.

Mitchell Floccare, who had been rocked on a hit earlier in the game and got briefly checked out in the locker room, gave the Oswego faithful a scare by shooting a seeing-eye shot five-hole from the point on Michael Manzi to make it a two-goal game once again.

It proved to be nothing more than false hope for Skidmore, as Justin Ryan capped off his night with an empty-net goal following a timeout, securing his second of the game and sending Oswego to the SUNYAC Championship.

The Lakers will travel to Geneva next Saturday, March 7, and take on the Hobart Statesman, a team that has had the Lakers number this season.

Defenseman Travis Baker believes sticking to their game will give them another shot at ending Hobart’s 66-game home winning streak. “So we just kind of play our game and believe in each other, and everything will go to plan,” Baker said.

Only time will tell if the Lakers can pull off an upset at the cooler, but we are assured it will be a game to be remembered.