The first half of the 2010-2011 season has come and gone for your Oswego State Lakers. And the teams seems to have picked up right where they left off last season. Currently sitting #1 in the nation in Division III Hockey, the team is 12-1-0 overall and 8-0-0 in the SUNYAC Conference. The season started off the same way it did last year with a home and home with the Soaring Eagles of Elmira. The difference between last year and now is now the guys skated away with 2 wins. The home opener was a 4-1 victory, on the strength of goals from Laganiere, Fox, Whitelaw and Rodrigues. The rematch the next night was another win for Oswego this time a 4-2 victory in which 3 Lakers all scored there 1st career Laker goals. Freshman David Titanic and transfers Dan Bremner and Ian Boots hit the back of the net along with Chris Laganiere. Moving to Halloween weekend Buffalo State and Fredonia made the trip to the Campus Center here in Oz. Sadly for them it was the same results as Elmira had faced the prior weekend, 2 more wins for Oswego to move to 4-0 on the year. Buffalo State fell first on October 29th 5-2. Then for the first time in a very long time on Oswego Netminder pitched a shutout. October 30th was the date and Fredonia was the opponent. Paul Beckwith got the 3-0 shutout victory with Chris Muise, Ian Boots, and Andrew Mather provide the offense.
Then the big weekend arrived first weekend of November. Whiteout weekend hit the shores of Lake Ontario. First up was the Potsdam Bears on November 5th and the Lakers were not overlooking the Bears as they handed out a 7-1 beating, the largest margin of victory this year. Justin Fox had a solid game that night with 2 goals and an assist. But he was outdone by Luke Moodie who scored a hat-trick to power the offense. Then the big night. November 6th, the Whiteout game vs. Plattsburgh. Oswego won all 3 meetings last season and extended the winning streak to 4 straight with a 5-3 victory on that night. The scoring against platty that night came from Luke Moodie, Andrew Mather, Tyler Leimbrock, Ian Boots and an Empty netter from Owen Kelly. Boot's goal may have forever endured him to the faithful of Oswego State.
The Hot start continued with a 6-1 beating of Cortland to end the 3 game homestand. After that Oswego took it's show on the road for a 5 game swing heading into thanksgiving. It started at the Aud in Utica and was another win for the Lakers this time by a 3-1 score. Morrisville was the next victim with a 4-2 win for Oswego. Brockport and Geneseo were the next teams on the road swing and the result was the same as before victories for the Lakers. Scores were 4-2 and 4-0 respectively. Oswego was already flying high at this point, ranked #1 in the nation at a perfect 11-0-0 record. Then things got a bit tough as stud goalie Paul Beckwith was struck by the injury bug again for the 3rd time in his career, this time a collar bone injury leaving him out 3-6 weeks.
With Beckwith down the coaching staff had to go with Dan Jones, a sophmore goalie who had not played a minute his entire career. He got his 1st career start against Utica at home on December 10th and was thrown into the fire against the Pioneers. Jones was able to hold the fort and walk out with his 1st career victory by a score of 2-1. The win pushed Oswego to 12-0-0. However this wave of momentum came to a crashing hault in the final game of the first half after a 5-2 defeat at the hands of the Hobart Statesman. Oswego ended the 1st half 12-1-0 and #1 ranked team in D3 Hockey.
Justin Fox leads the team in scoring with 8 goals and 9 assists for 17 points followed closely by transfer Ian Boots at 16 points. Now unlike last season, this year games for the Lakers have been closer. Last year around now Oswego was beating the living tar out of every team put in front of them. Now that isn't exactly the case. However this may be better for the Lakers, in that the scoring seems to be more balanced among the team, as they seem to be having the 4 lines playing better and more evenly then last years club. The new players on the team are having an impact there is no doubt but it's not as obvious on the score sheet as last years club. It's the little things away from the puck that are having the biggest impact.
Looking ahead to the second half of the season Oswego has an interesting road ahead. The team is off until New Years when it hosts its annual Pathfinder Bank Oswego Hockey Classic December 30th and 31st. December 30th the 4pm game will see Hobart take on Wisconsin Stevens-Point. The 7pm night cap will see the Lakers take on Hamilton College. New Years Eve will have the consolation game at 1 and the Championship game at 4pm. After the tourny Skidmore college comes to town on January 4th and then Curry College makes the trip to Oswego on January 8th. Both games at 7PM.
The Lakers return to conference play on January 21st as the Lakers travel to Buffalo State to play the Bengals and then the next night, January 22nd they will play the Blue Devils at Fredonia. January 28th and 29th the Lakers make the North Country trip as on the 28th they play at Potsdam and the 29th at Plattsburgh. The 5 game road trip to start the spring semester ends on February 4th when the team travels to Cortland. Oswego returns home on February 12th to take on Morrisville. The final weekend of the regular season also happens to be senior weekend on February 18th and 19th as Brockport and Geneseo (Senior Night) make the trip. SUNYAC playoffs begin February 26th and the NCAA Championships are in late March.
Lakers have a busy schedule ahead but knowing head coach Ed Gosek will have the club ready to go and face whatever challanges lay ahead.
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