It's that time of year as the Oswego State Lakers Men's Hockey team prepare to take the ice for the 2011-12 season. Head Coach Ed Gosek is returning a substantial amount of talent to the ice from last season, a year in which saw the club reach the Final Four for the 2nd time in as many years. Heading into this year coach will be without the services of Joe Hall, Justin Fox, Owen Kelly, Stephen Mallaro, Chris Laganiere, Kevin Huinink, and Dan Bremner. With those 7 guys leaving the team a total of 34 goals or 3.4% of the offense is gone. Another big impact of the departure of these 7 is the impact on defense as Huinink and Mallaro were two of Coach Gosek's more reliable D-Men. But fear not the coaching staff did a good job of bringing in new talent to this hockey club to fill the void left by the graduating seniors.
We start by looking first at the lone transfer to this years team, defenseman Zack Josepher. After spending the past 2 seasons at Michigan State Josepher has some big shoes to try and fill. He was able to register 18 in 55 games for the Spartians after a very solid career in Juniors. Standing at 6'0 and weighing 190 pounds he has solid size to him and can be a good puck moving defenseman. Nexy we have two freshman joining the blue line in the form of Bobby Gertsakis and Nick Rivait. Gertsakis registered 52 points in Juniors over the past three seasons and add that to his size at 5'10 and 175 pounds he could have something unique to bring to the table. Then we have Nick Rivait. He is very big boy at 6'2 and 205 pounds so he should fit in nicely with the bigger D-Men the Lakers currently have on the roster. Also he seems to be a good puck moving D-man with totalling 66 points in the last two years in Juniors and 86% of those points coming via assists, so it seems to me that the ability to move the puck is there. Now how much playing time these three get this season is tough to judge espically with the talent that's coming back to the Oswego State Blueline this season with the returns of Assistant Captain Jared Anderson, Hank Van Boxmeer, Michael Gilchrist, Tim Carr, Taylor Farris, and Jesse McConney all back for another season, it will be tough for the new guys to get ice time but I'm sure they will see some playing time.
Now looking at the offense the Lakers have added some fresh faces up front one of whom is Chris Carr, the younger brother of defensman Tim Carr. Chris is a speedster at 5'10 and 157 pounds and can move the puck as he registered 50 assists last season in juniors. His point totals have gone up the last few years while in Juniors, so I'm looking for him to be making some noise this season. The biggest addition to the team is Stan Smrke coming in at 6'4 and 200 pounds. This makes him the 2nd biggest guy on the team behind Matt Singelton. Smrke scored 20 points last year in juniors so judging by that it seems he was brought in to add more of a physical presence to the hockey club but again who knows. Another addition to the team is Peter Rodrigues. There is NO relation between Peter and Paul Rodrigues. Peter comes in having scored 31 points in just 18 games last season in juniors. Again this may be another case of limited playing time depending on how the coaching staff mix and match with line combinations. Adding to this new mix will be Eli Kim-Swallow who produced what seems to be decent numbers in his career in Juniors. Judging from stats it seems that Kim-Swallow will be joining the Lakers for his defensive abilities which will be a great asset for Ed Gosek, who as we know is big on defensive forwards. And last but certainly not least is RJay Berra. Berra put up good numbers playing in juniors and may have some playing time on this talent heavy hockey club.
The freshman forwards are going to be fighting it out with the veterans for ice time. With a lot of returning scoring from last year including Captain Andrew Mather, Assistants Ian Boots and Jon Whitelaw, Luke Moodie Tyler Leimbrock, Chris Muise and others, there will plenty of guys fighting for more ice time this season. There are a few guys from last year's club I'm expecting to have bigger seasons from, such as Chris Brown, Chris Ayotte, and Chris Muise. I think these three will be seeing more time on ice this year then the past two seasons have alotted. I'm also expecting a bounce back year from Tyler Leimbrock, who had a good year last season don't get me wrong, but without Neil Musselwhite and Brad Dormidy on his line had a bit of a down year as compared to freshman year. I also expect to see more of Kyle Badham, Corey Domenico and David Titanic. Titanic was big down the stretch and in the playoffs when he got playing time, so I would hope the more playing time he gets the better he will play. As for Badham and Domenico, both guys got sort of the shaft last season and didn't play much so here's to hoping they can make a bigger impact this seaosn.
Finally we take a look at the goaltending. Nothing has changed during the offseason as Paul Beckwith, Dan Jones, and Andrew Hare are the three goalies for the Lakers. For the third time in his career Paul Beckwith was hit with the injury bug midway through last season and Jones and Hare did a very good job holding the fort down till Beckwith came back. The way I see things Paul Beckwith is the number one man in the Pipes for the Lakers, but I do see Jones and Hare getting a few more starts this season and Beckwith getting a few games off to be rested for the playoffs. Again I could be wrong but that is just the way I see things.
Just to refresh everybody's memory here is the schedule for Oswego State this Season:
Fri. 10/21/2011 Elmira Elmira, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 10/22/2011 Elmira Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Fri. 10/28/2011 * Cortland Cortland, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 10/29/2011 Utica Utica, NY 7:00 PM
Fri. 11/4/2011 * Geneseo Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 11/5/2011 * Brockport Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 11/12/2011 * Morrisville Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Fri. 11/18/2011 * Fredonia Fredonia, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 11/19/2011 * Buffalo State Buffalo, NY 7:00 PM
Fri. 12/2/2011 * Plattsburgh Plattsburgh, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 12/3/2011 * Potsdam Potsdam, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 12/10/2011 Hobart Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Pathfinder Bank/Oswego Classic
Fri. 12/30/2011 Neumann vs. Hamline Oswego, NY 4:00 PM
Fri. 12/30/2011 Connecticut College Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 12/31/2011 Conn. College vs. Neumann/Hamline Oswego, NY 1:00 PM
Sat. 12/31/2011 Neumann/Hamline Oswego, NY 4:00 PM
Fri. 1/13/2012 Curry Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 1/14/2012 Utica Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Fri. 1/20/2012 * Cortland Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 1/21/2012 Hamilton Clinton, NY 3:00 PM
Fri. 1/27/2012 * Geneseo Geneseo, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 1/28/2012 * Brockport Brockport, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 2/4/2012 * Morrisville Morrisville, NY 7:00 PM
Fri. 2/10/2012 * Fredonia Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 2/11/2012 * Buffalo State Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Fri. 2/17/2012 * Plattsburgh Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
Sat. 2/18/2012 * Potsdam (Senior Night) Oswego, NY 7:00 PM
SUNYAC Championships
Wed. 2/22/2012 SUNYAC Play-In Top Seed 7:00 PM
Sat. 2/25/2012 SUNYAC Semifinal Top Seed 7:00 PM
Sat. 3/3/2012 SUNYAC Championship Top Seed 7:00 PM
NCAA Championships
Wed. 3/7/2012 NCAA 1st Round
Sat. 3/10/2012 NCAA Quarterfinal
Fri.-Sat. 3/16-17/2012 NCAA Championship Lake Placid, NY
So with the new team ready to hit the ice, it seems like a good season ahead. Andrew Mather was named Captain during the summer, and Jon Whitelaw, Ian Boots, and Jared Anderson named assostants the team is in great hands going forward. Coach Gosek always finds a way to find talent to be in contention year in and year out for a National Championship. LETS GO LAKERS!!!!!!
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