Hideki Matsui Calls It A Career

After spending over twenty years in professional baseball, the last ten in Major League Baseball in the States, the man known as "Godzilla", Hideki Matsui has called it a career. He announced his retirement from the sport at age 38. He earned his nickname for his known pop at the plate, hitting 50 total home runs in his final year playing in Japan before signing with the New York Yankees in 2003. In four of his first five seasons in New York, Matsui drove in over 100 runs. The only year in which he failed to do so was 2006 where injuries limited him to just 51 games that year. He has hit at least 20 home runs in four of his seven years in the Bronx. His biggest performance with the Yankees came in 2009 when his offensive explosion helped lead the Yanks to their 27th World Series title and him earning the Playoff MVP that year. In that World Series, Matsui also became the third player in Major League history to bat .500 or above and hit 3 home runs in the same World Series, joining only Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Matsui did not miss a game in his first three seasons with the Yankees, putting together a streak of 518 games played. Before that, he played in 1,250 consecutive games with Yomiuri, for a total professional baseball streak of 1,768. Matsui holds the record for longest streak of consecutive games played to start a Major League Baseball career. So it shows he could play and stay healthy. Once his time with the Yankees ended, Matsui played his final three seasons in the Big Leagues with three different teams, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in 2010, the Oakland Athletics in 2011, and the Tampa Bay Rays in 2012.

Matsui ended his ten year major league career hitting ,282 lifetime, while slugging 175 home runs, driving in 760 runs, and picking up 1,253 hits. Is he a Hall of Famer? In all honesty I don't think he was great enough to go into the hall of fame. But he was indeed a cut above the rest that's for sure. Matsui had a level a class about him that wasn't seen by many baseball players in the game and that's one thing that made him different from not only most outfielders in the game but on his own team. He was also one of the most consistent players in the game.

He didn't have to go out there and be the best player on his team. Matsui just went out and played his game and didn't say a word about it. He just went out and did his job and did it very well. Hideki Matsui, one of the classiest players to step out on a baseball field.

Merry Christmas To All!

Well since this is Christmas Eve and Christmas day is tomorrow, I figure now is as good a time as any. From all of us here at Solly on Sports to all of you, I would like to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a very happy and healthy new year. And with that in mind, today is special because I will try and spread a little bit of Christmas cheer with some hockey themed spins on an old Christmas favorite, that being the 12 Days of Christmas/

First up is a tune done to one of the best announcers in the game of hockey, not only today but all time as well. I now present the 12 Days of Rick Jeanneret:



But wait there's more. Now that we have you're attention, I have more for you're viewing pleasure. If you thought the first video is good, then you will really enjoy video number tow as I proudly present the 12 Days of Mike Lange:


And just to cap things off I offer up one more version of the great Christmas tune. This one is a tribute to the game in general, an early 80's version of the song. My last hockey temed song of the holidays is the 12 Days of Hockey:



So there you have it. My Christmas presents to all my loyal readers of this blog. I thank everybody for taking time to read my blog posts throughout the year and hope you will continue to enjoy more blog posts to come in the future. Thank you very much. Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy and Healthy New Year!

-MS

After Loss to Titans Jets Season is Over

Heading into last nights game against the Titans on Monday Night Football, the Jets mathematically still in contention for a wild card spot in the NFL Playoffs. With the loss, the Jets not only fell to 6-8, but got mathematically eliminated from postseason contention for the second straight season. Mark Sanchez threw four interceptions yet a short Titans punt gave the Jets the ball inside the Titans 25 in the final minute. The Jets blew the snap and the Titans fell on the ball, ending the game. The Titans sacked Sanchez three times and got a fourth on Tim Tebow. Jason McCourty and Michael Griffin each had two interceptions, keeping the Jets out of the playoffs a second straight season after reaching consecutive AFC title games. It was a game that saw Mark Sancheaz play his worst game of the year, throwing the four interceptions, while going 13 of 28 for 131 yards and a touchdown pass to tight end Jeff Cumberland. Cumberland led the Jets receivers with 53 yards on four catches, followed by returning Jet Braylon Edwards having three catches for 47 yards.As for the rushing game, Shaun Greene had 13 carries for 68 yards.

Now here are a few of my thoughts on the Jets season and the Playoffs. Going into the year I knew it was going to be tough for the Jets to make the playoffs. The biggest problem I knew the Jets would have would be quarterback. When Tim Tebow was brought in it was already going to cause problems with starter Mark Sanchez because nobody really had any idea why he was brought in or what the offense was going to do with him. And whenever Tebow was brought into a game it would throw off whatever rhythm Sanchez was trying to build with the offense. Normally the Jets have one of the better offensive lines in football, I'm not saying it was the best in the league, but in years past the Jets line has look a lot better then it has this year. There were more times then fans were used to seeing that Sanchez was getting rushed and it was throwing his game off as well. Granted the line got better as the season has gone along, and so has the rushing game too to a degree, but when the year started it didn't look all that great. And since Sanchez had never really been used to having to scramble as much as he had it started throwing him off his game that much more.

Another big reason the Jets once again missed out on the playoffs was injuries. Loosing Revis and Holmes to season ending injuries early in the year really put the Jets in a bind. Also having injures to Dustin Keller, Stephen hill, Jeremy Kerley, and Sione Pouha also had a major impact on the ball club. Had the team been able to stay healthy all year long who knows where the team would be right now. They may have been able to just get into the playoffs but they would not have been a serious threat to a super bowl. This ball club is going to have some serious reworking to do in the offseason if they want to have a shot at the superbowl.

I think now may be a great time to shake up the coaching staff and then work on the players. I think Rex Ryan may be wearing out his welcome and may have to go. All he does is talk and in the past two seasons, this one included, he hasn't been able to really back up the talk. Management needs to rethink how they do things too. They have been taking a dump on the fans by making bad decisions on which players to get and which players to let go of. As far as the players on the field, there needs to be some reworking done this offseason. First things first figure out what kind of offense do you want to be running. I think when they added Tebow they just thought yay we got him......now what the hell do we do with him. Best advice I can give is to get rid of him. He is a starting quarterback not a backup. Get rid of him and leave the team in the hands of Mark Sanchez. Now I know Holmes will back healthy next year but I don't fully trust Hill and Gates and Kerley. Edwards is back and that's a good thing. i say bring him back at the start of next year and have him and Holmes as you're one two punch again at receiver. The running game I'm not sure what they want to do with so leave it as is right now.

The Jets need to figure things out in the offseason or next year will be another lost cause of a season just like this one was.

CY Goodbye. Dickey Traded to Blue Jays

Well it has finally happened. Only two months after winning the Cy Young Award in the National League, R.A. Dickey has been traded, pending a physical, to the Toronto Blue Jays. The following story is coming in courtesy of espn.com:

Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey has reached an agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays on a two-year, $25 million extension, pending a physical, that will allow Toronto and the New York Mets to complete their trade, sources tell ESPN's Buster Olney.

Dickey will be getting the dollar value that he had requested in failed extension talks with the Mets. Some of the money will be paid out immediately this year, along with his $5 million salary, in the form of a signing bonus to offset the difference in taxes between the United States and Canada. The sides are still haggling over how much money will be front-loaded, sources said.

News of an agreement was reported earlier by the Toronto Sun and FoxSports.com. 

ESPNNewYork.com's Adam Rubin reported earlier Monday that the Mets will receive highly regarded catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud and Class A right-hander Noah Syndergaard from Toronto. The teams also will exchange catchers, with Josh Thole headed to Toronto and John Buck to the Mets.

The Blue Jays will include cash to lessen the Mets' responsibility for Buck's $6 million salary. Other prospects also will be included in the trade, a league source said. Before talks broke down with New York, Dickey sought a two-year extension worth at least $26 million on top of the existing amount owed. Dickey will join a formidable Toronto rotation that also is projected to include newcomers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle via the much-talked-about trade with Miami earlier this offseason, as well as Brandon Morrow and Ricky Romero.

A journeyman pitcher who honed the knuckleball out of desperation and who was the first castoff to Mets minor league camp during spring training in 2010, Dickey at age 37 became a first-time All-Star, the franchise's first 20-game winner since Frank Viola and a Cy Young winner while composing a franchise-record 32 2/3-inning scoreless streak this past season. During 2012, he also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and opened up in a memoir about the sexual abuse he suffered as a child.

Dickey will become the fourth reigning Cy Young winner to be traded before the start of the next season, joining David Cone, Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens.

D'Arnaud is the centerpiece of the deal for the rebuilding Mets, although the 20-year-old Syndergaard is viewed as a potential front-line starter in future seasons. D'Arnaud hit .333 with 16 home runs and 52 RBIs in 67 games last season with Triple-A Las Vegas before his season ended June 25 when he suffered a torn posterior cruciate ligament in his left knee sliding into second base.


Here is another surprising stat about the Dickey trade. For the second offseason in a row, a Mets award winner has left the team after winning the award to go to another ball club. Jose Reyes won the batting title in 2011 with the Mets, then signed for the 2012 season with the Marlins. Another surprising not is that the teams in the deal switched catchers as well, with Josh Thole going to Toronto and John Buck coming to the Mets.

This may mean a few good things for the Mets. They may possibly get some more offensive stability out of the catcher position, which to be quite honest has been lacking ever since Mike Piazza left. Here is some more food for thought. As most people who follow the Mets can tell you, there are still a lot of holes left to be filled with this baseball club.Ever since 2006 the Mets have not had a solid middle infield or a solid outfield at all. As it sits right now, the corner infield is pretty much set for a long time with Ike Davis at first and David Wright at 3rd. As for 2nd base it will be a mix bag as of now of Daniel Murphy, Justin Turner, and Jordany Valdespin. As for shortstop it looks like Jordany Valdespin, and Rubén Tejada. Plus the outfield just lost not only Jason bay, who really hasn't done a thing while playing in New York, and Andres Torres, who signed back with the Giants. So now the Mets outfield consists of Mike Baxter, Lucas Duda and Kirk Nieuwenhuis.

If the Mets even want to possibly sniff being a 500 ball club next season there is a lot of work to be done. They need to find a consistent leadoff hitter who can fill the role everyday and get on base to get the offense kickstarted. They need outfielders who can play steady ball and finally they need a middle infield that won't possibly leave you scratching you're head. There is still a lot of offseason to go so things could change between now and April when the season starts, but in all honestly it doesn't look too good for the Mets in 2013.

Oswego Men's Hockey First Half Recap

Well the first half of the season is in the books for the Oswego State Men's Hockey team, and what a first half of the year it has been. The team has had everything in the first half, an 8-game winning streak, a two game loosing streak, Overtime heroics, hat tricks shut outs and two new members in the century point club. So just in cased you missed anything from the first half of the year, we got you covered as we take a look back at the first eleven games of the season.

As is tradition with Oswego, the season started off with an exhibition game, this time the opponent was the US Under 18 team. Oswego had lost in overtime to this same team four years ago, but this time around it was a different story as the Under 18 team skated away with a 2-0 win. Oswego kicked off the regular season with a two game homestand against Cortland and Elmira. Cortland was up first for Oswego and the Lakers stumbled out of the blocks but were able to recover and come away with a 7-4 victory. Andrew Hare gave up two quick goals and was given the hook in exchange for Dan Jones. The Laker offense took off after that scoring five unanswered goals in route to the win. Paul Rodrigues (two assists), Jon Whitelaw (goal two assists), Chris Ayotte (goal two assists), and Luke Moodie (goal two assists) all had big offensive nights. The next night the Soaring Eagles of Elmira came into town, and felt the wrath of an enraged Oswego team, to the tune of a 9-0 Oswego victory. Andrew Hare bounced back from the rough outing the night before with the 26 save shutout. Chris Muise (two assists), Jesse McConney (two assists), Zach Josepher (three assists) and Tyler Leimbrock (two goals) all had great nights, but they don't compare to the monster nights had by both Paul Rodrigues and Luke Moodie. Both guys put up five point nights, Moodie did it with two goals and three assists but Paul Rodrigues outdid him with four goals and an assist.

So after the brief homestand, the Lakers took their act on the road for a three game swing to start off November. The trip started with a two game visit to Brockport and Geneseo. First up was Brockport, and Andrew Hare kept up his hot goaltending by pitching his 2nd straight shutout in a 2-0 Laker win. Hare made 20 saves in the win and Zach Josepher and Luke Moodie provided the scoring punch in the victory. Next up was a trip to Geneseo, and to a lot of people's surprise this wasn't as tight checking a game as the night before. This game was an offensive explosion as Oswego walked away with a 10-1 win. Hare got the start again and allowed 1 goal on 27 shots, while the offense had ten different goal scorers in this hockey game. Paul Rodrigues (goal two assists), Jesse McConney (three assists), Tim Carr (goal assist), Chris Brown (goal two assists), Bobby Gertsakis (two assists), David Titanic (goal assist), Chris Muise (three assists), Luke Moodie (two assists), and Matt Singelton (two assists) each had multi-point games. Taylor Farris was the only Laker skater who didn't register a point. Oswego finished up the three game road trip with a 5-1 win over Morrisville on November 9th. A few guys had multi-point nights on that night, but the big story of the game was Luke Moodie, who's 2nd period powerplay goal made him the 49th member of the Oswego State 100 point club.

Oswego returned home for the start of a five game homestand right before thanksgiving with a visit from Buffalo State and Fredonia. Buffalo State came in first and gave Oswego a giant scare, jumping out t a quick 2-0 but the Lakers would rally back to come away with a narrow 5-4 win. The big story on the night was Paul Rodrigues 3rd period goal, as it gave him 100 career points helping him become the 50th member of the Oswego State 100 point club. So after the Buffalo State scare, Oswego had the Blue Devils of Fredonia come to town, but this game wasn't as much of a scare as Oswego skated away with a 7-1 win heading into thanksgiving. Once again Paul Rodrigues and Luke Moodie had huge games offensively, Rodrigues posted a six point night on a goal and five assists, while Luke Moodie threw in a hat trick to go along with two assists for a five point night.

So the team returned from thanksgiving break for one final home game in November against the Potsdam Bears, and it looked like the boys didn't skip a beat, blowing out the Bears 6-0. Andrew Hare made 330 saves in the shutout, and Eli Kim-Swallow connected for his first two goals of the year. Zach Josepher (goal two assists), Chris Carr (goal assist), Chris Muise (two assists), and Jesse McConney (two assists) also had big offensive nights. This would be the last regulation win for Oswego during the first half of the season. Once the calender switched to December, things took a slight downhill turn. The first opponent in the new month was arch rival Plattsburgh in the annual Whiteout game, and for the first time in three years Plattsburgh was able to come away with a regular season win in Oswego, skating away with a 2-1 win. Chris Muise scored the only Oswego goal in the first loss of the year for the Lakers. The final home game of the first half saw the Utica Pioneers come to town and for the 2nd straight game, Oswego fell, this time by a 3-2 score. The Lakers needed to find a way to break out of the two game loosing skid, as they took their act on the road for the final time in the first half. The destination was Geneva New York and the opponent was Hobart. Oswego jumped out to a 2-0 lead but they weren't able to hold it as Hobart was able to tie the game at the end of regulation. In need of a hero the game went to overtime, and with 16.6 seconds left Chris Brown stepped up and scored the winner, giving the Lakers a 3-2 victory to close out the first half of the year.

So with all that said and done, Oswego finished the first half of the year with a 9-2-0 record overall, and a 7-1-0 record overall in SUNYAC play. This record is good enough to have Oswego as the #2 ranked team in the entire country. The big story is that the team has been able to do this without the play of team captain Jon Whitelaw who has missed time due to an ankle injury. Leading the team in scoring all year has been his two linemates Paul Rodrigues and Luke Moodie. Moodie leads the team in goals with ten and is second in assists (10) and points (20), meanwhile Paul Rodrigues leas the team with 15 assists and 24 points to go along with six goals.

The team has seen a lot in the first half of the season, a two game losing streak, a overtime hero, an eight game winning streak, three shutouts, two members of the 100 point club, a hat trick and a four point game. If this first half of the year was any indication, the second half is going to be just as much fun!

Oswego Women's Hockey First Half Recap

With the first half of the 2012-13 hockey season in the books for the Oswego State Lakers, we figured now we be a great time to look back and see what has gone down in this first half of the year. It has indeed been an interesting first half for the team, especially considering the fact that due to a ruling coming down from the college, the roster size was cut in half. This was due to things beyond the control of the team and they have to make due with what they have. What they have has been good enough to get the team to a 6-5-1 record overall and even better a 6-2-0 record in ECAC West play. Things started off with an exhibition game against the Toronto Midget Aeros and a tough 2-1 loss. Regular season play kicked off with a New England swing against Castleton and New England College, a trip that ended without a win. Castleton beat the Lakers 3-0 and then Oswego skated to a 1-1 tie with New England College, with Lizzy Marks scoring the first goal of the year for the team.

Oswego would kick off the month of November with a home and home against the Utica Pioneers. First game was in Utica, with the Pioneers skating away with a 3-1 victory. The next night was the first home game of the year for the team, and it resulted in the first win of the season, a 5-3 victory. Bridget Smith picked up her first win of the year, while Mady Paul and Melissa Seamont had the big days offensively.  Next up for Oswego was a weekend home series against Potsdam which resulted in Back to Back Shutouts in the weekend series. Oswego got the first shutout with a 4-0 win behind Bridget Smith making 22 saves and scoring from Lizzy Marks, Mady Paul, Emma Smetaniuk, and Chelsea Hunt. Potsdam returned the favor to Oswego the next day, shutting the Lakers out 2-0, handing the Lakers its only other loss in conference play this season.

Next up for Oswego was a weekend road trip right before thanksgiving to Neumann college to take on the Knights, and exact more revenge for the playoff loss two years ago. Oswego walked away from the weekend with a pair of wins, the first one by a 4-2 score and game two was a 2-1 overtime win. The overtime hero was Leslie Jarvis, who connected for her first career goal. Oswego would return from the thanksgiving break for a Tuesday night home game against Hamilton. Emma Smetaniuk scored the lone Oswego goal in a 3-1 Hamilton win. Oswego's final three games of the first half came at home and all played in December. Its started off with a weekend series against Chatham University, with Oswego outscoring Chatham by a combined score of 10-1 in the two games. In the first game Olivia Boersen powered the offense with a  four point game in the 6-1 victory. The star of the game two 4-0 victory was freshman goalie Tori Trovato, who earned her first career win and first career shutout making 12 saves. The Lakers finished the first half with a tough 2-1 loss to Amherst at home with Jocelyn St. Clair scoring the only goal. Oswego finished with a first half record of 6-5-1 and 6-2-0 in conference.

The only two losses in ECAC west play were to Utica College (11/2/12) and Potsdam (11/10/12). Oswego has relied pretty heavily on Bridget Smith in Net, and she has not disappointed. In nine starts this year, Smith has posted a record of 5-3-1 with a 1.54 GAA, a .935 SV % and one shutout (11/9 vs. Potsdam). Tori Trovato has started two games this year and has a record of 1-1-0 with a 1.50 GAA, a .932 SV% and one shutout, her shutout and win coming on the same day against Chatham. As for Catherine Cote, she has seen action in one game this year, a loss against Utica at the Aud. Her record stands at 0-1-0 .893 SV% and a GAA of 3.00. Unfortunately for Cote, her season was cut short to just the one game, as she was shut down for the season with a shoulder injury that will require surgery. We wish her a speedy recovery from the injury.

With the lineup being as depleted as it was coming into the season, the big question was going to be who was going to lead this team? The question has been answered in a pretty big way. Melissa Seamont in scoring with 14 points on four goals and ten assists. Right behind her in scoring is team captain Olivia Boersen, who has 11 points on four goals seven assists. Leading the team in goal scoring this year has been Mady Paul who has five through the first half of the year. Aside from a few first from the goalies this year, there have been a few firsts on offense as well. This year we have seen the first career goals for Leslie Jarvis (11/18OT Winner at Neumann), Breanne Reith (11/17 at Neumann), Lizzy Marks (11/27 at New England College), and finally Bailee Goodon (11/17 at Neumann). Seamont and Boersen have had the best individual games this year, Boersen did it with a four point game against Chatham on December 1st with a goal and three assists. As for Seaomont, she has had two different nights of scoring three points, December 1st against Chatham, and November 3rd against Utica.

The second half of the season is going to be a tough one for Oswego. The Lakers resume the season with a weekend series at home on January 5th and 6th at home against St. Norbert. Next the team travels for its only road trip of the month to the north country to play the Plattsburgh State Cardinals in Plattsburgh on January 12th and 13th. Oswego then returns home for the start of a six game homestand starting with the Buffalo State Bengals making the trip to Oswego January 18th and 19th. Then Stevenson University makes the trip to the shores of Lake Ontario January 25th and 26th. Senior weekend in Oswego will wrap up the homestand on February 8th and 9th as the Soaring Eagles of Elmira come to town. Oswego finishes out the regular season on a two game road trip to Cortland on February 15th and 16th.

Will Oswego continue its hot streak of making the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row? It looks like it will happen again but only time will tell!

Could Greg McElroy Be Answer For Jets at Quarterback?

After the way things played out this past Sunday at MetLife Stadium it is a good question. If anybody who saw the game on Sunday can attest to it, Mark Sanchez had not only a bad day but has had a rough year. For the sake of the team, the fans, and just as important, for the sake of Mark Sanchez, I would give Sanchez the week off. He was getting booed pretty badly on Sunday. The big question now is who are the Jets going to go with as their starting quarterback this week against Jacksonville? Granted the Jaguars are a very weak team, so were the Cardinals last week and the Jets just squeaked by with the win.

As far as I'm concerned I would give Sanchez the week off. Mark should not be the starting quarterback this Sunday. One of the big reason I'm saying that is because of how bad he has played lately. The two biggest knocks against Sanchez's play have been how bad a game he has had the last two weeks playing New England and Arizona. Tim Tebow will be dressed and ready to go for this week so i would say give Tebow a start. Don't keep mixing the two QB's in like the Jets always do. We know what McElroy can do with one quarter under center, we saw that this past Sunday. I really do want to see what Tebow can do with this offense.

Here is what I would do if I was Rex Ryan. After the last few weeks Sanchez isn't cutting it. i would give him a game off, just to see how he reacts to it. maybe it will light a fire in him, if not for this year than hopefully for years to come down the road. As for this Sunday against Jacksonville, I would start Tim Tebow and have Greg McElroy as the backup. I need to know if picking up Tim Tebow was really the right move for the organization or not. Give Tebow a shot for more than just a few scattered plays.

Face facts the Jets really don't have a chance at making the playoffs this year. The last four games of the season are going to be a test to see what areas need to be improved with the football team. It may have to be a whole system overhaul from the coaching staff right down to the players. What this year has shown me is the Jets have no depth at all with their ball club. They overpaid for Holmes and Revis and brought in Tebow for some stupid reason. The team really had more holes to fill and failed to do so last offseason. Now would be a great time to see what you have available to you on teh current roster and see what you will need to look for during the offseason, so that way come draft and free agency time you can start fixing the holes and making this a playoff team once again. But as far as the rest of this season goes, sit Sanchez and see what else you have available at Quarterback.

Whiteout Weekend Not So Nice. Oswego Splits, Falls To Plattsburgh

The one weekend during the regular season Oswego Hockey fans look forward to more than any other is whiteout weekend. This years edition didn't disappoint. However the result coming out of the weekend was  a bit of a downer. Before things got going on the Whiteout game, the Potsdam Bears were the appetizer for the weekend. As expected going into the contest, Oswego showed they were ready to play and walked away with a 6-0 win on Friday night. The foloowing recap comes to us from the Oswego State Sports Information Department.

The top-ranked Oswego State men's ice hockey team was the beneficiary of two goals from Eli Kim-Swallow, as the Lakers defeated Potsdam, 6-0, Friday night at the Campus Center Ice Arena. Senior goalie Andrew Hare posted his third shutout of the season and eighth in his career after making 30 saves.

Luke Moodie got the crowd going early when he tapped in a pass from Paul Rodrigues. Rodrigues received the puck at the blue line after Zach Josepher ripped a pass from deep in the Oswego State defensive zone up the boards as Rodrigues got behind the defense. Rodrigues skated up the right wing before sending the puck through the slot to Moodie, who was crashing the net on the opposite side.

Potsdam nearly evened the score six minutes in when a shot from the point clanged off the left post into traffic, but the puck was cleared out of harm's way. The Bears later went on the power play following a Laker roughing penalty and hit their second pipe.

However, momentum swayed back in favor of Oswego State when Eli Kim-Swallow registered his first collegiate goal as his shot from the left faceoff circle while Oswego State was transitioning into its offensive zone to double the lead. Chris Muise earned an assist on the final marker of the frame at 15:53. This goal was by far the strangest goal of the year as it bounced over the head of goalie Austin Kreiser and in. BUt a goal is a goal no matter how it crosses the line.

The second period featured action going up and down the ice until the Campus Center fire alarms went off forcing the crowd of 2,750 to leave the rink with 2:28 remaining in the stanza. Officials decided to re-sheet the ice at that time as the teams had to leave the benches.

With the score still 2-0 heading into the final period, Jesse McConney rifled a pass through the neutral zone to Chris Carr just before he crossed the blue line. Carr skated in alone on Potsdam goalie Austin Keiser, and went top shelf with the shot for his second goal of the season to give the home team some breathing room. Josepher also earned his second assist of the night.

Midway through the period, Tyler Leimbrock added an insurance goal when he tapped in a cross-ice feed from David Titanic and Muise to make the score, 4-0, in favor of the Lakers. The goal also prompted the Bears to call timeout.

Oswego State netted its first power-play goal of the contest with 1:46 left in regulation when Bobby Gertsakis and Leimbrock fed Josepher for the one-timed blast from the right faceoff circle. Less than 30 seconds later, Kim-Swallow posted his second marker of the game with a slap shot in the slot that went top shelf. Chris Carr and Taylor Farris picked up assists on the play that made the score 6-0. Neither squad fared well on the power play, as the Lakers went 1-for-6 and the Bears went 0-for-4. Austin Keiser finished the game with 35 saves in the losing effort.

So now that Oswego had improved its record to 8-0-0 it was time for the biggest home game of the year, whiteout night finally arrived and rival Plattsburgh entered the Campus Center. The following game recap is provided by the Oswego State Sports Information Department.

The top-ranked Oswego State men's ice hockey team had a late third-period surge, but fell short of completing the comeback as it suffered a 2-1 loss to seventh-ranked Plattsburgh  on Saturday night at the Campus Center Ice Arena. The game also marked the end of the first half of the SUNYAC schedule for both teams.

With the teams skating 4-on-4 in the early stages of the first period, Paul Puglisi blasted a shot along the ice from the center of the blue line that went between Andrew Hare's legs at 5:10. Jared Docking and Jake Mooney earned assists on the play. The Lakers killed off a two-player disadvantage for 49 seconds than skated another player down for the next two minutes, 37 seconds without allowing Plattsburgh to strike again.

Alex Brenton forced a turnover near the blue line while the Cardinals were fending off a bench minor for too many men on the ice. He skated in alone, and wristed his shot past Hare at 13:00 in the first period to put Plattsburgh ahead 2-0, which was the score at intermission.

A series of Plattsburgh penalties gave the Lakers a skater edge from 2:52 to 7:32, including two stretches of a 5-on-3 advantage that spanned 49 and 31 seconds, respectively, but were unable to get on the scoreboard. Oswego State had a chance late in the period when Paul Rodrigues had a point blank shot on Mathieu Cadieux, but ripped his shot off the right post.

Heading into the final period still trailing 2-0, the Laker penalty-kill unit fought off two more penalties in the first five minutes. Oswego State had back-to-back power plays midway through the frame following a pair of Cardinal hooking penalties. During the second power play, Cadieux made a series of strong saves to keep the Lakers off the board. However, with four seconds remaining on the second power play at 11:07, Bobby Gertsakis blasted a shot high that bounced off the glass back to the crease where Chris Muise buried the rebound to bring the sellout crowd to its feet.

Oswego State turned up the intensity from that point forward and rarely let the puck out of its offensive zone. The Lakers then pulled Hare with 1:03 remaining in regulation followed shortly by Plattsburgh calling timeout. However, Oswego State was unable to tie the game with the extra skater. The Lakers finished the game 1-for-8 on the power play, while Plattsburgh went 0-for-6, but scored the short-handed goal in the first period. Hare stopped 24 shots, including 13 saves in the first period, in his first loss of the season, while Cadieux finished the game with 34 saves.


There were a few things that made this night, and weekend for that matter, interesting and memorable. Friday night with about two and a half minutes left in the 2nd period the fire alarm went off in the campus center due to the accidentally burning of popcorn in the arena concession stand, leading to the arena having to be cleared. For those of us who remember it, it brought back memories of the 2009 whiteout game when Eric Selleck's glove caught fire while drying in the locker room. So a few Eric Selleck Chants were heard during the weekend because of that.

Now for the actual whteout game.Plattsburgh got an early jump on Oswego. The Lakers kicked things off physically fifteen seconds in with a great hit by Kyle Badham on Jared Docking behind the Plattsburgh net. The hit got the crowd really fired up but knocked Docking for a loop and he was down on the ice for a while. Whatever momentum from the opening seconds of the game Oswego might have had were cooled off by the long delay on the Docking apparent injury. To start the game off Oswego was making too many mistakes, the biggest ones being too many stupid penalties and a bad turnover by Jesse McConney on a powerplay leading to the 2nd Plattsburgh goal. After the way Oswego played Saturday night it will be a real shock if they are still the number one team in the coaches polls. This was the first regular season home loss to Plattsburgh for Oswego since 2009.

The Lakers return to action this weekend in non-conference games. First up will Friday night at 7pm against the Utica Pioneers, then Oswego hits the road for its final game of the first half of the year in Hobart to take on the Statesman at 7PM.

(Part of the story and the photo provided by the Oswego State Sports Information Department)

Oswego Women's Hockey Dominates Weekend Sweep of Chatham

This past weekend was one of total domination for the Oswego State Women's Hockey team. After a tough loss to Hamilton College last Tuesday, Oswego had a quick turnaround as Chatham University came to town for a two game weekend series. The first game was this past Saturday night and resulted in a dominating 6-1 win for the Lakers. Chatham actually jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after a goal from Morgan Becer at the 6:03 mark of the opening period. The Lakers offense woke up and found the back of the net at the 10:31 mark, after a beautiful roof shot by Megan Hagg for her 2nd goal of the year. Oswego took the lead for good with just under three minutes to go in the opening period thanks to Mady Paul's 3rd goal of the year. So after one period, Oswego had a 2-1 lead. The Laker lead would grow to 4-1 after two periods thanks to goals from Melissa Seamont, her 4th of the year, and Olivia Boersen, her 4th of the year. A pair of defenseman capped off the scoring in the 3rd period, as Jocelyn St. Clair scored her first of the year and Chelsa Hunt scored her 2nd of the season. Hunt followed Megan Hagg with a beautiful roof shot from just inside the faceoff circle, to capp off scoring in the 6-1 win.

Megan Buchanan took the loss for Chatham, allowing 5 goals on 29 shots. Bridget Smith got the win for Osweg, improving her record to 5-2-1, all while making 10 saves and allowing just the one goal.The two biggest producers offensively for Oswego were Melissa Seamont and Olivia Boersen. Seamont had a goal and two assists for three points, while Boersen had a goal and three assists for four points. Both teams went 0 for 3 on the power play. That wasn't the only exciting action this weekend. The two teams met again on Sunday afternoon as well.

Sunday Chatham played a bit better defensively, but it still wasn't enough, as the Lakers completed the sweep with a 4-0 win. Scoring started 1:25 into the hockey game as Mady Paul connected for her 4th of the year. Boersen and Seamont set the goal up, as those two were red hot over the weekend. Megan Hagg stretched the lead to 2-0 less than a minute later with her 3rd of the season. Paul found the back of the net for the 2nd time in the period, and her 5th goal of the year, at 5:51 of the 1st to give the Lakers a 3-0 lead. The 2nd period saw no scoring and the scoring for the afternoon was capped off by Bailee Goodoon's 2nd of the year at the 17:10 mark of the 3rd period to seal the 4-0 win.

Megan Buchanan again took the loss for Chatham allowing 4 goals and making 37 saves. Freshman Tori Trovato picked up her first win in college and first career shutout making 11 saves. Chatham went 0 for 2 on the powerplay while Oswego was 1 for 2 with the man advantage. Mady Paul (2 goals), Melissa Seamont and Olivia Boersen (2 assists each) were the leading point getters for Oswego.

Thanks to the BIG offensive weekends both girls had, Melissa Seamont and Olivia Boersen are the first two lady's to crack double digits in scoring this year. Seamont leads the team with 14 points on four goals and 10 assists, while Boersen is right behind her with four goals and six assists for ten points. Mady Paul now leads the team in goals with five. Oswego now stands at a record of 6-4-1 overall and 6-2-0 in ECAC West play. The Lakers cap off the first half of the season this saturday night December 8th at home against Amherst at 7PM.

(Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics)

Whiteout Night Has Arrived! #7 Plattsburgh vs. #1 Oswego

The night has finally arrived. It’s a night most college hockey fans in Upstate New York wait for every year. It’s the annual Whiteout game between Plattsburgh State and Oswego State. This rivalry dates back to the very first meeting between the two teams back in 1975, and in that time the two schools have played each other 104 times. Plattsburgh has the edge in the all-time series with a 68-32-4 record against the Lakers of Oswego. In fact, Plattsburgh is only one of two schools to have a winning record against Oswego in which the schools have played more than 30 times (Elmira is the other one), and Plattsburgh is the only SUNYAC team to have a winning record against Oswego.

Since the 2001-02 season, the Lakers and Cardinals have met nine times in the SUNYAC finals, including last year. Plattsburgh has won seven of the nine games. During regular season play, Plattsburgh has an advantage. Since 1999-2000, Plattsburgh has a record of 13-11-3 against Oswego, but the Lakers have won five of the last six meetings during the regular season (The only blemish on Oswego’s winning streak during that time span was a 2-2 tie at Stafford Ice Arena last year).

Each school has their own traditions for when the rival comes into town, dating back to 1990 when the Cardinal Hockey Booster Club began a tradition of throwing hundreds of tennis balls onto the ice after the first Cardinal goal was scored against the visiting Lakers. The idea to throw tennis balls was due in large part to the color of the tennis balls matching the Lakers road uniforms at the time and that the head coach of the Lakers was Don Unger, who was also the school’s tennis coach. The Lakers countered the tennis ball throwing with bagel throwing in 1998 after the Lakers shut out the Cardinals in Plattsburgh, denying fans the opportunity to throw the tennis balls. The idea behind bagels was that it was to signify that the Cardinals had zero on the scoreboard. When the Lakers retired their bright yellow road jerseys, Cardinals fans began throwing red tennis balls onto the ice, representing the team’s colors.

The bagel tossing at Oswego State lasted until the 2006-07 season when the Lakers moved from Romney Field House to the Campus Center Ice Arena. Prior to the start of the season, the athletic department had WTOP, the school’s campus television station, shoot a public service announcement with the team captains pleading to the fans to not throw bagels onto the ice. The reason behind the public service announcement was because, while the bagel throwing was a spectacle to behold, it was disruptive to the game and did more harm than good. The first time the bagels flooded the ice, the Lakers would be given a warning for delay of game. After the bagels were thrown for a second time, the Lakers were assessed a two-minute penalty. So now after moving into the campus center, the whiteout tradition began and has been a staple at Oswego State ever since.

Now before we really look ahead to tonight’s matchup, let’s take a look back at the three meetings between these two teams last season. The first meeting between the two clubs took place on December 2nd at Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh, and ended with a 2-2 tie. Jon Whitelaw and Chris Ayotte scored for Oswego, while Plattsburgh got goals from Paul Puglisi and Alex Jensen. Round two took place at the Campus Center in Oswego back on February 17th, with Oswego skating away with a 3-0 victory. Andrew Hare got the shutout for Oswego, and scoring for the Lakers that night was Jesse McConney, Jon Whitelaw, and Chris Ayotte. The final meeting between the two clubs was for the SUNYAC Championship at the Campus Center back on March 3rd. This time there was no celebration for Oswego as Plattsburgh walked away with the conference title after a 3-2 win. Nick Jensen scored twice for the Cards as did Mark Grace. Oswego got goals from Jon Whitelaw and Kyle Badham, but it wasn’t enough.

So now that everybody is caught up on where these two teams stand, let’s take one final look at a breakdown for tonight’s action. There are a few key players to watch for either team tonight. For Oswego it’s their big weapons of Paul Rodrigues, Luke Moodie, Jon Whitelaw, Tyler Leimbrock and Andrew Hare. For Plattsburgh it’s their big weapons of Nick Jensen, Mike Grace, Mathieu Cadieux, Mark Constantine, and Luke Baleshta. Moodie and Rodrigues are the leading scorers for Oswego, while Mark Constantine and Luke Baleshta lead the scoring for Plattsburgh. Rodrigues and Moodie are 1 and 2 in the entire nation in scoring, Rodrigues leads the way with 21 points and moodie is right behind him with 20 points. In their career against Plattsburgh, Rodrigues has 8 games played with 1 goal and 5 assists for 6 points.  As for Luke Moodie, in 8 games played he's got 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points. If he is able to come back and play tonight Jon Whitelaw has good numbers against the Cards. In 8 games played, Whitelaw has 7 goals and 1 assist for 8 points. Andrew Hare has pretty impressive numbers in goal against Platty, he is 1-1-1 with .945 SV%, a 1.43 GAA and 1 shutout. As for Plattsburgh, Nick Jensen has the best numbers against Oswego. In 5 games played, Jensen has 3 goals and 2 assists for 5 points. Mike Grace also has good numbers against the Lakers. In 7 games played, Grace has 1 goal and 3 assists for 4 points. As for Cardinal goaltending, Mathieu Cadieux carried the work load last year, and here is what he put up. Cadieux was 1-1-1 with a  .914 SV% and a  1.17 GAA

Here is how these two teams stack up (National Rankings in Division 3 hockey):
Team Offense:
Oswego: #1 with 6.38 Goals per Game
Plattsburgh: #17 with 3.98 Goals per Game

Team Defense:
Oswego: #2 with 1.28 Goals per Game
Plattsburgh: #8 with 1.68 Goals per Game

Power Play:
Oswego: #6 16 for 48 for 33.33%
Pplattsburgh: #11 13 for 48 27%

Penalty Kill:
Oswego: T-18 38 of 42 87%
Plattsburgh: #3 27 of 29 92%

Puck drops tonight at 7PM!

(Information provided for this story comes from Oswego State Athletics, USCHO.COM, Mike Kraft of the Oswegonian and collegehockeystats.net)

Tuesday Night Not Such A Delight. Oswego Women Fall to Hamilton

The Oswego State women's Hockey Team took to the ice last night for a rare Tuesday night game against visiting Hamilton. Normally most hockey games take place over the weekend, but for this one game it was played on a Tuesday night. The following recap comes to us courtesy of the Oswego State Sports Information Department:

Emma Smentaniuk (Jr., Frankfort, Ontario) scored the lone goal for the Oswego State women's ice hockey team (4-4-1), which lost to non-conference Hamilton (3-1-0), 3-1, on Tuesday night.

The Continentals scored seven minutes and 21 seconds into the game on a rebound goal by Abby Runyon that was lifted over Bridget Smith's (So., Hamburg, N.Y.) right shoulder under the crossbar with assists going to Stephanie Lang and Gigi Fraser.

In the second period, the Lakers got the goal back, but the tie was short-lived. Smetaniuk scored on a pass from Olivia Boersen (Jr., Stratford, Ont.) to even the game three minutes into the period. Less than 30 seconds later, Hamilton regained the lead for good on a goal by Lang with an assist coming from Fraser. The Continentals added to their lead ten minutes later when Megan Fitzgerald scored on a power play with assists from Hannah Bartlett and Fraser.

The Lakers tried to score in the final period, as Hamilton was called for holding with a minute left in the game prompting the home team to call timeout. Oswego State then pulled Smith after the timeout to gain a two-skater advantage, but it was unable to capitalize on the chance. The Lakers finished the game 0-for-2 on the power play with both opportunities coming in the third period, while the Continentals were 1-for-3 with an extra skater.

Bridget Smith made 29 stops in the loss. Becca Hazlett made nine saves for the visiting team.

The Lakers take on Chatham on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Campus Center Ice Arena.

So with the tough loss last night, the team drops its overall record to 4-4-1 on the year and 4-2-0 in conference. Melissa Seamont still leads the team in scoring with nine points on three goals and six assists. Olivia Boersen and Emma Smetaniuk are tied with Seamont for the team lead in goals with three each. Bridget Smith has been getting a bulk of the workload in the nets for Oswego, starting seven of the nine games the team has played so far this year. Her record currently stands at 4-2-1 with one shutout, a .937 SV % and a GAA of 1.54. As for the other two netminders, Catherine Cote and Tori Trovato, have each started one game this year, and both suffering losses. The Lakers will be looking to turn their luck around this upcoming weekend with a two game home series against Chatham University. Game one of the series is Saturday afternoon at 3pm, while game two takes place Sunday Afternoon, also a 3pm start.

(Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics)

Oswego State Women Complete Weekend Sweep in Neuman

After Oswego State was able to end Neumann's season last year in the playoffs, the Lakers continued to exact revenge on the Knights, this time by sweeping a weekend series in Neumann. The action was fast and furious and included an overtime goal and two more first career goals to boot. All the fun got started Saturday on the strength of a 4-2 win. The first period went by quiet with nobody being able to hit the back of the net. Oswego would score the only goal of the 2nd period as Melissa Seamont was able to connect for her 3rd goal of the year, a powerplay goal, at 2:51 of the middle frame. It was the only goal of the period and Oswego had a 1-0 lead going into the final period. Neumann would get even at the 3:03 mark of the 3rd period on a Megan Russelo goal. Oswego would retake the lead at 5:54 of the 3rd on a powerplay goal from captain Olivia Boersen. Megan Russelo would score her 2nd goal of the game a little over a minute later to once again tie the score. Oswego would take the lead, for good, at the 8:40 mark thanks to the first career goal for freshman Bailee Goodon, this once again coming on the powerplay. Oswego would put the game away at the 13:04 mark of the 3rd period thanks to the first career goal for senior defenseman Breanne Reith. The Lakers would shut the door from there and walk away with the 4-2 win.

Shannon Donnelly took her first loss of the year stopping 16 of the 20 Oswego shots. Meanwhile, Bridget Smith got the win for Oswego, stopping 19 of 21 Neumann shots. Neumann went 0 for 4 with the man advantage while Oswego went 3 for 6 on the powerplay.

That was the fun and excitement from Saturday night. Sunday afternoon the two teams met again to close out the weekend, and this was a much tighter checking game. Just as the day before, there was no scoring in the opening period. Neumann started the scoring in the 2nd period, at the 5:40 mark on a Shanelle Doucette goal. Oswego would respond in the 3rd period at the 13:16 mark when Megan Hagg scored to tie the game. Nobody else would be able to find the back of the net in regulation so the game worked its way into overtime. That's when Oswego would find a new overtime hero. At the 4:53 mark of overtime, Leslie Jarvis scored her first career goal, a game winner and a powerplay goal to boot, to send Oswego home with a 2-1 victory!

The goaltending matchup was the same as the night before, as Shannon Donnelly stopped 30 of 32 Oswego shots in the loss, while Bridget Smith picked up the win stopping 22 of 23 Neumann shots. Oswego went 1 for 5 on the powerplay, while Neumann came up empty in it's four powerplay chances.

Now there are two big stories coming out of the weekend. First is the fact that Oswego was able to pick up some revenge on Neumann for the Knights knocking Oswego out of the Playoffs in Neumann two years ago. Also the two wins were good enough to launch  Oswego into 2nd place in ECAC West play right behind 1st place Elmira. The other big story of note is the first career goals for three players, Freshman Bailee Goodon, Junior Leslie Jarvis, and Senior Breanne Reith. Goodon is a freshman and its still a big accomplishment none the less. Reith's goal was four years in the making but she finally got it, and Jarvis its a double whammy because its not only her first goal in three years of play but it also turned out to be an overtime game winner. So congratulations all around are indeed in order!

(Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics)

Oswego Men Sweep Weekend Series as Rodrigues Joins Century Club

Another weekend of Oswego State Hockey is in the books, and once again the weekend was a success. The two teams from western New York in Buffalo State and Fredonia made their trips to the Campus Center, and both clubs left with their pride wounded. First up was the Bengals of Buffalo State last Friday night. This game would be a success for both the team and for one player in particular as Paul Rodrigues became the 50th member of the 100 point club in school history.

Buffalo State actually got an early jump on Oswego, pulling out to a 2-0 lead early on. The Bengals pulled out to the lead thanks to powerplay goals from Matt Bessing at 8:49 and Brett Hope at 15:12. David Titanic pulled Oswego to within one at the 18:18 mark but the Lakers weren't able to get anything more, so after one period, Buff State had a 2-1 lead. Buffalo state would regain the two goal lead thanks to another powerplay goal, this time from Trevor McKinney ten seconds into the period. Oswego would storm right back, thanks to a goal from Zach Josepher at the 16:34 mark of the 2nd period. Then the Lakers would pull even thanks to a powerplay goal from Chris Ayotte with 33 seconds left in the period. So after 40 minutes of play the teams were even at 3. Once the 3rd period started, it wouldn't take long for history to be made. At the 3:29 of the period Paul Rodrigues would score his 6th of the season to give him an even 100 points for his career. He became the 50 player in school history to score 100 or more points in their Oswego career. The Oswego lead would be stretched to two goals thanks to Luke Moodie's 6th of the year. Buffalo State would cut it close thanks to a late powerplay goal from Matt Bessing but Oswego would hang on for the 5-4 victory.

Kevin Carr took the loss for Buffalo State, stopping 37 of 42 Oswego State shots. As for Andrew Hare, he got the win, stopping 19 of 23 Buffalo State shots. Oswego spent way too much time in the penalty box, which is something that hasn't happened at all this season, and seemed to have gone down over the course of the last few seasons. Buffalo State went four for nine on their powerplays while Oswego went one for seven with the man advantage. So that was action from Friday night. Saturday was a new day and a new opponent in the form of the Fredonia Blue Devils.

Oswego's offense exploded on Saturday to the tune of a 7-1 victory. Chris Muise got the scoring for the Lakers with a powerplay goal 1:40 into the game. Luke Moddie followed it up with another powerplay goal for his 7th of the season at the 8:26 mark of the 1st. Then with less than a minute left in the period, Paul Rodrigues would stretch the lead to 3-0, which is how the opening period would end. To the 2nd period we go and Fredonia scores their only goal of the game when Declan Gunovski scores 1:29 into the period off a freak play, where Zach Josepher accidentally scored on his own goalie. Oswego would respond as a little over eight minutes later, Chris Ayotte buried his 5th of the year, Exactly one minute after Ayotte's goal, Luke Moodie connects for his 2nd of the game and 8th of the year to give the Lakers a 5-1 lead. Once we got to the 3rd period Oswego put the game away with two more markers. First it was Chris Ayotte with his 2nd goal of the game, this time on the powerplay, 1:59 into the period. Finally at the 7:52 mark Luke Moodie put the game away with his 3rd of the night to cap off the hat trick and seal the 7-1 win.

Mark Friesen started the game for Fredonia but was pulled after the opening period making only three saves and being saddled with the loss. His replacement was Jeff Holloway made 24 stops in relief. As for Oswego Andrew Hare once again picked up the victory making 27 saves. Fredonia went 0 for 7 with the man advantage while Oswego went 3 for 7 on the powerplay.

Luke Moodie's Hat Trick on Saturday night was the 2nd Oswego hat trick this year, as the other belonged to Paul Rodrigues who had four goals against Elmira on October 27th. Moodie and Rodrigues still tie for the leading scorers in all of Division III hockey with 19 points each heading into the thanksgiving break. Moodie leads the nation in goals scored with nine and Rodrigues leads the country in assists with 12, and all this is going on with linemate and team Captain Jon Whitelaw out with an ankle injury. Oswego now has the top team offenses in the nation, averaging 6.43 goals per game just ahead of Adrian college. As for team defense Oswego is ranked #8 in the nation at 1.57 goals per game. Oswego has the #5 powerplay in the country as it is 15 for 42 which is 35.71%, while the penalty kill is tied for 28th in the nation at 32 for 38 which is a 84.2% success rate.

Now with Paul Rodrigues goal on Friday night it put him over the 100 point mark for his career, making it an even 50 in the 100 point club in school history. The big reason this is so important is because it not only makes it an even 50 in the century club but it is only the 2nd time in school history that one entire offensive line has had all its members in the 100 point club. This case is Paul Rodrigues, Jon Whitelaw, and Luke Moodie. The other line is Peter Magana, Brendan McLaughlin, and Ryan Ellis. So congratulations are indeed in order for Paul Rodrigues joining the 100 point club!

(Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics)

Magical Season Complete R.A. Dickey Wins NL Cy Young Award

Most bsaseball fans and writers could have seen this coming. Robert Allen (R.A) Dickey of the New York Mets is the National League Cy Young award winner for 2012. The following story is provided by ESPN.COM.

Two years after R.A. Dickey was the first player cut by the New York Mets in spring training, he now has a Cy Young Award on his résumé.

Dickey won the National League Cy Young on Wednesday, becoming the first knuckleballer to receive the honor. Dickey, who went 20-6, received 27-of-32 first-place votes and 209 overall points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw finished second with two first-place votes and 96 points, followed by Washington Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez, who received one first-place vote and 93 points.

"Clayton and Gio were both just supernatural in the way that they perform," Dickey told MLB Network. "I've had to hit against them both, and it is ridiculous trying to pick up the ball on those guys. They gave everybody fits. Just being mentioned in the same breath as those guys is an honor.

"But for me, this is an honor to be shared. It's a great honor, and I am not a self-made man by any stretch of the imagination. There have been countless people who have poured into me in a way that has changed my life -- not only on the field, but off."

Dickey congratulated AL Cy Young winner David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays on Twitter: "What a great night. Congrats to David price. A good friend and fantastic competitor."

The 38-year-old Dickey became the third Met to win the award. Tom Seaver received the honor three times (1969, '73, '75), and Dwight Gooden won in 1985.

The award caps an eventful year for Dickey, who climbed Mount Kilimanjaro in January, published a memoir during spring training that included details of sexual abuse he allegedly suffered as a child, tossed a franchise-record 32 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings during the first half and made his first All-Star team. 

"We live in a culture now that's got a very progressive mentality, which is fantastic as far as the association of the knuckleball goes," Dickey said. "And that's a compliment to the vision and the imagination of the writers who voted. They didn't see the knuckleball as a trick pitch. They didn't see it as some kind of illegitimate weapon that you can use that isn't worthy. They saw it as a legitimate weapon. It has one purpose, and that's to get big-league hitters out consistently.

"It brings a real degree of legitimacy to the knuckleball fraternity. I'm glad to represent them, and I'm certainly grateful for all of those guys."

Dickey's three shutouts in 2012 were the most by a Met since David Cone's five in 1992. He led the National League in quality starts (27), strikeouts (230) and innings pitched (233 2/3) while finishing second in ERA at 2.73 to Kershaw's 2.53.

Dickey's 20-win season marked the first by a Met since Frank Viola in 1990, and the sixth in team history. 

After his final start of the season, Dickey revealed he had been pitching through discomfort since April, when he tore an abdominal muscle during a cool night in Philadelphia. He underwent surgery on Oct. 18 to fix the injury, which is not expected to affect him in 2013.

"The training staff -- Ray Ramirez, Brian Chicklo -- those guys really helped me manage it, whether it was the pain or the symptoms," Dickey said. "And it was never anything that I felt like was going to cost me a start or something that I felt like I couldn't keep going from."

Dickey joined the Mets prior to the 2010 season yet did not make the team out of spring training. But he was promoted to the majors in May of that season and has not looked back, posting a 2.95 ERA in 94 career games with the Mets.

"I was the first player cut out of camp (in 2010)," Dickey told MLB Network. "But I was able to get a shot with those guys and I was able to seize an opportunity."

Days after the World Series, the Mets exercised a $5 million team option on Dickey for next season. General manager Sandy Alderson is attempting to sign Dickey to an extension but hasn't ruled out trading him if the sides cannot agree.

"I feel good about being a Met," Dickey said. "I can certainly say that I believe the Mets are going to be a lot better, and I want to be part of the solution. Hopefully we're be able to work something out where I can stay here, and I wouldn't mind finishing my career here.

"I want to be loyal to an organization that has given me a real opportunity. That being said, you never want to be taken advantage of either. I've been on that side of the coin as well as a player. So hopefully we're going to be able to reach some mutually beneficial agreement."

The Mets similarly are attempting to sign third baseman David Wright to an extension after picking up his $16 million team option earlier this month for 2013.

The last reigning Cy Young winner to be traded during the same offseason he won the award was Roger Clemens, who was dealt from the Toronto Blue Jays to New York Yankees on Feb. 18, 1999. The last reigning NL winner to be immediately traded was Pedro Martinez, who was dealt from the Montreal Expos to the Boston Red Sox on Nov. 18, 1997.

Dickey's 2012 feats include becoming the first pitcher in modern baseball history (since 1900) to record consecutive one-hit shutouts while striking out at least 10 in each start -- on June 13 at Tampa Bay and June 18 vs. Baltimore.

The Mets went 74-88 this past season. Since 2008, half of the 10 Cy Young winners have played for teams that failed to post a winning record -- Dickey as well as Tim Lincecum (San Francisco Giants, 2008) in the NL and Felix Hernandez (Seattle Mariners, 2010), Zack Greinke (Kansas City Royals, 2009) and Cliff Lee (Cleveland Indians, 2008) in the American League.


The fact that Dickey is the first knuckelballer to win the award speaks volumes for not only him as a pitcher, but for that type of pitcher as well. It shows that one pitch can really dominate a game and have an impact on a game and a team. There is one question that is going to be on everybody's mind this offseason. What will the Mets do with R.A. Dickey? Rumor has been floating around that Sandy Alderson, the GM of the Mets, would consider trading Dickey if the price was right. That to me is such a stupid move. He is the first 20 game winner for the Mets since 1990 and he just won the NL Cy Young and you want to get rid of him? That is just plain stupid man I'm sorry but it is. Sign him to an extension and keep him where he belongs here in New York.

Once again congratulations to the 2012 NL Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey!

Oswego Dominates Morrisville as Moodie Joins Century Club

The Oswego state men's hockey team wrapped up a three game road trip with a stop at the Iceplex in Morrisville, a place in which some history has been made over the past few seasons. This years stop was no exception. Oswego walked into this contest unbeaten on the regular season at 6-0-0 and 5-0-0 in conference. Meanwhile Morrisville has gone winless at 0-6-0 and 0-5-0 in conference. Both teams would stay that way as Oswego would skate away with a 5-1 victory.

Matt Singelton got Oswego on the board first, scoring a powerplay goal at 5:44 of the opening period. To everybody surprise the lead would be taken away at the 10:19 mark of the opening period by James Jarvis. So after the opening period both teams skated off tied at 1. Andrew Hare played great in the opening period including stoning a couple of Mustang shooters on breakaways. The Lakers offense came alive in the 2nd period to the tune of three goals. First it was Chris Ayotte at the 4:01 mark, then a powerplay goal from Zach Josepher at the 9:54 mark, and finally to cap it off Luke Moodie scored point number one hundred with a goal at the 15:13 mark. Scoring in the game would be capped off by Oswego in the 3rd period on a Chris Brown powerplay goal at the 11:46 mark of the period. Andrew Hare picked up the in making 27 saves on 28 Mustang shots. Christopher Azzano took the loss for Morrisville, allowing four goals and making 22 saves. His replacement Jakob Rasmussen allowed one goal and made 20 saves. Oswego's powerplay went 4 for 8 while Morrisville's went 0 for 4.

There was good news and bad news to come out of this hockey game. First the bad news. Senior captain Jon Whitelaw went down with an apparent leg injury early in the 2nd period and he was unable to return to play. Reports are is that the injury is a high ankle sprain for the senior captain and he might be out for some time. Nothing has been confirmed yet on the injury and it is only rumored it is the ankle sprain. More information will be passed on about this as it becomes available.

That was the bad news coming out of Friday night. Now for the good news. With the powerplay goal he scored in the 2nd period Luke Moodie becomes the 49th member of the 100 point club in school history.  Moodie right now leads the team in scoring with five goals and seven assists for 12 points. For his career he has 46 goals 54 assists and 100 career points. Next up on the list to join the club is Paul Rodrigues who currently sits at 99 career points. Rodrigues should become the 50th member of the club by the time thanksgiving rolls around. Congratulations are indeed in order for Luke Moodie!

Now the team has played its first five games and are unbeaten at 5-0-0 and Number One in the nation in the last coaches polls. Paul Rodrigues and Luke Moodie are tied for the team lead in points with 12 goals with five and assists with seven. The 12 points for both guys are good for tops in the entire nation in scoring As for goal scoring both guys are tied for 6th in the country and are tied for third in the nation with the seven assists. As a team Oswego has some great numbers compared to the rest of the country. Oswego has the 2nd best team offense in the nation at 6.60 Goals/Game (only Adrian is better at 7 Goals per game), the team defense is tied 4th best in the nation with Utica at 1.20 Goals per Game, the powerplay is 4th in the nation at 11 of 28 for 39.29% and the penalty kill is 8th best in the nation at 20 of 22 for a 90.9% rate.

Next up for Oswego is the start of a five game homestand. It starts this Friday November 16th against the Buffalo State Bengals and continues Saturday November 17th against the Fredonia Blue Devils. Both games start at 7pm!

(Photo Provided by Jared Crast)

Oswego Women's Hockey Trade Shutouts with Potsdamn

The Oswego State Women's Hockey team wrapped up a three game homestand by trading shutouts with the Potsdam Bears, who were in for the weekend. Oswego took the opener of the series this past Friday night with a 4-0 win. Nobody was able to find the back of the net in the opening period. In the middle frame Oswego finally cracked through first thanks to a Lizzy Marks goal at the 9:46 mark of the 2nd. Oswego exploded with three goals in the third period, first from Emma Smetaniuk, a powerplay goal at 4:54, then at 9:02 Mady Paul cashed in her 2nd of the year, and finally to cap off the scoring, a powerplay goal from Chelsea Hunt at the 11 minute mark. The defense held tight and Oswego skated away with a 4-0 victory. Bridget Smith made 22 saves for the shutout win, her 2nd win of the season and her 4th career shutout. Jen Conophy stopped 18 of the 22 Lakers shots she faced. Oswego was able to convert on two of their six powerplay chances while Potsdam went zero for five on their powerplay.

So with the win Friday night in their back pocket, Oswego looked to sweep the series on Saturday. Sadly that wasn't the case as this time it was Potsdam coming away with a shutout in the form of a 2-0 win. Jenn Crawford scored both goals for the Bears. Her first came on the powerplay five minutes into the hockey game, while her second was a short handed empty netter with 35 seconds left on the clock. Bridget Smith took the loss and made 16 saves. Meanwhile Dawna Salvarinas got the shutout win for Potsdam making 19 saves. Oswego went 0 for 9 on the powerplay while Potsdam went 1 for 5.

Oswego currently sits at 2-3-1 after six games and 2-2-0 in ECAC West play which puts them at fifth place in the conference. Melissa Seamont leads the club in scoring with six points and four assists to go along with two goals. Seamont is tied with Mady Paul, Olivia Boersen, Emma Smetaniuk, and Lizzy Marks for the team lead in goals with two each. As a team the powerplay is 3 for 38 which is at 7.89% good for 33rd in the nation. Killing penalties has been a stronger suit for Oswego as they are 28 of 32 at 87.5% the 16th best in the nation. Team is 30th overall in the nation in total offense and tied for 12 in the nation for team defense.

Next up for Oswego State is a weekend series at Neuman to take on the Knights at the Ice Works Skating Complex. First games is Saturday November 17th at 7pm and then they play again Sunday November 18th at 3pm!

(Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics)

New York Jets First Half Report Card

So now that the first half of the season has come and gone for the New York Jets, we feel now is the right time to look back at the first eight games of the season and give a report card on how the Jets have done to this point in the year. The Jets currently sit at 3-5, putting them in 3rd place in the AFC East ahead of the Buffalo Bills but trailing the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots. Everything started off good with a 48-28 victory in week one over the Buffalo Bills. That was followed up with a 27-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in week two. Week Three saw the team go back over 500 with a 23-20 overtime win over the Miami Dolphins. They followed that up with a disaster in week four with a 34-0 shutout loss to the San Fransisco 49ers at home. Week five saw the same result, a loss, this time on Monday Night Football to the Houston Texans by the score of 23-17. Week six was an improvement with a 35-9 win over the Indianapolis Colts. That was followed up with a tough 2926 overtime loss to the New England Patriots in week seven. Finally in week eight it was a pounding loss to the Miami Dolphins 30-9. As of now the Jets sit at 3-5 overall and 2-2 in the AFC East.

So there is a quick recap of what went down first half of the year. Here are some raw stats to throw out there on the first half of the year. The Jets are 27th in the NFL in total offense, 25th in the league in passing, and 14th in the league in rushing. As for the Defense, the Jets rank 16th in the league in total defense, 6th in the league in passing defense, and 29th in rushing defense. Mark Sanchez leads in passing yards with 1,736 on 144 completions. Sanchez has a 52.9% completion percentage. As for Tim Tebow, he is two of three for 32 yards. Shonn Greene leads the rushing game with 509 yards on 139 carries, followed by Bilal Powell at 139 yards on 34 carries. Finally with the receiving game, Jeremy Kerley leads the team with 30 catches and 478 yards, followed by the injured Santonio Holmes who before he got hurt had 20 catches for 278 yards.

Now at long last here are the grades I have for the Jets so far this season.

Offense: C
-Mark Sanchez has been underperforming at times this year, but really its a double sided coin here with Sanchez. Granted he doesn't have the greatest receivers to work with and his offensive line isn't as good as it once had been. So Sanchez hasn't gotten as much time as you would like your quarterback to get. But yet there is a flip side to the argument. Mark Sanchez has not been able to adjust his game to the changes around him. A good quarterback to me should be able to adjust and make better decisions with the ball then he has this year. And Sanchez has struggled in adjusting this year and its hurting the Jets offense. As far as Tim Tebow is concerned, he has been doing what has been asked of him this year. I know people are calling for him to be the started but I still say lets not totally jump the gun here yet. I wanna see how Sanchez responds after the bye week. If he is still having problems then I would throw in Tim Tebow as my starting quarterbacj. But not just yet. Overall quarterbacks have been below par this year to this point. I give the Quarterbacks a C.

-As for the running game, its not as great as past years but still hanging around in the middle of the pack. I'd give the rushing game a B-. Shonne Greene has done an ok job of running the football, but is taking on more of a workload then he has in the past few seasons and it took him a while to adjust to the job of starting running back. He seemed to have settled into the job now but only time will tell really.

-Finally the receiving game I would give a C-. In the past few seasons Jets fans have enjoyed success in the rushing and receiving games from Gang Green. the numbers for receivers the last few season had been good. This year however the team is going with a bunch of rookies and its starting to show some form of weakness.

Defense: B-
-The Jets defense is still its strongest point. The rushing defense is horrible, which is a shock because Rex Ryan led defenses are usually among the best rushing defenses in the league. The passing defense has been outstanding, sitting in the top ten in the league. Sadly the rushing defense is bringing the defense as a whole down. Also the loss of Derelle Revis for the year with the knee injury isn't helping the cause much.

Special Teams: B
-Special teams for the Jets has been pretty solid this year. Nick Folk has been great kicking the ball this year, and the Jets return game is about average with the rest of the league.

Coaching: F
-I'm almost sorry to have to be saying this but coaching for the Jets this year has been well below standard. Rex isn't having as much of an affect on his players as I have seen in the past few years and its really hurting the team. Sorry but from what I can see the coaching staff isn't up so snuff this year.

So there you go. The grades for the Jets through the first half of the year. We will end this discussion with a look ahead for Gang Green the rest of the way.

November 11 4:05 p.m. EST at Seattle Seahawks
November 18 1:00 p.m. EST at St. Louis Rams
November 22 8:20 p.m. EST New England Patriots
December 2 1:00 p.m. EST Arizona Cardinals
December 9 1:00 p.m. EST at Jacksonville Jaguars
December 17 8:30 p.m. EST at Tennessee Titans
December 23 8:20 p.m. EST San Diego Chargers
December 30 1:00 p.m. EST at Buffalo Bills

Lets go Jets!

Oswego State Women Earn First Win with Split of Utica

Four games into the 2012-13 season, the Oswego State Women's Hockey team finally have their first win of the season after splitting a two game weekend series against Utica. The action started last Friday night at the Aud in Utica. Unfortunately for Oswego, they weren't able to muster up enough offense and were defeated by the Pioneers by a 3-1 score. Oswego got on the board first at the 10:34 mark of the 2nd period when captain Olivia Boersen scored her first of the year. The lead din't last however as Utica scored twice before the end of the period. Morgan Reed and Megan McMahon found the back of the net to give the Pioneers a 2-1 lead after two periods of play. One one goal was scored in the third period, and it came at the 18:39 mark off the stick of Utica's Carmen Johnson. Jennifer Hamel stopped 23 of the 24 shots she faced, while Catherine Cote stopped 25 of 28 shots she faced. So after Friday night the Lakers are still looking for thier first win of the season.

Saturday night the scene shifted to the Campus Center in Oswego as the same two teams played again. This time the result was totally different as Oswego was able to hang on to a 5-3 victory for its first win of the season. The Laker offense exploded with three first period goals to get the ball rolling. Melissa Seamont got things going 1:11 into the game, followed by Emma Smetaniuk at 8:28 and finally Olivia Boersen aty 15:12 to give Oswego a 3-0 lead after one. No scoring could be done by either team in the middle frame so Oswego held that 3-0 lead after two periods of play. Finally in the 3rd period, Utica cracked the scoresheet as Megan Myers put Utica on the board at the 4:29 mark. Oswego would regain a three goal lead when at the 15:28 mark Mady Paul scored shorthanded. Megan Meyers and Brittany Dellechiaie would connect for Utica to cut the Oswego lead down to 4-3 with about three minutes remaining in regulation. Oswego put the game away when Melissa Seamont hit an empty netter with 48 seconds left to seal the 5-3 victory.

Jennifer Hamel made 13 saves in the loss while her counterpart Bridget Smith stopped 29 shots in the victory. Aside from this being Oswego's first win of the season, there was another fact that struck me as a little concerning for the team. Oswego State took ten penalties totaling 31 minutes in the hockey game. The one penalty that did the most damage to the team was captain Olivia Boersen getting hit with a five minute major for hitting from behind and a 10 minute game disqualification. All of this took place 38 seconds into the 3rd period. No word yet as to whether Boersen will be playing on Friday night or not due to the penalty trouble. A big statement was made by the Oswego penalty killers, only allowing one powerplay goal for Utica during their eight powerplays.

After the smoke cleared this weekend, Melissa Seamont is the Lakers leading scorer with four points on two goals and two assists. Right behind her is Olivia Boersen, Mady Paul and Megan Hagg with two points each.  Goaltending duties have been split up pretty evenly between Catherine Cote, Bridget Smith and Tori Trovato. Next up for Oswego on the Ice is a weekend home series against the Potsdam Bears. Friday night November 9th puck drops at 7pm and Saturday November 10th puck drops at 3pm, with both games taking place at the Campus center in Oswego!

(Photo Provided by Oswego State Sports Information Department)

Oswego Men's Hockey Dominate Earn 800th Win

Another weekend in the books, and two more wins chalked up for the Oswego State Men's Hockey team. For the first time this year the team has taken its act on the road, thee first trip going to Brockport and Geneseo. Brockport was up first on Friday night and it was a tough hard fought game, but Oswego was able to skate away with a 2-0 victory. Scoring Friday night was provided by Zach Josepher, who scored on the powerplay at 7:17 of the 2nd period, and Luke Moodie, who scored even strength at 10:25 of the 3rd period. Andrew Hare pitched the shutout for Oswego making 20 saves, meanwhile his counterpart Jared Lockhurst stopped 39 of the 41 shots he faced. It was the 2nd shutout of the Year for Andrew Hare and the 7th he's pitched in his college career. Friday night was the more tight checking of the weekend. Saturday night in Geneseo was a more wide open offensive game and another dominating performance for Oswego.

Saturday the Lakers took their talents to Geneseo for a game against the Ice Knights. It was supposed to be a battle of the two best teams in SUNYAC to this point in the season. But that wasn't entirely the case as Oswego dominated play from the opening faceoff, and were able to skate away with a 10-1 victory. Yes you did read that correct Oswego beat Geneseo on Saturday 10-1. Oswego exploded with four goals in the opening period. David Titanic and Tim Carr scored at even strength, while Jon Whitelaw and Zach Josepher connected on the powerplay. Andrew Hare's shutout streak was finally snapped at the 18:29 mark of the 1st on a powerplay goal by Brandon Angotti. Hare's shutout streak was over 138 minutes when that late goal was scored. So Oswego had a commanding 4-1 lead at the end of the first period. Oswego just kept pouring on the offense scoring three times in the 2nd and 3rd periods. Scoring in the 2nd period were Paul Rodrigues, Tyler Leimbrock, and RJ Barra scoring his first career collegiate goal. For the 2nd year in a row an Oswego player has scored his first career goal in Geneseo (Jared Anderson did it last year in his senior year). Capping off the scoring for Oswego in the 3rd period were Chris Carr, Chris Brown and Chris Ayotte. Andrew Hare stopped 26 of the 27 Geneseo shots he faced, and has allowed one goal in his last three games. Adrian Rubeniuk Bryan Haude and Nick Horrigan all saw action in net for Geneseo.

So with that win in Geneseo, Oswego now has a total of 800 wins in the history of the program, an incredible feat for any hockey team to achieve. And now there are two more major milestones that are in reach. In school history, 48 guys have cracked the 100 point plateau, and they could have two new members to make it a sweet 50 by the end of next weekend. Paul Rodrigues and Luke Moodie both sit at 98 career points after this weekend. Moodie has 10 points this season and Rodrigues has 11. Both guys could hit the magic number next Friday night in Morrisville against the Mustangs in Oswego's only game of the weekend. All eyes will be on them to see if they join the eliete club in school history.

Oswego has only one game scheduled for next weekend, and it takes place Friday night November 9th at the IcePlex in Morrisville as the Lakers take on the Morrisville Mustangs at 7pm. Coverage can be found on WNYO Radio starting with a 6pm pregame show leading up to puckdrop at 7.

(Photo Provided by the Oswego State Sports Information Department)

Oswego Men's Hockey Dominates Opening Weekend With Pair of Wins

The opening of the regular season started for the Oswego State Lakers men's hockey team with a pair of home games and a pair of wins. Cortland and Elmira were the opponents for the weekend and Oswego beat them by a combined score of 16-4. First up was the Red Dragons of Cortland making the trip to the Campus Center on Friday night. After a rough start to the game Oswego was able to come away with a 7-4 victory.

Cortland jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with goals from Chris Kaleta and A.J. Moyer. The Moyer goal came at the 5:26 mark of the opening period. This lead to Andrew Hare getting pulled from the game by head coach Ed Gosek. Now with Dan Jones in goal, Oswego seemed to have things settle down just a bit and they responded quickly. Luke Moodie got Oswego on the board three minutes after the goalie change with a powerplay goal. Jon Whitelaw connected for his first goal of the year with just under five minutes remaining in the opening period to tie the score Jesse McConney capped off the scoring with a powerplay goal with just under three minutes left in the period tow give the Lakers a 3-2 lead heading into intermission. With the 2nd period underway, the scoring onslaught from both teams continued. Oswego upped their lead to 4-2 on a goal from Zach Josepher. AJ Moyer scored his 2nd of the night for Cortland to cut the lead to 4-3, but Chris Ayotte opened up the two goal lead again for Oswego with his 1st of the year. So after two periods, Oswego held a 5-3 lead at the end of two. Now with the third underway, Oswego was able to pull away and ice the game. Michael Lysyj scored for Corland to cut the lead to 5-4. Tim Carr would answer for Oswego with about six minutes left to restore the two goal lead, and Chris Brown would add a shorthanded empty netter to ice the game and seal the 7-4 Lakers victory.

Andrew Hare gave up two goals on three shots in the first before he was pulled.  Dan Jones allowed two goals on the 19 shots he faced during the night. Geoff Sadjadi was in net for Cortland and got lit up for all seven goals on just 28 Oswego shots. The offensive studs for Oswego in this contest were Jon Whitelaw (goal, two assists) Luke Moodie (goal, two assists), Chris Ayotte (goal, two assists), and Paul Rodrigues (two assists). So now the big question was going to be: who would head coach Ed Gosek go with in net for Elmira on Saturday?

The answer was Andrew Hare. Hare got another shot at it on Saturday night, which was also the hall of fame induction for Oswego State. Elmira's Soaring Eagles were in town as the opponent. Everybody thought this would be the tougher game than the night before, but it turned out not to be the case as Oswego skated away with a 9-0 victory. The first period was a scoring frenzy for Oswego. Matt Singelton got the party rolling with a short handed goal, then Paul Rodriguez connected for his first of the period. Tyler Leimbrock netted his first of the year to increase the lead to 3-0. Paul Rodriguez would strike twice more before the end of the period to complete the first period hat trick and give the Lakers a 5-0 lead after the first. The second period was a little kinder to Elmira as Oswego only scored once, as Luke Moodie hit the back of the net. The third period rolled around and saw three more Oswego goals, Moodie's second of the night, Leimbrock's second of the night and Rodriguez's fourth of the game to cap off the 9-0 shutout victory.

Andrew Hare got the shutout for his first victory of the year making 26 saves. Oswego fired 52 shots on three different Elmira goalies. Darren McDonald gave up 3 goals and made 8 saves, Matt Mline made 19 saves and allowed three goals, and finally Ryan deMelo made 16 saves and allowed two goals. Oswego got plenty of outstanding offensive performances on Saturday night. Nick Rivait (two assists), Luke Moodie (two goals three assists), Jesse McConney (two assists), Chris Muise (two assists), Tyler Leimbrock (two goals) and of course Paul Rodriguez (Four goals one assist) had monster evenings offensively. Two things about this win were of a concern to me however. One was that once again it seemed as if Oswego was spending way too much time in the penalty box. Two is that forward Peter Rodriguez had to miss the end of the hockey game due to an injury.

After their scoring exploits of this past weekend, both Paul Rodriguez and Luke Moodie are within striking distance of joining the 100 point club in Oswego history. Rodriguez needs just four points to get there and Moodie needs just six. Both guys should be able to join the club before the end of the teams next three game road trip. The trip starts Friday at Brockport, then continues this Saturday to Geneseo, and concludes next Fdriday November 9th at Morrisville. Good luck to both guys in their chase of 100 points.

(Above photo provided by Oswego State Athletics)