Oswego Men Bounce Back with First Weekend Wins in 2012

The Oswego State Lakers kicked off the 2012 portion of their schedule with two big wins over Curry and Utica, and showed a good rebound after getting shut out against Neuman in the Championship of the Pathfinder Bank Oswego Hockey Classic. The first game in 2012 for the Lakers was Curry College. The Lakers seemed to finally wake up on this night and walked away with a 3-1 victory. Aside from a few minor penalties the first period was a quite one. Zach Josepher finally found the back of the net 1:35 into the 2nd period that snapped the Lakers goaless streak of over 80 minutes with his 2nd of the year. Joshua Pineiro tied the game for Curry about ten minutes later and after 40 minutes of play Oswego and Curry were tied at 1. When the 3rd period kicked off, Jon Whitelaw snapped the tie with a powerplay goal, his 8th of the year, with about 6 minutes left in the game. The Lakers put the game away three minutes later when Luke Moodie connected for his 8th of the year, another powerplay goal, to put the game out of reach and lock up a 3-1 win for the Lakers.

Dan Jones got the start and picked up his 2nd victory of the season, makeing 30 saves, while his counterpart, Joe Dawson stopped 31 shots. Oswego went 2 for 8 on the man advantage while Curry went 0 for 4 on the powerplay. Luke Moodie and Jon Whitelaw each had two points with a goal and assist each. Here are the video Highlights from the Curry game:




So now that Oswego responded against Curry, Utica was next on the schedual for Saturday. Oswego was looking for payback in this game as Utica took down the Lakers by a 3-2 score at the Aud in Utica. The first period of this one was a bit penalty filled but was scoreless. Oswego got the first goal in the middle frame, at the 4:45 mark when Tyler Leimbrock connected for his 7th of the year. Leimbrock would connect again at the 18:35 mark with his 8th of the year, and first shorthanded, to give Oswego a 2-0 leazd. The lead would be streched to 3-0 thanks to Jon Whitelaw scoring his 9th of the season, this one on the powerplay, with 1 second left in the middle frame. Oswego went into the 3rd period with a 3-0 lead, but Mike Slowikowski would cut the lead to two when he connected for his 4th of the year at the 8:21 mark. Oswego regained the 3 goal lead 30 seconds later when Hank Van Boxmeer scored his 1st of the year. Oswego upped the lead to 5-1 when Luke Moodie scored a short handed empty netter. Rob Morton scored late for Utica but it was too little too late as Oswego walked away with the big 5-2 victory.

Andrew Hare got the start and made 17 saves in the victory for Oswego, while Evan Smith stopped 32 shots. Oswego went 2 for 9 on the powerpaly and scored 2 shorthanded goals, and Utica went 0 for 12 on the man advantage. Tyler Leimbrock (2 goals 1 assist) and Ian Boots (2 assists) were the only two Lakers to have multi-point games. For oswego to be successful they really need to work on staying composed and out of the penalty box. Here are the video highlights:



Oswego did look good coming back for the first games of 2012, being led by the top line of Jon Whitelaw, Paul Rodrigues and Luke Moodie, all three of whom lead the team in scoring. Up next for the #2 nationally ranked Oswego State Lakers they play host to the Red Dragons of Cortland Friday night from the Campus Center Ice Arena, then on Saturday they travel to Sage Rink to take on Hamilton College with a special 3pm puck drop!