SUNYAC Semi-Finals Preview

For the first time in SUNYAC Tournament play, the Oswego State Lakers and Buffalo State Bengals will face off for the right to play for a conference championship next weekend. Oswego earned an opening round bye and home ice advantage throughout the tournament by winning the conference regular season title. Buffalo State came in as the #4 seed in conference and beat Fredonia 6-0 in the opening round of the tournament to get to this point in time. Oswego State swept the season series against Buffalo State with a 5-4 win at the Campus Center Arena in November and a 4-0 win at Buffalo two weeks ago. The Lakers own an all-time record of 32-0-4 over the Bengals. Buffalo State's most recent tie came on February 8, 2002 in a 5-5 decision at Buffalo.

Here are a few interesting nuggets about the matchup this Saturday night. Both squads have been shut out once this season. Oswego State was shut out in a 6-0 loss at Utica, while Buffalo State's lone shutout was in the 4-0 loss to the Lakers. The Bengals are 0-5-1 against the remaining SUNYAC playoff teams, Oswego State is 4-2-0. The Lakers are 6-3-0 in games decided by two goals or less, while the Bengals are 6-9-0. Oswego State is 12-2-0 at home this season and 17-1-0 when scoring the first goal. Buffalo State is 4-8-0 on the road this year and 11-3-2 when putting the first goal on the scoreboard. The Lakers are 15-0-0 when leading after the first period and 20-0-0 when leading after two frames. Oswego State likes to get out to a fast start, as it has out-scored its opponents 52-21 in the first period. Fifteen of the Lakers' 21 wins have been by three goals or more, while seven of Buffalo State's 13 wins have also been by three goals or more.

So now that we have those fun facts out of the way, lets take a closer look at how these two teams stack up. The team stats are for conference play only, and where they rank in conference. Individual stats are for the entire season.

Team Offense:
Oswego- 5.00 Goals per Game #1 in Conference
Buffalo State- 3.29 Goals per Game #4 in Conference

Team Defense:
Oswego- 1.69 Goals per Game #2 in Conference
Buffalo State- 2.82 Goals per Game #4 in Conference

Power Play:
Oswego- 21 for 91 31.87% 2nd in Conference
Buffalo State- 20 for 95 21.05% 5th in Conference

Penalty Kill:
Oswego- 60 of 70 85.7% 2nd in Conference
Buffalo State- 61 of 83 73.5% 8th in Conference

Leading Scorers:

Oswego:
Paul Rodrigues- 14 goals 27 assists 41 points
Luke Moodie- 19 goals 19 assists 38 points
Chris Muise- 7 goals 22 assists 29 points
Chris Brown- 7 goals 21 assists 28 points
Jon Whitelaw- 8 goals 19 assists 27 points
Jesse McConney- 4 goals 20 assists 24 points

Buffalo State:
Nick Melligan- 13 goals 17 assists 30 points
Mike Zannella- 15 goals 10 assists 25 points
Trevor McKinney- 12 goals 9 assists 21 points
Matt Bessing- 12 goals 7 assists 19 points
Brett Hope- 4 goals 12 assists 16 points
Anthony Orange- 1 goal 14 assists 15 points

Goaltending:

Oswego:
Andrew Hare- 17-4-0 1.81 GAA .931 SV% 5 SO
Dan Jones- 2-0-0 1.55 GAA .934 SV%
Justin Gilbert- 2-0-0 1.55 GAA ,944 SV%

Buffalo State:
Kevin Carr- 13-11-2 2.47 GAA .922 SV % 3 SO
Peter Dudek- 0-0-0 0.00 GAA 1.000 SV%

Puckdrop for this contest is set for 7PM from the Campus Center Ice Arena in Oswego!

(Stats provided by Oswego State Sports Information Department and USCHO.com)