At the end of last year, the team lost 14 players, all due to graduation. The top scoring line of Paul Rodriguez, Jon Whitelaw and Luke Moodie are all out due to graduation. In total, the team lost its top nine scorers from a season ago, two of whom were defenseman, so there are some pretty big skates to fill. Up front, Oswego will bring back plenty of talent. Leading the way will be new captain David Titanic and alternate captain Kyle Badham. Both of those guys, along with Chris Carr are going to be counted on by the coaching staff to really lead this team up front. Eli Kim-Swallow had a big impact on the team a season ago, and will probably be seeing more of the same again from him this year. Peter Rodriguez will be seeing a bit more ice time this season and plans on trying to make the most of it. So there is talent back on the team from last year up front, but still with losing a lot due to graduation, there are still some holes to fill.
Enter the new guys. In total, there will be 16 newcomers to the Lakers offense, three of whom are transfers from Division I schools. First is Sophomore Morgan Bonner, coming over from Sacred Heart University, then we have Sophomore Brandon Adams, coming over from Holy Cross, and finally there's Junior Mike Montagna, who played last year at Vermont. Bonner didn't get much of a chance to shine at Sacred Heart, after putting up good numbers in juniors, but he should get some good playing time with Oswego this year. With Adams, he could be used in more of a defensive role on this hockey club. Finally Montagna, who's a local kid from Fulton NY, will bring speed and good passing ability to this team.
That's just the transfers, we still have 12 new freshman forwards to add to the team. Matt Galati, Krystian Yorke, Shawn Hulshof, Evan Schultz, Manny Gialedakis, Eric Witzel, Brian Hennessey, Chris Raguseo, Alex Botten, Kenny Neil, Dylan Smith, Andrew Barton, Josh Timpano and Chris Waterstreet are all going to try and fight for playing time this season, not only among themselves, but with the upperclassmen as well. Some of this new guys have real offensive upside, so it looks like the scoring touch that was lost from last year will be replaced without a problem.
The blueline for Oswego is also going to need to be rebuilt, with the loss of Zach Josepher, Tim Carr, Taylor Farris, and Jesse McConney. but fear not, there is still solid defenders on the blueline returning from a year ago. Bobby Gertsakis and Nick Rivait are both back for their junior years, and both have been given the honors of being named Alternate Captains, joining Badham and Titanic as the team leaders.Also returning on the blueline is Denton King, who after playing in 14 games last year, will be seeing more playing time this year. He is going to have some pretty big skates to fill this year. Aside from those three guys, the Oswego State defense is getting a big boost, in the form of seven new defenseman. Two of the defenseman transferred in from Division I schools. First we have junior Mike Willis, who transfers in from Merrimack, who has some offensive upside. Next we have Mac Scott, a Sophomore from Canisius College, who appears to be a stay at home defenseman who can shut down the opposition. Joining these guys on the blue line are five freshman: Stephen Johnson, JJ Hart, Chris Raguseo, Beau Orser, and Andrew Barton. Much like the new crop of forwards, the defenseman are going to be fighting for playing time this season.
Finally the goaltending is going to be a bit of a question mark for me. The top two netminders in Andrew Hare and Dan Jones are also gone due to graduation. So now it appears, on paper at least, that Sophomore Justin Gilbert will be the number one man in the nets for Oswego. But he will have two freshman competing with him for the starting job. Simon Jasmin and Matt Zawadzki bring experience and talent to the nets, giving Oswego three very solid netminders between the pipes this season.
In total, there are 33 players on the roster right now, which is a good thing for Head Coach Ed Gosek, because it means there's plenty of depth and talent on this hockey club. There is plenty of tough competition for Oswego this year. Of course there is two games against SUNYAC Power in Plattsburgh, as well as the rest of the conference. There's also some interesting, and highly entertaining games against non conference opponents like Elmira, Nazareth and Utica. To see the full Oswego schedule for this season, you can find it right here.
So with a bunch of new faces in the lineup, Oswego is poised to make another run at an NCAA National Championship!
(Photo and parts of the story provided by Oswego State Athletics)
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