Oswego Men's Hockey Close Regular Season With Pair Of Wins

The Oswego State Men's Ice Hockey team came into the final weekend of the regular season on their heels a little, after dropping their final two home games of the season. Oswego closed out the regular season games in the North Country, as they made their yearly trip to Potsdam and Plattsburgh, their two biggest rivals. Before the Lakers could take on their rivals teh Cardinals they had to first get by the Bears in Potsdam.

Oswego has always played well against the Bears, going 64-24-2 all time against Potsdam. That trend continued thanks to a big come from behind, 4-3 victory Friday night. The Bears got on the board first, at the 4:06 mark of the 1st period, when Billy Pascalli scored his 9th of the year, a powerplay goal. The Lakers answered back at the 7:14 mark of the period when Alex Botten scored his 6th of the year, another powerplay goal. Potsdam would retake the lead at the 10:46 mark, when Mike Arnold scored his 15th of the year, giving the Bears a 2-1 lead which they would take into the 2nd period. In that middle period, Oswego found their offensive stride, scoring three times. Matt Galati scored his 19th of the year 36 seconds into the period to tie the game. Then at the 16:55 mark, Mike Montagna score his 8th of the year to give Oswego the lead. Galati would score again, his 20th of the year less than a minute later to increase the Oswego lead to two. Mike Arnold scored his 16th of the year at the 18:20 mark of the 3rd to cut the lead to one but Oswego would hold on for the 4-3 victory, snapping the two game losing streak.

Jon Hall took the loss for Potsdam, dropping his record to 3-4-2 on the year, as he stopped 28 of the 32 shots he faced. Meanwhile Matt Zawadzki picked up the win for Oswego, improving his record to 9-2-2 on the season, as he stopped 31 of the 34 shots he faced on the night. Potsdam went 2 for 4 on the powerplay while Oswego went 1 for 5 with the man advantage. Oswego got multiple point performance from Bobby Gertsakis (2A), Nick Rivait (2A) and Matt Galati (2G 1A). With Matt Galati hitting the 20 goal mark for the season, it marks the 3rd time in the last five years that a Lakers player have hit the 20 goal mark. The other two were Eric Selleck (2009-10) and Luke Moodie (2012-13).

So now that Potsdam is out of the way, it was on to the Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh as the Lakers and Cardinals add another chapter to their storied rivlary. The first meeting of the year ended in a 3-3 tie. That wasn't the case this time around, as Oswego pulled out a nailbiting 4-3 win. The first period went by without a score, but the 2nd period we really saw the offense pick up as six goals were scored in the middle frame. Plattsburgh scored first, 26 seconds into the period, when Michael Radisa scored his 6th of the season. Oswego answered back with a pair of powerplay goals. First, at the 4:45 mark, Mike Montagna scored his 9th of the season. Then at the 6:23 mark, Andrew Barton scored his 2nd of the year to give the Lakers the lead. Plattsburgh answered back at the 8:27 mark when Radisa scored his 2nd of the game and 7th of the season. Plattsburgh retook the 3-2 lead at the 9:20 mark when Alex Brenton scored his 12th of the season for the Cardinals. Oswego was able to pull even at the 12:50 mark thanks to Alex Botten's 7th of the year. The score would remain deadlocked at 3 until the 17:28 mark of the 3rd period, when Brandon Adams scored his 9th of the year, giving the Lakers the 4-3 victory.

Mathieu Cadieux took the loss for the Cardinals, dropping his record to 18-4-2 on the year, as he stopped 16 of the 20 shots he faced. Meanwhile Justin Gilbert got the start but was pulled halfway through the game after giving up three goals on `14 shots. Matt Zawadzki came in in relief of Gilbert, picking up the win, improving his record to 10-2-2. Zawadzki stopped all 22 shots he faced in the nets. Alex Botten (1G 1A) and Andrew Barton (1G 1A) each had multipoint games for the Lakers. Plattsburgh went 0 for 2 on the powerplay while Oswego went 2 for 3 on the man advantage.

Oswego finished the regular season 17-6-2 on the year, going 10-5-1 in SUNYAC play. That was good enough for 3rd place in the conference behind Geneseo and Plattsburgh. The 17 wins on the year marks the first time Oswego failed to win 20 games in a year for the first time since the 2008-09 season.

The season isn't over yet. SUNYAC Tournament play gets underway on Wednesday. Oswego will play host to the Buffalo State Bengals at 7PM. Winner will move on to play either Geneseo or Plattsburgh on the road Saturday night in the SUNYAC Semifinals!

(Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics)