Oswego Men's Hockey Falters On Senior Weekend

Senior Weekend has been good to the Oswego State Men's Hockey team in seasons past. Oswego has come out on the winning end in the last four years senior weekend. This year however, things didn't quite go the Lakers way as they dropped both games on the weekend, not exactly the way the team wanted to say goodbye to the two seniors on the club, David Titanic and Kyle Badham. the last time Oswego dropped both games on Senior weekend was back during the 2008-09 season with losses to Plattsburgh and Potsdam. This year it was Geneseo and Brockport who gave Oswego fits.

First up was the Ice Knights of Geneseo, who had already beaten the Lakers in Geneseo back on November 22nd. This night, same story different building, as the Ice Knights came away with a 3-2 win. Oswego actually jumped out to a 1-0 lead at the 6:33 mark of the opening period when Chris Waterstreet scored his 4th of the year. Then things went south quickly for the Lakers as Geneseo score three unanswered goals. First Zachary Vit scored his 16th of the year, a powerplay goal, at 8:07, then at 8:30 Ryan Stanimir scored his 11th of the season, and finally at 19:13 David Ripple score his 5th of the year. The Period closed out with Geneseo leading 3-1. Oswego cut the lead to a single goal at the 3:20 mark of the 2nd period when Matt Galati scored his team leading 18th of the season, a powerplay goal. Oswego kept some pressure on but couldn't muster anything else, droping both games on the season to the Ice Knights.

Nick Horrigan picked up the win for Geneseo, improving his record to 8-1-0 on the year, as he stopped 35 of the 37 shots he faced. Justin Gilbert took the loss for Oswego, dropping his record to 7-3-0, as he stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced. Each team managed to score once on the man advantage.

Oswego tried to bounce back against Brockport the next night, but the result was the same as the night before, a 3-2 win for the visitors. Brockport jumped out to a two goal lead by about the halfway point in the opening period, as Chris Cangro scored his 5th of the year and Shane Cavalieri scored his 6th of the year. Oswego cut the lead in half thanks to Chris Waterstreet's 5th of the year with a little less than two minutes to go. The middle frame saw no scoring, and Brockport carried the one goal lead into the 3rd. Jesse Facchini scored his 4th of the year with a little more than four minutes gone in the 3rd to u[p the lead to two. David Titanic scored his 8th of the year to cut the lead to one with about two and a half minutes left in regulation, but Oswego could not net the equalizer, falling 3-2 to the Golden Eagles.

Aaron Green got the win for Brockport, improving his record to 5-2-0 on the year, as he stopped 45 of 47 shots. Justin Gilbert took the loss for Oswego, dropping his record to 7-4-0 on the year, as he stopped 21 of the 24 shots he faced. Neither team could score on their two powerplay opportunities.

This is the first time Oswego has had a two game losing streak since December 1st and 7th 2012, which were losses to Plattsburgh and Utica. Also the 6 losses Oswego has on the year are the most games the team has lost in a season since losing 8 times in 2008-09. That year was the last time Oswego failed to make the NCAA Tournament. There are still two more games to go in the regular season and Oswego needs to find a way to get back on track and in that winning groove heading into the playoffs. Both games this weekend are in the North Country. Friday night at 7PM the Lakers head to Maxcy Hall in Potsdam to take on the Potsdam Bears. then Saturday night at 7PM its the big one, the Lakers make the trip to Ronald B. Stafford Ice Arena in Plattsburgh to take on the rival Plattsburgh State Cardinals.

(Photo provided by Oswego State Athletics)