#1 Oswego vs. #9 Plattsburgh. Whiteout Weekend Is Here!

Rivalry. Lets take a look at that word for a moment. By definition, a Rivalry is competition for the same objective or for superiority in the same field. When it comes to College Hockey, at the Division III level, you won't find a rivalry bigger than the one between the Oswego State Lakers and Plattsburgh State Cardinals. These two titans in SUNYAC hockey square off Friday Night in Oswego. The game has become an annual event on the shores of Lake Ontario. That's right. Whiteout Weekend has finally arrived!

Oswego State and SUNY Plattsburgh have seen each other as arch-rivals for over 40 years, with both institutions being known as national powerhouses in men’s ice hockey. For those who might be unfamilar with this tradition, here's how it goes down. These two teams used to play each other over at Romney Fieldhouse. When they play in Plattsburgh, the Cardinal fans throw tennis balls on the ice after goals. So in response, when they played at Romney, Oswego fans would throw bagels on the ice. That lasted until 2005, when Oswego was called for a delay of game penalty and it cost them the hockey game. Oswego initiated a new tradition when the Campus Center Ice Arena was opened in 2006. Fans were encouraged by the athletic department to partake in a “white out.” Fans now wear all white to the contest, which makes the Marino Center Ice Arena an even tougher building to try and play in.

Plattsburgh is the only school that has a winning record against Oswego. The Lakers come into tonight's action with a all time season series record of 34-71-6. Since the start of the 2009-10 season, Oswego has lost twice to Plattsburgh on home ice, that's including playoffs. The last time Plattsburgh dominated Oswego whiteout weekend was a 2-1 win during the 2008-09 season. Ironically enough, that weekend, much like this one, was senior weekend in Oswego. These two teams already met once this season, that being a 3-1 Oswego win on December 5th up at Stafford Ice Arena. Chris Waterstreet, Chris Raguseo and Bobby Gertsakis handled the scoring while Matt Zawadzki stopped 30 of the 31 shots he faced.

That was back in December. A lot has changed between then and now. Going into tonight's matchup, Plattsburgh is the 9th best team in the nation, according to the latest coaches polls, while Oswego comes in as the top team in all of Division III college hockey! So lets see just how these teams stack up against each other shall we.

Offense:
Oswego - 4.86 goals per game 1st in nation
Plattsburgh - 4.22 goals per game 8th in nation

Defense:
Oswego - 2.13 goals against T-9th in nation
Plattsburgh - 1.91 goals against T-5th in nation

Power Play:
Oswego - 27-of-82 32.93% 2nd in nation
Plattsburgh - 20-of-108 18.52% 32nd in Nation

Penalty Kill:
Oswego - 60-of-72 83.3% 29th in Nation
Plattsburgh - 74-of-89 83.1% T-32nd in Nation

Top Scoreres:
Oswego:
7 Shawn Hulshof 18G 20A 38P -4th in Nation
16 Alex Botten 9G 25A 34P -8th in Nation
44 Matt Galati 9G 16A 25P

Plattsburgh:
13 Connor Toomey 7G 17A 24P
26 Michael Cassidy 11G 11A 22P
24 Mark Constantine 8G 11A 19P

Goalies:
Oswego:
1 Matt Zawadzki 10-1-1 2.11 GAA .923 SV% 1 SO
34 Justin Gilbert 6-1-2 1.54 GAA ,933 SV% 1 SO

Plattsburgh:
34 Brady Rouleau 9-5-0 1.99 GAA .917 SV% 4 SO
31 Spencer Finney 8-0-1 1.79 GAA .936 SV% 1 SO

The table is now set. All the players are in place. Let the party begin. WHITEOUT NIGHT HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!