Best and Worst of NFL Week Ten

We just passed week ten in the NFL season, with things really starting to take shape on the field of battle. Finally, we no longer have winless teams in the league, as both Jacksonville and Tampa Bay picked up their first wins of the season. We still have one more unbeaten team in the league in Kansas City. The playoff picture in the league has been muddled just a bit. Some division races are wide open, while others look to be runaways. So many things can happen over the final seven weeks of football season, that it's going to really make you want to tune in just to see what the hell is going to happen next. With all that being said, lets now take a look back at some of the best and worst from week ten in the NFL.

Best:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jacksonville Jaguars
We have to give both teams their props here. Both teams coming into this week, were sitting at 0-8 and looked really bad. But they showed up for their respective games this week, got a little bit lucky, and picked up their first wins of the season. Jacksonville did it  by forcing turnovers by the Titans, in their 29-27 victory. Don't get me wrong the Jaguars made mistakes of their own, but the defense had done enough to force Tennessee to make more of them. Tampa Bay did the same thing against Miami, pulling out the 22-19 win on Monday Night Football. Tampa Bay just caught Miami off guard, took full advantage of it and came away wit the win.

Worst:
Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins
These two clubs didn't fair so hot this week, giving the NFL's two winless teams their first wins of the year. The Titans just played a bad game, its a simple as that. They are really starting to show just how big a loss Jack Lockart is, not having him there to lead the offense. As for Miami, I think they are a decent football team, but I think they let what's been going on off the field with Martin and Incognito get to them on the field. They didn't play as sharp as they normally would, and it cost them a victory.

Best:
Tavon Austin, Wide Receiver St. Louis Rams
Austin had a breakthrough game for St. Louis, something the Rams have been waiting on for a while now. He returning a punt 98 yards for a touchdown and breaking free for two long touchdown grabs (57 and 81 yards, respectively). The three scores helped contribute to St. Louis’ surprising 38-8 rout over Indianapolis but may have also given the West Virginia product some confidence to build on heading into the season’s final seven games. Those two long touchdown grabs were the only catches he made all day long on offense. It was well worth it though, as it helped in a big way lead the Rams to victory.

Worst:
Arian Foster, Running Back Houston Texans
You wanna talk about a bad break. Houston’s Pro Bowl running back will not complete his fourth consecutive season with more than 1200 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns. Foster will undergo season-ending back surgery to fix a ruptured disk he initially suffered in training camp. The team will attempt to replace Foster’s production – he’d been fighting injuries all season – with Ben Tate, but it’s just another setback in a season of many for the reigning AFC South champs, who dropped to 2-7 with a loss to Arizona. Things just really seemed to be going from bad to worse to Houston, a team who many had picked to be a playoff team again this season.

Best:
Nick Foles, Quarterback Philadelphia Eagles
Nick Foles had another good week this week, proving to me that last week's performance was really no fluke. Foles also made a strong case that he should be the starting quarterback for the Eagles. Why? In Sunday’s 27-13 win over the Packers, Foles went 12 of 18 for 228 yards and three touchdowns. He’s now thrown for 16 touchdowns and zero interceptions on the season. More importantly, four of the Eagles’ five wins have occurred in games where the second-year player has attempted more than 15 passes. He may not be the prototypical quarterback to run Chip Kelly’s offense, but he’s definitely been effective in doing it lately. He's showing to me that he can lead this offense and this team as well as Michael Vick.

Worst:
Terrelle Prior, Quarterback Oakland Raiders
Oakland’s signal-caller seems to be having an opposite string of fortune than Foles, throwing eight interceptions since his last touchdown pass, which occurred in the first quarter of the Raiders’ Week 6 loss to Kansas City. Pryor was even worse than Eli Manning in Oakland’s 24-20 loss to the Giants Sunday, completing just 42.3 percent of his passes for 122 yards and an interception. Pryor also committed a key fumble on a sack on the Raiders’ final drive late in the fourth quarter. Save an early QB sneak for a touchdown, Pryor’s vaunted running skills remained dormant as well. Both teams didn't look all that great on Sunday, that much was obvious. Oakland looked worse off than Big Blue, which is saying something.

\Best:
Luke Kuechly, Linebacker Carolina Panthers
Talk about stepping up big on defense. The 49ers have one of the better offenses in football this season, and Kuechly just plain shut them down on Sunday. Carolina came away with a 10-9 win over the 49ers, and Kuechly was a big part of the Panthers defensive effort in the win. He had a big day on Sunday, leading the team with 11 tackles, a sack and a pass deflection. With five wins in a row, the Panthers defense has established itself as one of the best in the NFL, with the second-year player from Boston College emerging as its star.

Worst:
CJ Spiller, Running Back Buffalo Bills
Because we’re sick of harping on Ray Rice’s inability to gain more than two yards per carry, we look to the Buffalo tailback, who gained only 23 yards on eight carries in the Bills’ 23-10 loss to the Steelers. Pittsburgh had the second-worst run defense in the league coming into the game, but the Bills’ combined 95-yard day (50 yards below their season average) ought to change that ranking. Yeah Ray Rice doesn't seem all that bad by comparison any more does he?

So there we have it. Some of the best and worst from the NFL in Week Ten!

A Closer Look At The NFL Bullying Case

The NFL has brought us fans some great memories this season on the field. Of course, with on field success comes off the field drama. So far, the biggest story to come out from off the field issues has been the hazing incidents between Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin, former teammates with the Miami Dolphins. Incognito has played in the NFL for nine years, while Martin was in just his second pro season. Both guys have left the team, Martin did so on his own account over what happened, while Incognito was suspended indefinitely by the team for his actions towards Martin. Now for those of you reading this who are unfamiliar with what has gone down, here's a recap of what exactly has happened.

-Alleged texts sent to Martin from Incognito consisting of vulgar and very crude language detrimental to a person
-A Vegas trip with a bill for $15,000 that Martin didn’t even go on.
-Martin allegedly being told by Coach Philbin to “strike” Incognito to take care of the situation
-Incognito claiming that Martin sent him threatening messages afterwords

So there are a few different reports as to what has actually happened here, but that, for the most part is what we do know for a fact happened. All we know from Jonathan Martin is that after this went down, he left the team, choosing to take I feel the high road here. Martin hasn't gone on record and talked about what happened exactly, and I don't really blame him. Something like that went down I wouldn't really be ready to talk about it yet either. I do have a lot of respect for Jonathan Martin for handling the situation with class and dignity, which, so far as I can see it, everybody else involved with this incident lacks.

Did the Dolphins coaching staff really go and tell Incognito to do those things to Martin? I have no idea I wasn't there. If in fact that is the case, then somebody got their signals crossed up somewhere along the lines. Its a common practice in the sports world for coaches to tell veteran players to toughen up some of the younger guys on a team. It happens in all sports. But I really don't think the Dolphins staff wanted Incognito to really go as far as he did. The coaching staff has yet to comment on the story, so we have no way of knowing as of yet, what exactly it is they did.

Finally there's Mr Incognito. He said in an interview with Jay Glazer that some of what he said is stuff that is said all the time in an NFL Locker Room. He also said that some of the stuff that was said, he and Martin said to each other all the time (I'm parpaphrasing here). It seemed heartfelt coming from Incognito, but I still have this gut feeling that he wasn't fully telling the truth.

Now I still have this gut feeling that there is a lot more going on here than meets the eye. not everything has been made public knowledge yet. And the Dolphins are trying to get this story covered up and thrown under the rug quickly, and I really don't think that's going to happen. I think this story is going to be hanging around for a long time until everything is out in the open and we can get a straight, honest answer from all parties involved.

Best and Worst From The NFL Week 9

It's that time of year again. We have hit almost the halfway point of this NFL season, with things really starting to take major shape around the league. Teams continue to surprise people, like the jekyll and hyde type teams such as the New York Jets. They will be good one week, then play horrible the following week. Then we have teams like the Jacksonville Jaguars, who you just know going into the week are going to have a bad time. Some teams continue to surprise people and deliver, like the Kansas City Chiefs. Also you have teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who continue to leave their fans scratching their heads. We have also had more big name stars go down with injury. Aaron Rogers will miss playing time with a broken collar bone, while Broncos coach John Fox had to have heart surgery, and Texans coach Gary Kubiak collapsing at halftime, on the field, during the Sunday night game against the Colts. With all that going on, there were still some good and bad performances from this past week in the NFL.

Best:
New York Jets Running Game
Coming into the game Sunday against the New Orleans Saints, the Jets knew the Saints had a bad run defense. The Saints are ranked 25th in the NFL against the run this year. When the game started, the Jets didn't really use the run game very well and had no answer on defense for Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham. But the defense found its groove and shut the Saints down, while Chris Ivory had a solid day, with 18 carries for 139 yards and 1 touchdown. It is indeed safe to say that the Jets running game was in a groove on Sunday. And this performance goes to show that when the Jets running game is a success, the team, as a whole, plays better and comes away with wins that most figured they wouldn't.

Worst:
New Orleans Saints Offensive Line
Now when the game started, New Orleans had their offense in a groove and going. But at some point during the 2nd and 3rd quarters, the offensive line just sort of fell apart. Don't get me wrong, Drew Brees still had a very good day, but he was rushed during the middle of the ball game, couldn't get too many great throws off, and had a tough go of it during the day. The line didn't do much to help Brees during the middle of the game, and he had sort of a rough go of it, by his standards.

Best:
Nick Foles, Quarterback Philadelphia Eagles
Foles had a day for the ages Sunday against the Oakland Raiders. He went 22 of 28 for 406 yards. That's good enough. What made this day so special is he threw for SEVEN touchdown passes, the 2nd quarterback this year to do it (Payton Manning did it week one), and the 7th all time to do it. The performance helped power the Eagles to a 49-20 victory. Foles had a chance to go for eight in the game, but Eagles coach Chip Kelly not pulled him with more than nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. Still it was one of the top performances this year, and maybe the greatest game Foles will ever play in the NFL.

Worst:
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Late Game Defense
It's been a really tough year for Bucs fans down in Tampa Bay. The team is 0-8 on the year, sitting in dead last of the NFC South. Last year Tampa showed up for most of the ball game against the NFC's best team in the Seattle Seahawks. They only showed up for MOST of the game.  The defense chocked late in the game, giving up a 21 point lead, en route to a 27-24 overtime loss. The Bucs deserve the bulk of their 0-8 record, but certainly played better than that mark for three quarters on Sunday. It’s the closest they got to a win since Week 1, when Lavonte David’s questionable penalty on a late hit against the Jets set New York up for a game-winning field goal.

Best:
Chris Johnson, Running Back Tennessee Titans
This is the Chris Johnson Titans fans have been waiting to see all season. At one point during his career, he was a 2,000 yard rusher, who had a ton of talent and can be a top teir back. This year he had been a little on the quite side, coming into Sunday’s game against the St. Louis Rams without a touchdown or 100-yard performance. He broke free, against former coach Jeff Fisher and the Rams for 150 yards and two scores (including a 19-yard game winner with 2:54 left) as Tennessee left the Edward Jones Dome with a 28-21 win. So is this a sort of coming out party for Chris Johnson? Only time will tell.

Worst:
Baltimore Ravens Offensive Line
At some point the Ravens’ inability to run the football goes beyond Ray Rice. Joe Flacco led the team’s ground game with 25 yards rushing in Baltimore’s 24-18 loss to Cleveland, a game in which he was also sacked five times by Browns defenders. For a team to be good, even remotely good, they have to have an offensive line that can pass block with regularity. I'm not saying they have to be perfect all the time, but this kind of stuff can't keep happening if the Ravens want to get back to the promise land. If the reigning Super Bowl champs want to get any sort of offensive consistency, it’s going to have to start with the guys up front.

Best:
Tony Romo, Quarterback Dallas Cowboys
The fourth quarter is never boring with the Cowboys quarterback. After the Vikings scored with 5:40 left to go up 23-20, Romo’s pass to Terrence Williams was picked off by Minnesota’s A.J. Jefferson on 3rd & 9 several plays later. The signal-caller shook it off and led a nine play, 90-yard drive on the next series, which culminated with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Harris with 35 seconds to play. This goes to show that Tony Romo is still one of the top Quarterbacks in the entire league during the regular season. Now if he could only play like this come playoff time, the Cowboys would be all set.

Worst:
Christian Ponder, Quarterback Minnesota Vikings
Despite Adrian Peterson’s best efforts, the Vikings couldn’t escape the performance of their beleaguered quarterback, who fumbled the ball in his own end zone for a Cowboys touchdown in the third quarter, threw an early fourth quarter pick and failed to convert any first downs following Romo’s key turnover late in the game. Given one last opportunity to throw a Hail Mary pass from the Dallas 47, Ponder’s last-second heave didn’t even reach the end zone. It's been a really tough year to play quarterback in Minnesota this season.

Best:
Tom Brady, Quarterback New England Patriots
After an underwhelming first eight games, Brady compiled a 151.8 passer rating in New England’s 55-31 win over Pittsburgh, hitting three receivers for over 100 yards each. With the Pats now 7-2 and a healthy Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola and Stevan Ridley at his disposal coming out of next week’s bye, the quarterback looks poised to put up some more Brady-like numbers in his final seven games.

Worst:
Pittsburgh Steelers Secondary
A week after they let Terrelle Pryor fly by them with a 93-yard touchdown run, the Steelers defense gave up a franchise record 55 points in a 55-31 loss to the Patriots. The team’s usually solid safeties were victimized by a series of big plays, including several by Rob Gronkowski on the Patriots’ second drive.

So there you have it. The best and worst from Week Nine in the NFL!

Oswego Women's Hockey Sweep With A Shutout And A Thriller

The Oswego State Women's Hockey team kicked off the 2013-14 season with a big bang. They hosted the Oswego State Classic, their first ever home tournament, and did so in pretty convincing fashion. The first game of the tournament, and the season for that matter, Oswego dominated New England College, coming away with a 5-0 victory. Laker Captain Olivia Boersen got the scoring started, which turned out to be the game winner, at the 5:03 mark of the opening period, her first goal of the season. That would account for the only offense in the opening period.

To the 2nd period we go, and Oswego extended the lead to 2-0 at the 8:36 mark, when Bridget Hamlin scored her first career goal. Oswego increased the lead to 3-0 at the 17:49 mark when Erika Truschke knocked home her first career goal. Oswego would carry the 3-0 lead into the 2nd intermission. In the 3rd period, Oswego would deposit their final two goals of the game. First, at the 2:01 mark of the 3rd, Ashley Lyman scored her first career goal, and 3rd point of the game, to give Oswego the 4-0 lead. Finally at the 7:00 mark, Olivia Boersen scored her 2nd of the game, a powerplay goal, to seal the 5-0 victory.

Boersen (2 goals) and Ashley Lyman (goal, 2 assists) lead the offensive charge for the Lakers in the win, as they managed to fire 48 shots on goal, compared to just 11 by New England College. Lauren Hopps took the loss for New England, stopping 43 of 48 Oswego shots, while Cathrine Cote picked up the shutout win for Oswego, stopping all 11 shots she faced. The shutout was the 2nd career shutout for Cote, who also picked up her 8th career win.

So after the dominating win Saturday, Oswego had a bit more of a challenge in the contest on Sunday, beating Caselton State in an overtime thriller 3-2.  Oswego string of shutout hockey to start the season was broken at the 14:14 mark of the 1st period when Lisa Kilroy scored her 1st of the year. Oswego wouldn't go away quietly, as at the 16:15 mark of the period, Leslie Jarvis scored her first of the year, a powerplay goal, to get the game even. That's the way the score would stay going into the 1st intermission.

To the 2nd period we go, and the intensity picked up a little bit. Oswego scored the only goal of the period at the 3:54 mark when Mady Paul scored her 1st if the year. The Lakers were able to hold that one goal lead until the 12:14 mark of the 3rd period when BriAnna Narodowy tied the game up for Castelton. Neither team could break the tie during regulation, thus sending the game to overtime.  I took 2:31 of overtime for us to get a winner, and that goal came off the stick of Megan Hagg, lifting Oswego to the 3-2 victory.

Jess Cameron took the loss for Castelton, stopping 47 of 50 Oswego shots. Bridget Smith picked up the win for Oswego, stopping 19 of 21 Castelton shots. Laker captain Olivia Boersen as named MVP of the tournament.

With the two wins over the weekend, it is the first time since the 2009-10 season that Oswego has opened the season 2-0. Ironically, the Lakers' first win that season was against the Spartans of Castleton State.

Oswego takes their show on the road next weekend for a pair of games in Potsdam against the Bears.

Oswego Men's Hockey Earns Split Opening Weekend

Oswego State officially kicked off the 2013-14 season with a weekend series against western New York opponents, as the Fredonia Blue Devils and Buffalo State Bengals made their only trips to the Campus Center during the regular season. Fredonia was up first last Friday night, a team in which has given Oswego fits over the past few seasons, was back to the same old tricks.

The first period went quietly, with neither team being able to find the back of the net. Shots favored Oswego 14-10 in the opening period. To the 2nd period we go and the scoring finally opened at the 4:36 mark when Shawn Hulshof scored his first career goal to give the Lakers the lead. Mitch Kaufmann would tie the game for the Blue Devils less than three minutes later. Oswego would retake the lead at 19:12 when Brandon Adams scored his first career goal. The Lakers would carry the 2-1 lead into the 2nd intermission. The lead wouldn't last very long, as at 4:08 of the 3rd period Chad Bennett would connect on the powerplay, his first of the season, to knot the score. Nobody would be able to break the tie in regulation, so we headed to overtime. The game looked set to end in a tie but out of nowhere, with 28 seconds left on the clock, Hunter Long scored the game winner for the Blue Devils, pulling out the comeback 3-2 win.

Oswego outshot Fredonia 40-29 throughout the hockey game, but couldn't get that elusive 3rd goal. Justin Gilbert took the Loss for the Lakers, stopping 26 of 29 shots. Meanwhile, Chris Eiserman got the win for Fredonia, stopping 38 of 40 Oswego shots. Fredonia went 1 for 5 on the powerplay, while Oswego was 0 for 4 with the man advantage. This was the first season-opening loss for Oswego since the 2008-09 season when it fell 3-2 on the road at Elmira College. The loss is also the first home-opening loss in the Campus Center Ice Arena since the 2007-08 season when the Soaring Eagles defeated Oswego 3-2.

So after the sting of Friday night still fresh, Oswego had to rebound Saturday night against the Buffalo State Bengals. And rebound they did. Both Oswego and Buffalo State came out in this game very aggressive, with Oswego getting on the board first. Dylan Smith connected for his first career goal at the 5:19 mark of the opening period to give Oswego the early lead. The lead wouldn't last long, as at the 8:26 mark Adam Rossi scored his 2nd of the season to tie the game for the Bengals. Teams would trade off penalties the rest of the opening period, but neither team would capatalize and the opening period ended tied at 1.

To the 2nd period we go, and the intensity was much the same from the opening frame, but with an increase in scoring. Alex Botten scored his first career goal, a powerplay goal, at the 10:01 mark to put Oswego back up by one. Taylor Pryce scored his 1st of the season at the 12:43 mark to pull Buffalo State back even at 2. The tie wouldn't last very long, as Matt Galati scored his 1st career goal, and game winner, at 13:36 of the 2nd. Nobody scored during the final period, allowing Oswego to hang on for the 3-2 victory, their first win of the young season.

Matt Zawadzki picked up his first career victory in net for Oswego, stopping 24 of 26 buffalo State Shots. Meanwhile, Kevin Carr took the loss for Buffalo State, dropping his record to 1-1-0 on the year, while he stopped 50 of 53 Oswego shots.

So the Lakers close out opening weekend with a couple of nail bitters to start the year off. Next weekend the team plays only once, that being Saturday 11/9 in Cortland against the Red Dragons, with faceoff set for 7PM!

(photo and some parts of the story provided by the Oswego State Sports Information Department)

Oswego State Women's Hockey Is Reloaded And Ready To Start The Season

This time last year, things didn't look too good for the Oswego State Women's Hockey team. They had lost some of their best players and headed into the season with 17 players on the roster. Nobody really thought they would be able to make it back to the playoffs. But they did. They finished the year last year 12-12-1 and got into the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row, before falling to Neumann in the opening round.

That was last year. This year, things look a whole lot different. Last year, the team surprised a lot of people by getting to the playoffs, and even finishing .500, with a short roster. The team only had 17 players, so if anybody really got hurt, that put the team at a distinct disadvantage. They still got it done and made the playoffs.

That was last season. This year, head coach Diane Dillon has a full 23 player roster to work with. After last season, Oswego only lost one player due to graduation, that senior defenseman Brea Reith. Reith broughtt a very physical presence to that blueline. With that missing, Dillon and the coaching staff had some big skates to fill. They did that and then some heading into this year.

For most hockey teams, success starts with goaltending. Oswego has that. All three netminders from last yeas squad are back for this season. Senior Cathrine Cote missed almost all of last year with a shoulder injury, but is now back, fully healthy and ready to make an impact again in net. Of course she will be competing with Junior standout Bridget Smith, who carried the bulk of the work load in net a season ago. In her career, Smith has the highest winning percentage and 2nd most shutouts in school history. So Smith and Cote are going to be fighting it out for the number one job. Finally there's Sophmore Tori Trovato, who did a great job as a freshman filling in for the injured Cote. So the goaltending situation is solid heading into this year.

On defense, the loss of Reith has an impact. But the team still has their top three defenders back in the lineup, in the form of Seniors Jocelyn St. Clair, Leslie Jarvis and Chelsa Hunt. Their calming influence and experience will be of great value to a solid hockey club. Plus throw in the experience of Sophomore Jayme McCreary, and you've got a solid top four defenseman. McCreary has the year experience under her belt, proving to be a solid stay at home defenseman. Now with Reith gone, and some younger legs on the team, there's a little more competition for playing time on the line. The coaching staff has brought in three new defenseman who will be playing for the final two spots on the blueline. Coming into the mix are freshman Alli Ullrich, Monica Patten, Kendall Appelbaum and junior Monique Cornett, all of whom will be competing for playing time on defense. Having this mix of veteran leadership and youthfulness is going to be huge for Oswego.

But wait there's more. In order for a hockey team to be a success, you have to be able to score. The squad brings back its leading scorers from a year ago in the form of seniors Alternate Captain Mady Paul, Captain Olivia Boreson and team leading scorer Melissa Seamont. Also coming back are Megan Hagg, Emma Smetaniuk, Bailee Goodon and Lizzy Marks, who help power a pretty dynamic offense. Now there is some new blood coming in to help balance the offensive attack. Joining the forward ranks for this years team are going to be Erika Truschke, Bridget Hamlin, Alexa Aramburu, Ashley Lyman, Brennan Butler and finally Monica Patten.

This new crop of players brings in a mix of size, speed and scoring touch. Oswego, at times seems to be out played in the physical department, but now they seemed to add the size they need to be able to compete with some of the top teams in the country like Elmira and Plattsburgh. Does Oswego have enough talent here to make a deep playoff run? Absolutely they do. There's a lot of talent on this hockey team, with a good mix of youth and veteran leadership. Last year they surprised a lot of people making it as far as they did with what they had. Now they have a full roster, with a good mix of size, speed and strength. If they can nstay healthy, Oswego is going to be a force in the ECAC West this season!

(photo and some of the story provided by the Oswego State Sports Information Department)

Oswego State Men's Hockey Ready to Go After Rebuild

The time of year has finally arrived. The puck is set to drop on another season of Oswego State Lakers Hockey. Once again its a season of rebuild on the shores of Lake Ontario. During each of the last four years, the Men's Hockey team at Oswego has made it all the way to the final four in the NCAA Tournament. This year the team looks to get back there again, but this time with a slew of new faces.

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)