The Oswego State men’s ice hockey team scored three unanswered goals to force overtime, but were unable to come up with the game-winning goal in a 3-3 tie to Morrisville State College on Saturday night at the Campus Center Ice Arena.
Morrisville withstood a barrage of shots in the final seconds of overtime, but Morrisville goalie Colin Breen sealed the tie after making a series of saves. The Lakers finished with seven shots in the overtime period, while the Mustangs finished with five shots. The Lakers experienced their first tie since a 5-5 tie against the same Mustangs team back on Nov. 14, 2008.
The Mustangs (1-4-1 overall, 1-4-1 SUNYAC) waisted no time attempting to silence the home fans, capitalizing on their first power play opportunity of the game at 1:21 of the first period. Following a boarding penalty to junior forward Paul Rodrigues, Morrisville’s Taylor Vince fed a pass to Patrick Stillar to the right of the net, who wristed a shot past the glove side of junior goaltender Andrew Hare. During the scoring play, Oswego State senior forward and team captain Andrew Mather attempted to clear the puck by hand passing the puck toward the blue line, but Vince was able to keep it in the offensive zone. Stillar’s shot was the first of the game for the Mustangs.
Morrisville built its lead to two after a goal scored by Todd Hosmer at 14:28 of the first period. Morrisville’s Rafal Plonski fed a pass to Stillar behind the net, who found Hosmer in the slot. Hosmer one-timed a shot past Hare to take a 2-0 lead.
Despite outshooting the Mustangs 18-8 in the first period, the Lakers found themselves trailing by two goals heading into the first period intermission thanks in part to Morrisville goaltender Colin Breen coming up with 18 saves in the first period. The Lakers went 0-for-3 on the power play, recording just four shots on goal.
The Mustangs started the second period off much like the opening period, scoring an early goal to build their lead to three. Morrisville’s Jonathan Cristini wristed a shot on net that was blocked aside by Hare, but Hare gave up a rebound attempt in front of the net. Ivan Oliink collected the loose puck in front of the net and found Ryan Marcuz on the right side of the net with a cross-crease pass, who beat Hare glove side to take a three-goal lead. The goal was Marcuz’s first of the season.
The Lakers (5-1-1 overall, 3-0-1 SUNYAC) finally got on the board with just 16 seconds remaining in the second period on junior defenseman Jesse McConney’s third goal of the season. With just over 30 seconds remaining in the second period, junior forward Tyler Leimbrock won the faceoff in the Lakers’ offensive own and got the puck to sophomore forward Kyle Badham, who found McConney at the blue line. McConney wristed a shot through traffic that beat Breen glove side top shelf to cut the Mustang lead to two going into the second period intermission.
Oswego State cut the lead to one on the power play at 2:13 of the third period on a goal scored by junior forward Chris Brown. Following a hooking penalty by Morrisville’s James Jarvis, Brown scored his second goal of the season on a rebound off senior forward Ian Boots’ shot from the slot. Boots ripped a shot that deflected off the blocker and over to Brown on the left side of the ice, who had an open net to bury the puck.
The Lakers completed the comeback at 10:05 of the third period on junior forward Chris Muise’s first goal of the season. Rodrigues received a pass from McConney behind the back of the net, who found Muise in front of the net for the game-tying goal. Muise’s shot just trickled past the goal line behind Breen.
The Lakers outshot the Mustangs 54-27 in the game, limiting the Mustangs to just five shots in the third period. Oswego State went 1-for-7 on the power play, while the Mustangs finished 1-for-6 with the extra man.
Hare finished the game with 24 saves and Breen made 51 saves for Morrisville.
The Lakers hit the road for a four-game stretch starting with SUNY Fredonia on Nov. 18 at 7 p.m. at Steele Hall.
