The Oswego State men’s ice hockey team closed out its six-game homestand with a 5-1 victory over SUNY Cortland on Friday night at the Campus Center Ice Arena led by junior forward Luke Moodie’s two goals and one assist.
In their first game against a SUNYAC opponent since Dec. 3 against SUNY Potsdam, the Lakers jumped out to an early lead and scored three unanswered goals in a seven-minute stretch to increase their conference lead to three points over SUNY Plattsburgh. The Cardinals did not play Friday and will face Morrisville State College on Saturday.
Sophomore forward Titanic struck first for the Lakers at 2:45 of the first period to give Oswego State the early one-goal lead. Junior forward Chris Brown and freshman forward Chris Carr each handled the puck from behind the net before Brown found Titanic near the crease for a shot that beat Cortland goaltender Jeff Molner for the goal.
Carr would be awarded with his first goal of his collegiate career at 12:39 of the second period. The line of Carr, Brown and Titanic skated into the offensive zone with an odd-man rush and Carr took a pass from Brown and found open net past Molhner for the goal.
Cortland (4-12-1 overall, 2-5-1 SUNYAC) scored its only goal of the game at 14:02 of the second period on a nice 2-on-1 rush to cut the Laker lead in half. Joey Christiano delivered a cross ice pass to Mike Henrici, who blasted a one-timer past junior goaltender Andrew Hare, who had no chance to recover after the quick pass.
The Lakers (13-2-2 overall, 7-0-2 SUNYAC) responded late in the second period to build the lead back up to two goals while on the power play. Following a tripping penalty by Nick Zappia, junior forward Jon Whitelaw fed a pass to Moodie in the slot, who had his shot blocked in traffic but right to the stick of junior forward Paul Rodrigues, who buried the puck into the back of the net.
Despite being rejected late in the second period, Moodie scored the Oswego State’s final two goals in the third period, his 10th and 11th of the season, respectively. Moodie first came at 1:15 after the puck was poked away from a Cortland skater at the blue line by freshman forward RJay Berra. Moodie outskated two Cortland defenders and Molner couldn’t decide whether or not to stay in his net or play the puck, which left plenty of space for Moodie to score on a backhanded shot.
Moodie tallied his second goal of the game shorthanded at 6:04 of the third period after Whitelaw skated behind the Cortland net and delivered a perfect pass in front to Moodie for the easy goal, as Molner found himself out of position.
Hare finished the game with 21 saves on 22 shots faced to earn his 11th win in net this season. Hare did not have to face double digit shots in any period. Molner finished with 41 saves on 46 shots faced in a losing effort for the Red Dragons. Molner made 22 saves in the first period.
The Lakers finished 1-for-3 with the man advantage, while the Red Dragons went 0-for-2 and allowed a shorthanded goal.
Oswego State travels to Hamilton College for one final non-conference game during the regular season on Saturday, Jan. 21, to play the Continentals at Russell Sage Rink. The game is slated for 3 p.m.
