The Oswego State men’s club hockey team finished its 2nd “Pink the Rink,” weekend with 2-0 win against Syracuse University on Saturday afternoon. With the win, the Lakers improve their record to 5-5-1 on the season.

The Lakers started “Pink the Rink” weekend last season when the team raised over $1,200. The proceeds go to the Upstate Cancer Center in Syracuse. The connection that started the tradition was coach Jay Peacock, Oswego State’s head coach, as he works at Upstate Medical.

“The players wanted to do something special to give back to the community,” Carla Peacock said.

This year they came close to raising the same amount as last year, raising a little over $1,000. The players, coaching staff and supporters are overjoyed that they could help contribute to this cause.

“Honestly, it’s awesome. The majority has someone we know or someone in our family who has suffered from breast cancer so it’s nice to give back to the community,” freshman Michael Pisarevsky said about the weekend’s fundraiser.

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” Peacock said. “The staff we have just give, give, give and they are just fabulous.”

The game started with a quick pace, as the Orange was called for a penalty at the 18:58 mark in the opening period.

Syrcause was called for two-minute minor for the Orange having too many men on the ice. The Orange would kill that penalty off.

Syracuse received another penalty at the 16:30 mark. It was another two minute minor for cross checking. Syracuse’s Tim Elie was credited with the penalty.

The penalty was caused by a strong Laker defense and a frustrated Orange offense. This penalty was also killed off by the Orange.

Excitement was raised at the 6:00 mark when Syracuse sophomore forward David Nardoni weaved through the defense for a one-on-one chance with sophomore Laker goalie Dylan Niewiemski.

He skated in and tried a backhand shot but Niewiemski forced the Orange forward to shoot the puck high, up and over the net.

“To score a 2-0 shutout with 36 shots is just tremendous,” Peacock said about his sophomore goalie’s performance on Sunday.

The first period came to a close after a pair of Orange penalties. These penalties included a two-minute minor for tripping by senior forward Russell Suskind.

The other was a two-minute minor by sophomore forward Mitchell LeSeur. Both penalties were handled by the Orange.

The second period began with the teams switching roles. The Lakers began to pick up penalty after penalty.

The first of the Laker’s four penalties in the second came at the 16:46 mark. Good passing by the Orange led to a two-minute minor hooking penalty by Laker senior forward Jordan Alhart. The penalty would be killed off by the Laker.

The second came at the 14:24 mark when Laker freshman right wing Nicolas Epping was called for tripping. Epping started making a good play in the Laker offensive zone taking the puck away from the Orange defender.

The defender took the puck back however, and Epping tripped him up with his stick before he got away.

The Lakers were then two men down when freshmen defender Austin Frost picked up a two-minute minor for slashing. The Laker defense killed off these penalties as well.

“Power plays were the key. We didn’t score any, but neither did they. We killed penalties very, very well,” Peacock said.

The Lakers would finally put one up on the board at the 7:24 mark when Michael Pisarevsky was able to send a shot that slid  underneath the leg pads of the Orange goaltender.

Freshman Devin Smith was on the left side of the rink when he found fellow freshman Kegan Storjohann behind the net. Storjohann then found Pisarevsky at the bottom of the left circle.

The Lakers would quickly find themselves down a man again when senior forward D.J. Mazzoni was called for hooking at the 5:17 mark.

The period ended with the Lakers getting off one shot. This resulted in a goal. The Orange got 24 shots off in the period, resulting in no goals.

The Lakers were quickly on the penalty kill again at the 19:35 mark to start the third period.

Kegan Storjohann received a two-minute minor penalty for kneeing. The penalty occurred away from the puck when the Orange defender and Storjohann collided, drawing the penalty.

The Lakers would kill that penalty just to receive another at the 14:10 mark. Freshman defender Matthew Peters was called for holding, receiving two minutes in the penalty box.

The Lakers then would go on the power play at the 10:02 mark as Orange forward Alex Rajaniemi was called for tripping. The Orange stood tall and killed off the penalty.

The Lakers received another penalty at the 8:10 mark for having too many men on the ice. This would turn into a 4-on-4 as Orange forward Mitchell LeSueur was called for tripping.

The Lakers would make it 2-0 at the 4:49 mark. The goal was scored by graduate Chris Timmons and assisted by sophomore defender George Scouras.

Scouras, who was at the blue line, wristed a puck into a cluster of players in front of the Orange goaltender and Timmons found the rebound and banged it in the goal.

The Lakers received another penalty at 4:32 of the period when Storjohann was called for hooking, but the game ended with a final score of 2-0 and Oswego State improved to 5-5-1 on the season.

The Laker power play unit finished the game without scoring any goals despite six chances.

“We gotta get the puck in the goal,” Peacock said. “It’s going to come. It is just a matter of when.”

This victory made Oswego State’s record for the weekend 2-1.

The Lakers will go on a crucial five-game road trip before they return to the Campus Center Arena to play Cornell.

The game, which is the Fall Senior game, is on Nov. 24 at 2 p.m.