As the 2015-2016 season gets underway, Oswego State women’s ice hockey will play their first non-conference game of the season on Friday against New England College at 7 p.m. The Lakers finished third in the ECAC West last year behind Elmira College and SUNY Plattsburgh. These three teams historically finish in the top three and are slated to do so again this year.
“They’re tough, very good teams,” head coach Diane Dillon said. “They lost a lot of talent to graduation, but they have a proven history of success. That’s a dogfight. I think those two are going to be at each other like crazy. They are getting ready for those contests all year long.”
With both teams losing key pieces this year they will have big roles to fill within each roster. That may give Oswego and other teams in their conference a chance to move up in the standings and change the outlook of the ECAC West.
“[Our players] are so focused on the top teams and they have to be,” Dillon said. “It’s time that we start knocking them off. It’s time. We are hoping that we can find a way to take advantage of any lapses in their game and bring our stronger game.”
Other than the top three of Plattsburgh, Elmira and Oswego State, the final three teams to make the playoffs should be up in the air and very competitive. At least four teams may make a push, including Utica College who finished fourth last season with a 7-7-4 record and tied Oswego in the process.
“Utica has brought in a very large class, starting a JV program,” Dillon said. “[Dave Clausen] is looking to add depth to his program.”
SUNY Cortland made the playoffs for the first time in program history and still have a relatively similar roster with seasoned young players, similar to Oswego State, so look for the Red Dragons to make a push and crack the top six once again.
“Cortland added a couple of players last year with some real skill,” Dillon said. “They made the playoffs for the first time in a long time so they had a taste of it and they are going to want that again.”
SUNY Potsdam is also a team on the rise to look out for even though they finished ninth in the conference with a 5-12-1 record during the 2014-2015 season. Jordan Ott has 58 career points with the Bears and looks to have another successful season to help bring her team up the standings.
“Offensively they have been very strong,” Dillon said. “[They] offensively have always caused fits for us, everybody wants to beat us.”
Buffalo State finished with a sub-500 record in the ECAC West but still made the playoffs last season. Head coach Candice Moxley enters her third season with the Bengals and looks to improve her team even more. She worked with Hockey Canada’s National Development Team during the 2013-14 season. Her hockey knowledge will help this team for years to come.
“They’ve added several strong players,” Dillon said. “A core of her players [Coach Moxley] that she recruited, I think they are going to be the dark horse to look out for.”
Oswego State will have to look out for some upstart teams that finished below them in the standings but with good coaching and talent they should be able to avoid any upsets to inferior conference teams.
“We can’t take anybody lightly, we have to be prepared,” Dillon said. “Game plan has to be correct. We’ll be doing a lot of pre-scouting again this year so that we were ready for them. We have to operate like a well-oiled machine and not have any hiccups.”
With the state of the ECAC West seemingly going to be intact from last year, don’t expect too many surprises from any team except for maybe the Potsdam Bears. The Lakers will look to move up in the standings and finally register a win against Elmira and Plattsburgh while playing them both twice at home.
