The Oswego State men’s ice hockey team won its home opener Saturday night against the College at Brockport 2-0, clinching their first win of the season. The Lakers now sit at 1-0-1 as the Golden Eagles end their opening weekend with a 1-1-0 record.

Head coach Ed Gosek was pleased with his team’s performance, especially with how they looked earlier in the season, with an exhibition loss and a tie.

“Tonight we just wanted to limit our unforced turnovers,” Gosek said. “We were much better with our puck management. That’s what it’s going to take, every single night in our league.”

He was happy not only with the amount of shots that they had on the night, 29, but the quality of shots that they had and their ability to create their own offense.

The turning point of the game came 13:55 into the game, when Brockport player Zac Sikich hit Laker David Ferreria causing a five-minute major penalty. Ferreria was down on the ice for a few moments, but was able to get up under his own power.

Oswego State had a 5-4 advantage for five minutes but couldn’t capitalize for the first few minutes.

Stephen Johnson took a pass near center ice but couldn’t control it and a Brockport player stole it and had a 1-0 breakaway against Oswego goalie Matt Zawadzki.

Zawadzki came out strong from the net and dove head first at the puck, deflecting it toward the board.

“I haven’t done a play like that since I’ve been here,” Zawadzki said.

However, on the play, he lost his stick and had left the goal wide-open. The Brockport player recovered the puck and passed it to his teammate had a great opportunity to give his team a short-handed goal as Zawadzki was retreating back to the net without his stick.

Fortunately for the Lakers, the pass was wide and the Golden Eagles were not able to capitalize on the opportunity.

“We caught a break there,” Gosek said. “Fortunately for us, the momentum shifted.”

Matt Galati took the errant pass and skated down the ice and passed it to Shawn Hulshof who found Kenny Neil and he put the puck in the back of the net for the first goal of the game.

In an interesting sequence of events, the Lakers carried momentum their way after that goal with being able to change the dynamic of the game within just a few seconds.

As for Zawadzki choosing to attack the puck hard rather than stay in the net, he said the decision was “just an instinct.”

“I had good support,” he said on them bringing the puck back down after he left the goal and scoring. “I supported them and they supported me.”

Gosek said it was a questionable decision, but is happy that the situation turned out in his team’s favor and trusts Zawadzki’s judgment.

“It’s a tough decision,” Gosek said. “Obviously if he thinks he can get to it, we’re okay with it.”

Gosek also mentioned that the play was very important knowing the Lakers avoided a disaster they are accustomed to, having given Brockport a few short-handed chances today and surrendering a short-handed goal Friday at Geneseo.

The Lakers would tack on another goal with only 5.8 seconds remaining in the game as sophomore Mitchell Herlihey took the puck away from a Brockport player and scored an empty net goal to secure the win for Oswego.

The biggest takeaway from the game today was Oswego’s improved defense. The Lakers have lost key contributors to their defense from last year’s graduating class and are also missing captain Chris Raguseo who was slotted to be a starter on this team before his injury.

Having given up six goals in their exhibition matchup and three goals Friday against Geneseo, the Lakers showed vast improvements in their defensive containment.

“We’re a work in progress with it [defense],” Gosek said. “I thought today was a step in the right direction. Until we can get some more practice time here and gain some more experience, we’ve got to keep it simple.”

“Tonight we came out with the mentality that we have to tighten it up in the zone and we did that,” Zawadzki said.

Brockport gave this team troubles last year but they were able to overcome some of their problems and get their first win of the season.

“I thought they [Brockport] played hard,” Gosek said. “We had to play for every inch of ice. It was a good character builder for us.”

The Lakers continue their conference play next weekend at SUNY Cortland when they take on the Red Dragons Friday, Nov. 6, who are 0-1-1 on the season so far.