The Oswego State men’s ice hockey team will take on the SUNY Potsdam Bears in a vital conference matchup Saturday night in Oswego. The outcome of this game could be significant come playoff time, even though it is still early in the season.
These two teams come into tonight’s matchup with one team’s confidence at an all-time high and the others at an all-time low.
The Bears are off to a surprising 5-0 start, with all five of their victories coming against SUNAC opponents. This team got hot at the end of last season and have carried that momentum over to a perfect start this fall and currently sit in first place in the SUNYAC.
On the other side, Oswego State’s start to its season has been nothing short of disappointing as the preseason No. 6 team in the nation only has three points through its first four games, tied with SUNY Fredonia and SUNY Cortland for fifth in the SUNYAC.
The Lakers struggles have been mostly on the defensive side, having allowed 12 goals so far this season.
If the Lakers want to win this game and keep their confidence afloat, it needs to come from their power-play unit. This team has only scored two power-play goals on 12 chances this year, nearly half the rate they did last year.
The other big key to Oswego today will be senior Justin Gilbert getting the start between the pipes. Gilbert went 6-1-2 in the games he played last year replacing Matt Zawadzki due to injury, but this time may be for a different reason. Zawadzki has struggled so far this year and although the defense in front of him isn’t doing him any favors, head coach Ed Gosek may be trying something new to see if anything can spark his team.
Prediction: Oswego – 3 Potsdam – 1.
Lakers pull the upset off here simply because they need to. For a team as talented as they are with such high expectations going into the year to start the season 1-3-1, it would be devastating. Gilbert shines in the goal to keep the puck on the other side of the ice where the forwards on the second line of Hulshof, Botten and Galati pick up where they left off last night.
