The Oswego State Lakers will look to climb back in the rankings tonight against the SUNY Morrisville Mustangs at 7 p.m. at the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena.
The Lakers, who have fallen out of the USCHO.com’s rankings for the first time since 2002, enter this game 1-3-1, with all of their games having been played in the SUNYAC. Luckily for the Lakers, they play one of the two teams with fewer points than them in the SUNYAC this weekend.
SUNY Morrisville comes into Oswego tonight with a 1-5 record in the SUNYAC, with its lone win against The College at Brockport.
Oswego will be starting Div. I transfer (Niagara University) Adrian Ignagni between the pipes tonight. Ignagni saw his first regular-season action last Saturday against SUNY Potsdam when he replaced Justin Gilbert in the goal early in the third period.
Both Ignagni and Gilbert were seen as depth behind last year’s Second Team All-SUNYAC goalie Matt Zawadzki, but the coaching staff has mixed up the starter position recently.
The Lakers have dominated the Mustangs in the last 10 matchups, going 8-1-1 since the 2010-2011 season. In those 10 matchups, Oswego has outscored Morrisville 50-22.
What To Watch For:
The historically-dominant Laker power play has taken a step back this season, as the unit has only scored a pair of goals on 16 chances so far this season. The line has stayed the same with the forwards Kenny Neil, Matt Galati, Shawn Hulshof and Alex Botten playing, but defenseman Chris Raguseo has not been able to emulate last-year’s captain and first team All-American Bobby Gertsaksis’ success from the point.
Raguseo battled injuries early in the season and has eased his way into the starting line, along with the power-play unit through the first five games. He’s the biggest piece of that unit moving forward and he should look to capitalize on a weak Mustangs’ defense this weekend and help his team put points on the board.
Another player to look for is junior-forward Shawn Hulshof. Last year’s SUNYAC Player of the Year scored 40 points in 31 games and has five points through five games this season. However, only one of those points is a goal.
While he has shown great vision in his four assists on the season, the top scorer from last year’s squad needs to find the back of the net more to propel this offense.
Game Prediction: Oswego – 3 Morrisville – 2
Lakers tough one out against the hard-hitting Mustangs at home and get their second win of the season. Ignagni gets his first win of the season as the offense, especially the power-play unit, will give him just enough cushion to pull out a win.
