Matt Zawadzki returned to the net today recording his second shutout of the season and the eighth of his career as the Oswego State Lakers closed out their weekend at the Adisson Thanksgiving Showcase with a 2-0 victory against St. John’s.

Oswego head coach Ed Gosek said after last night’s 3-2 loss to St. Thomas, they made some lineup changes and paid more attention to detail for today’s game. That first change was replacing Adrian Ignagni with Zawadzki.

“Certainly it wasn’t pretty,” Gosek said. “It was ugly, but we found a way. I though the guys [had] a gritty performance and held on to the lead.”

Shawn Hulshof scored the first goal of the game on a one-timer during an Oswego power play. Alex Botten won the puck on the face-off, which found its way to Sean Federow at the point who sent it across the ice to Hulshof. The goal which came at 5:37 into the second quarter, was the fourth of the season for the junior, adding to his four assists on the season as well. This was the third consecutive game that the Lakers have scored a power play goal, after only having one goal the previous six games.

“I thought we adapted well for the most part,” Gosek said. “[The injuries] called for a lot of changes, some guys on simple zone entry and puck movement, that haven’t had a lot of time in those spots.”

Those injuries came during the third period, when both Mitchell Herlihey and Shawn Hulshof suffered a pair of injuries that left them off the ice for the remainder of the game.

Herlihey’s injury came in the third period on a St. John’s power play, as he blocked a shot with his leg. Although he saved a shot on goal, Herlihey was unable to stand up under his own power and the referees called a whistle. Herlihey was walking on crutches outside of the locker room after the game.

Hulshof’s injury was to his groin, which he has had problems with since before the beginning of the season.

“Hopefully we’ll have them back for next Friday,” Gosek said. “Herlihey hopefully [has] just a bruise. Hulshof’s groin has been bothering him for some time, hopefully we can get him back for next Friday and Saturday.”

With Herlihey and Hulshof missing at least one power play each, the team had new players in new positions on the power play, especially with captain Chris Raguseo out of the lineup, who usually runs the point in those situations.

Even though the Lakers had only 25 shots on goal during the game, Gosek believed that his team performed better in taking a higher quality of shots and not concerning themselves with how many shots they took, something the team struggled with yesterday.

On the other side of special teams, St. John’s went 0-5 on power play, as Oswego’s penalty kill team play outstanding despite being a man down on five separate occasions. Kenny Neil especially played very well as he was crucial in blocking many shots and clearing the puck a few times to kill the clock.

Gosek was pleased with how his team played defensively, especially after being critical of their effort from yesterday’s game against St. Thomas.

“I thought PK [penalty kill] did a nice job at blocking shots,” he said. “That was the most blocks we’ve had all year, guys willing to do the right things, willing to sacrifice.”

With the win, the Lakers go into next weekend’s conference play against Buffalo State and SUNY Fredonia with a 4-4-1 record after splitting the weekend against St. Thomas and St. John’s.

“Guys found a way,” Gosek said. “We’ve been playing a lot of good games and we’ve had nothing to show for it. So we’ll take a greasy, ugly, hard-working game. To at least get a split here this weekend and get some momentum going into the last weekend of SUNYAC [conference play] of the semester is important for us confidence wise.”

Matt Zawadzki will most likely continue to start between the pipes for the Lakers, showing that he’s the most talented puck-stopper on the team and will be vital for this team moving forward, especially with concerns about the defense moving forward. A pair of captains, Chris Raguseo and Mac Scott sat tonight. Raguseo’s absence was most likely due to his poor play from Friday, but Scott has not dressed for a game since suffering an injury last weekend against SUNY Morrisville.

“I think for him [Zawadzki] just to get his confidence back and the team having confidence in him will be a huge step in the right direction,” Gosek said.

The Lakers next game will be Friday against the SUNY Buffalo State Bengals, who are coming off against a 2-2 overtime tie against No. 5 Norwich University.

Puck drop will be at 7 p.m. at the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena.