The Final Stretch

The final weekend of regular season play will begin tonight around the conference. Elmira College will travel to Oswego to take on the Lakers and continue this heated rivalry. Last season Oswego State was swept by the Soaring Eagles, while playing on the road. This time around the Lakers will hope to use their home ice to their advantage. The coaching staff and players feel good about getting Elmira College on home ice. The Lakers are starting to come into their own, going 2-1-1 in their last four, with the loss coming in overtime. The recent improvement will be tested tonight with the No. 2/3 ranked team in the nation coming to the 315.

Worth Noting

Elmira College is unbeaten on the road. They are channeling their inner 2014-2015 Dallas Cowboys. The Soaring Eagles have posted a 10-0-0 record in unfamiliar rinks, and will try to expand that this weekend.

The Lakers are 5-5-1 at home this year. The definition of average.

Between the Pipes

Elmira College has one of the better goalies in Div. III hockey on their roster, both goalies are actually posting phenomenal numbers. Kelcey Crawford and Kyle Nelson both post sub 2.00 goals against averages and have a combined four shutouts. These two nearly split time in net so it is a guess who will start tonight, but either one should give the Laker offense some trouble.

Tori Trovato had one of her best weekends of her collegiate career last weekend. She made a career-high 47 saves in the tie to Williams College and only allowed one goal in the Saturday matinee.  She is the team’s goalie it seems for the duration of the season. Mariah Madrigal has been dealing with an injury she sustained in practice and was not on the ice this week during practice.

Ranked Troubles

The Lakers were beaten badly by the No. 1 team in the nation, the SUNY Plattsburgh Cardinals, earlier this year, but who hasn’t? Elmira College comes in ranked in the top five so the Lakers will have a lot to deal with. Oswego State also lost to Utica College and tied them in the beginning of the season. Granted they weren’t ranked at the time, but they are now. Buffalo State is also starting to receive votes for the top 10 and Oswego was recently handled by them, as well. A win would really show that Oswego State is ready for playoffs.

Post Season Look Ahead

Oswego State and SUNY Cortland are both fighting over the final two playoff seeds, even though they don’t mean much. Oswego State has clinched a playoff berth, so that is good news. The path to the finals will be all on the road for either team, no matter what the results of this weekend are. The Red Dragons are playing William Smith, who is fighting to get in the playoffs, that should be a very good matchup. That also could be troublesome for the Lakers, who could drop to the six seed after this weekend is over.

It’s a huge weekend for William Smith and SUNY Cortland. Those two teams are fighting over the final playoff spot and are going head to head.

Special Teams

The Lakers’ powerplay is getting better and better looks recently. Alli Ullrich quarterbacks the powerplay and that has led the Lakers to recent success, scoring in back to back games. The Soaring Eagles’ powerplay comes in at 20.2 percent, a very good number that could hurt the Lakers tonight. The Lakers’ penalty kill was very good this past weekend, almost re-energized. It will be interesting to see how they stack up in tonight’s tilt.

Players to Watch

Lakers- Laura Thacker

The California native was the most active Lakers in their last contest. She is great on the defensive end, but is starting to show signs of being able to create offensively. She is still young her in collegiate career and this could be the start of her transition to a great two-way forward. Her play tonight, especially on the penalty kill, could make a huge difference.

Soaring Eagles- Phoebe Piku

The senior has yet to record a goal this year, but is third on the team in assists with 11 helpers. Piku scored last year against the Lakers, for her second goal while playing Oswego State. She’s a great playmaking defenseman and will be playing big minutes tonight. Piku has been a little cold lately, but could break out of her slump, scoring wise, tonight.

By the Numbers

Standings

Lakers- 15 points [Fifth Place]

Soaring Eagles- 28 points [Second Place]

Goals per Game

Lakers- 2.26

Soaring Eagles- 3.78

Powerplay

Lakers- 13-78 (16.7%) [Tied for No. 23 in Div. III]

Soaring Eagles- 17-84 (20.2%) [No. 14 in Div. III]

Penalty Kill

Lakers- 47- 55  (85.5%) [No. 27 in Div. III]

Soaring Eagles- 81-92 (88.0%) [No. 14 in Div. III]

Game Prediction

This game will be a real test for the Lakers, a good showing is a must, even if they can’t pull out the win. This Elmira team is a powerhouse, with so many weapons. It’s a huge game and the team seems ready, but it’s hard to think they will walk away with the two points. The Lakers have a slow start and can’t climb back into this one.

Soaring Eagles win 5-2