A New Hope

The Lakers aren’t out of the race for a home playoff game just yet. The three seed may be out the window after the loss last night, but there is still hope. If the Lakers can win tonight and The College at Brockport can edge out a win over SUNY Potsdam they will hold the four seed.

Last Night

It wasn’t as if Oswego State couldn’t create offensively. They put up 31 shots to the Bengals 36. Not that bad of a number, especially because the Lakers took two more penalties than Buffalo State. Oswego State seemed to be able to control the penalties last night, not nearly as many as the last two games. A couple of bad penalties, but overall not that bad of a night. It’s unofficially playoff hockey, as long as the numbers are pretty even coaches will accept that.

Tonight

Oswego State beat SUNY Fredonia earlier this year, in overtime, but they did it. The Blue Devils are 4-9-2 in conference play. The Lakers should be able to beat this team. The only thing is that the Lakers are 3-5-2 on the road this year. Not a good number and that could be detrimental to them tonight.

Lineup Card

Matt Galati is out of the lineup tonight. It’s not known why he is out. Could be an injury, or just a message from Coach Gosek. A little late for the latter don’t you think? David Ferrira moves into his spot on the third line and Connor Boyd slots in on the fourth line. All other forward lines remain the same.

Alex D’Oliveira and JJ Hart will take over the third defensive pairing for Mac Scott and Pierre Ouellette. Scott was injured again last night.

The Blue Devils have a few solid scorers. Taylor Bourne and Bobby Polachek both have 23 points, only Shawn Hulshof has 20 points for the Lakers. The rest of the team can put up some numbers, Bobby Ortiz has 23 points on the third line. Four other forwards have double digit points.

In the Crease

Zawadzki will be in net again, Ignagni is still missing. It’s starting to get a little scary. Gosek thought he could’ve went against Canton on senior night, but still hasn’t returned.

Jeff Flagler will start for SUNY Fredonia. He is 3-6-3 on the year with very sub par numbers. That should be a good sign for the Lakers, who as we all know, are struggling to score.

Streaky

This Oswego State team has been streaky all year. They haven’t had a whole lot of winning streaks. All season the media has talked about how this team just needs to get hot at the right time. That never happened. A win tonight would help give them some momentum heading in the SUNYAC Playoffs. It’s a whole new ball game once you get into the playoffs.

This team went to OT against the top team in the conference, not once, but twice. That should show that they can play with anyone. It just needs to happen. Whatever it takes, it needs to happens and it needs to kick in tonight.

Players to Watch

Lakers- Shawn Hulshof

An assist last night gives him 22 points on the year. He is the only Laker to have over 20 points. He’s slotted in at the third line on the depth chart, but plays top minutes. He’s one of the most reliable forwards and will need to keep up the solid play to compensate for Matt Galati missing.

Blue Devils- Hunter Long

The assistant captain has 14 points on the year. He’s one of those reliable secondary scorers that coaches love. Long actually scored last time these two teams met. He’s a reliable guy that leads this team, he will need to be good tonight. Long may fly under the radar and get something on the board.

By the Numbers

Standings

Lakers- 15 points [Fifth Place]

Blue Devils- 10 points [Seventh Place]

Goals per Game

Lakers- 2.79

Blue Devils- 3.54

Powerplay

Lakers- 18-87 1 (20.7%) [No. 23 in Div. III]

Blue Devils- 21-112 (18.8%) [No. 35 in Div. III]

Penalty Kill

Lakers- 86-100 (86.0%) [No. 24 in Div.III]

Blue Devils- 86-108 (79.6%) [No. 54 in Div. III]

Game Prediction

This Blue Devil team has excellent in first periods, a +12 goal differential in the opening frame. Oswego State is a -1. If the Lakers can weather that storm they should be in good shape. Zawadazki didn’t play terrible yesterday, he stopped 33, a respectable number. Last night was the same old story; not enough offense. The Blue Devils have some good point getters spread throughout their lineup, a little more than Oswego, that could mean trouble. The Lakers are struggling to score and are not doing enough defensively to help that. That needs to change. Tonight that could happen.

Lakers win 2-1