The Oswego State men’s ice hockey team got off on the right foot to start the season with a 3-1 win over the CCHL All-Graduate team in front of a sold-out crowd at the Marano Campus Center Ice Arena. There were obviously things the Lakers need to improve on this week before a home-and-home next weekend with Elmira College, but they can build on this win.

The Lakers were physical all throughout the game, but Joey Rutkowski got the crowd into it early when he stepped up and nearly sent Jaren Burke into the Laker penalty box just minutes into the first.

The easiest aspect to point out from today’s game was the Lakers’ inability to stay out of the penalty box. Despite taking 8 penalties over the course of 60 minutes, the Lakers were able to stay composed and kept the majority of the scoring chances to areas of little concern.

“For the opening game, in regards to the penalties, there is an emphasis on stick interference [and] reaching with our arms,” head coach Ed Gosek said postgame. “A lot of those, whether it’s the new emphasis or the old, we deserved and we obviously gotta cut down on those.”

Aaron Huffnagle and Chris Raguseo both went off for slashing minors early in the first and this forced the Lakers to kill of a shortened 5-on-3 power play.

And as we see time and time again, the captain Kenny Neil was a huge part in killing off this early chance for the All-Graduate team. He was without his stick at the tail end of the penalty, but was able to get in the shooting lanes and disrupt the flow of the CCHL All-Graduate team power play that eventually went 0-8 on the night.

“Coach Digby has been working hard with them on little different X’s and O’s,” Gosek said. “There were some breakdowns, but for the most part the guys did a good job of pressuring and taking away their high scoring options.”

Goaltenders have to be your best penalty killer each night, but tonight that was evermore evident. Matt Zawadzki was able to somehow keep the puck out of the net on a prolonged scrum in front that did not see a whistle for quite some time during the Laker penalty kill.

Zawadzki looked like he is poised to have a solid season in his final chance after making six saves in his 20-minute audition.

“I thought [Zawadzki] was aggressive,” Gosek said. “I thought he was out on his angles, he allowed our [defense] to take the back-door guy. I thought he was focusing solely on the shooter.”

He was also able to stop a flurry of chances after Chris Raguseo turned the puck over in the high slot with no pressure in sight at even strength later on in the period.

No goals were scored after 20 minutes due to the stellar play from Zawadzki and Connor Hughes of the CCHL All-Graduates. The Lakers were able to create some odd-man rushes in the first but could not light the lamp.

In the second frame, Oswego State seemed to feed off some big saves David Jacobson made off deflections and through screens to keep the game scoreless.

Joey Rutkowski set up the first Laker goal after he sent a clearing pass high off the glass and onto the stick of Josh Zizek in the neutral zone. He beat Hughes with a hot shot top corner to give the Lakers their first lead of the season.

“[The goal is] huge for confidence,” Zizek said. “Get the monkey off the back first game, even though it’s not really a season game, it’s an exhibition.”

In the third, the Lakers surrendered the lead at the 5:03 mark when Cedric Hansen had a puck squeak by his glove, trickle through the blue paint and over the line. The big forward’s heavy shot knotted the game while short handed with assists to Michael Murray and Nicholas Ngwafusi.

“It caught a piece of my glove and just caught a bad bounce,” Hansen said. “It’s one I’d like to have back and something I’m going to work with my goalie coaches on.”

10 minutes passed and the Lakers’ offense seemed to become more and more stagnant. The All-Graduate team was turning it on more and more as time dwindled down. The Lakers were only outshot 12-10 in the final frame, but the majority of grade-a chances weren’t in their favor.

The Lakers finally caught a break as a puck squirted out of their own zone and Joey Davies used his speed to get up ice. Trent Durocher joined the rush and Davies was able to get a saucer pass over the stick of the sprawling William Cullen. Durocher would make no mistake about it and buried the eventual game winner passed Ian Adriano with under five minutes to go. TJ Sneath was also credited with an assist on the go-ahead goal.

Alex Botten then sealed it with an empty net goal to give the Lakers the victory in this exhibition.

The Lakers play again on Friday against Elmira College at 7 p.m. on home ice.