Stay With Your Man

Zawadzki talked postgame about each Laker being more aware of who is around them in the defensive zone. This is an example of Chris MacMillan of failing to do just that.

It doesn’t seem possible that you can forget about the guy that just shot the puck, but MacMillan wasn’t able to even get a stick on David Szmyd as he was going to the net.

Failed Zone Exits

In the most basic form, there are two ways to score in hockey. Either on successful zone entries or failed zone exits. This failed exit from Geneseo is credited to Matt Galati. Look at all that room Botten and Neil have to shoot afterwards. Getting the defense to change directions quickly opens up all sorts of room just like this.

Textbook, except for not finishing.

Best Tweet

That makes two this week alone. Sorry, Geneseo. And Cleveland fans too.

Best Flair 

I asked Z postgame about him adding some extra pizzazz to get the crowd into it on a couple saves he made in the third. He laughed so you have to think it was on his mind when he made the saves.

“What’s most important is making the save,” Zawadzki said. “Yeah, I got the crowd into it a little bit, got the guys into it and it translated down in the other zone.”

Here’s one of them.

Something Special

This Jody Sullivan kid is for real. He currently leads all SUNYAC freshmen in goal scoring with four. He also is tied for first in goals among all Div. III freshmen, with Tyler Warila of Fitchburg State and Roman Ammirato of Utica College. If he keeps going to the net hard, we’ll be seeing his goal total climb into double digits by the end of the season.

Here’s one. Great play by Herlihey though, can’t forget him.

Just for good measure. This is his third of the year.

Worst News

Sean Federow was missing again from the lineup tonight. He hasn’t been in the lineup since the first Elmira game on Oct. 28. Coach Gosek couldn’t comment on the extent of the injury, but he did say “it’s going to be awhile” before the 6’2″ defenseman will be back in the lineup. Last season he tallied two goals and 12 assists and looked very solid in both the exhibition and the home game against Elmira this season.

Good thing the defense is deep.

Character

Both Gosek and Zawadzki brought up the character of this group postgame. Coming back and scoring four in the third against this Geneseo team shows just how deep these guys dug and what they are capable of doing if they quickly grab some momentum.

“I think it’s a good character check for our guys,” Gosek said.

“That’s one of those character games where we’re sitting there between the second and the third and just say ‘we gotta find a way’,”  Zawadzki said.

“Character wise they start believing in themselves,” Gosek said.

Final Question

Is This Team Different?

Z thinks so.

“This team is different and we’re going to work hard no matter what the score is and we’re going to go out there and keep battling. And that’s what we did,” Zawadzki said.

Yes, it is extremely early, but the energy this team has just makes people forget about all the low points from last season. A team that comes back and plays like the Lakers did in the third is one filled with confidence. They have depth, can score and do a lot of the small things right. Is that going to carry with them as they prepare for four-straight road games? Who knows, but that swagger this team is playing with right now is making it fun to watch. You couldn’t say that most times last season.

So, what is my answer to this? A comeback of this magnitude is even more shocking because Geneseo beat Cortland 11-2 the night before their matchup with Oswego State. When the Lakers let Stephen Collins get an uncontested shot off  in a prime scoring area to take back Geneseo’s 2-goal lead in the second period, it seemed Oswego State was going to get hit with a little reality.

But they didn’t.

Gosek got his guys to climb back into a game they had no business being in at times. That’s special in it’s own right.

Still, lets wait until Plattsburgh to decide if this team is “different.”