Potsdam– A second period eruption and Matt Zawadzki’s record-breaking shutout aided the Oswego State men’s hockey team past the SUNY Potsdam Bears. A 6-0 drudging marked the Lakers’ sixth-straight win to start the season.

Zawadzki made 27 saves throughout 60 minutes to become the sole shutout leader in Oswego State men’s hockey program history. His 12 shutouts in his Laker career moves him past Andrew Hare in the record books.

“It’s quite an honor,” Zawadzki said. “Talking with Ed [Gosek], they really put it in perspective for me. How great the program is, how the great the goalies are that have been here before me. I respect the tradition and just being able to have my name on top of that one stat category. It’s an honor.”

This wasn’t the only milestone reached tonight. Shawn Hulshof’s two assists gave him 101 career points to propel him into the 100-point club. This is the second Laker this season to join the top point-getters in Oswego State history, with Alex Botten being the first.

Mitch Emerson also scored his first career goal as a Laker and tallied an assist tonight.

Matt Galati opened the scoring on the power play just 2:18 into the game. This was the first of two goals scored on the man advantage tonight in four attempts. The Lakers’ power play is now 9-31 (29%) on the year, ranking them third in the SUNYAC.

“Not that they’ve been selfish, I thought [the power play] was very unselfish tonight with the right type of decisions,” Gosek said. “Holding it when they should and moving it when they have an open guy. From that standpoint, I thought it just seemed the movement was more natural then doing it because we were telling them do it.”

The Lakers trailed 8-6 in shots after the first frame and didn’t do enough to create their own chances through most of the opening period. However, escaping with a 1-0 lead was enough to build off going into the second.

“First period, [there were] a lot of unforced turnovers up the middle,” Gosek said. “We were more reactionary, reacting to play, instead of forcing plays, instead of being aggressors we were a little tentative in the first.”

A huge 5-on-3 penalty kill from the 8th best penalty killing unit in the nation (93.5%) seemed to turn the tide in the game for the Lakers.  David Ferreira went off for hooking at the 8:46 mark of the second. Then Jody Sullivan took his man completely out of the play in front of the net set up the 5-on-3.

A goal here from the Bears could have completely changed the game, but Zawadzki made some key saves and the defense came up big in front of him.

“It’s one of those moments where you can provide some momentum for your team if you kill that off,” Zawadzki said. “We were able to do that and got down in their end, put a couple in the net, put the game right where wanted it and just kept taking it to them from there.”

Emerson’s first collegiate goal was the tally that started the onslaught.

Joey Davies was able to cut through the slot to get a shot off and then create chaos in front. Potsdam’s goaltender, Nate Skidmore, was in desperation mode trying to keep the deficit at one but failed with Jody Sullivan and Davies jamming away. The puck landed in the crease and Emerson had to guide it home. He did just that to put the Lakers up 2-0 at the 13:34 mark of the middle frame.

“It felt pretty awesome,” Emerson said. “It’s nice to get it off my back pretty early the college career. Especially because it seemed to open the gates for all the goals we got tonight.”

Alex Botten scored his third of the season just over a minute later with rocket of a shot from the circles after he took a stretch pass through the neutral zone from Shawn Hulshof. Kristoffer Brun tallied the secondary assist, putting the Lakers up 3-0.

Joey Davies scored the third goal of the period to put the Lakers up 4-0 at the 17:25 mark. Emerson tallied another point with an assist on this marker. This goal marked the fifth point from the third line tonight, the most of any forward trio at even strength.

“I thought there was something there,” Gosek said. “Emerson gets his first one. Sullivan had some good opportunities. Davies gets one in tight. You know, hard to argue with the way that they played tonight.”

Oswego State was able to tally two more goals in the third.The first came from Stephen Johnson after a long point shot found twine and chased Skidmore from the game after he allowed 5 goals on 22 shots.

Johnson started the play with a cross-ice saucer pass to Botten. Botten then found Matt Galati on the nearside, and Galati fed Johnson at the top of the umbrella for his third of the year.

Johnson leads all SUNYAC defenseman in scoring with three goals and seven assists for 10 points.

The Lakers had to kill off another 5-on-3 attempt, heightening Zawadzki’s record-breaking shutout difficulty, but senior the netminder stood tall to earn his 12th career shutout.

David Ferreira added insult to injury with just over three minutes to play to cap off the six Oswego State goals as they buried the Bears to kick off the North Country road trip.

Oswego State will hit the road tomorrow and travel to face conference foes, the SUNY Plattsburgh Cardinals at 7 p.m.