Last Night

Oswego State stormed back against the SUNY Fredonia Blue Devils, and the Buffalo State Bengals fell to the now 3-3-0 SUNY Cortland Red Dragons during last night’s SUNYAC action. Now the Lakers will square off with Buffalo State tonight as the two top teams in the SUNYAC  standings will battle it out.

The Lakers will face another motivated team in the Bengals tonight. After dropping a 3-0 decision to SUNY Cortland, in a game that saw two empty net goals, the Bengals will be looking to avoid getting swept at home this weekend for the first time this year. Buffalo State has not lost back-to-back games all season.

What It Comes Down To

The senior class led the way last night. Mitchell Herlihey was the only Laker to record a point that was not playing in their fourth year at Oswego State. This class dug deep and scored four unanswered markers to avoid being upset by the Blue Devils. That same senior class has been electric all season and led the Lakers out of a couple tough situations this year already. The Elmira, Cortland and first Morrisville game are also previous examples of that.

Tonight this senior class has to be as clutch as they were last night. After scoring two goals in 17 seconds to close out the second period, the tide turned and the Lakers grabbed momentum. That group, including the junior Herlihey, will need to be just as good in tonight’s affair facing a goalie that is putting up some of the best numbers in the country.

In the Crease

David Jacobson will get his turn in the goalie rotation tonight for the Lakers. He got the job done on the road in his first big test against SUNY Plattsburgh earlier this season and yet again has to prove himself tonight against the second place team in the SUNYAC. Jacobson has been very solid all season, posting a sub .200 goals against average (1.50) and only allowing seven goals in just over 279 minutes this season.

Jacobson will have to go up against the best goaltender in the SUNYAC, Mike DeLaVergne. DeLaVergne is leading the SUNYAC in each goaltending statistic. In fact, he has only allowed three even strength goals all season. DeLaVergne has allowed 10 total goals, but seeing a goaltender only allowing that little of a number in over 422 minutes – with a 1.00 GAA on top of that- has to be weighing on the minds of the the Lakers.

DeLaVergne is always locked in, but he has not faced an offense as efficient as Oswego State’s.

Lineup Card

For the first time all season, there will be no lineup changes from the previous game. Laker Head coach Ed Gosek has talked about trying to find that perfect fit of the lines. It seems he has found it with this forward group. Mitch Emerson has been a late addition to the “regular” group, but other than him this is the same group has that been getting pretty consistent playing time together all season.

OSW:

Neil-Botten-Hulshof

Herlihey-Barton-Galati

Huffnagle-Davies-Emerson

Sullivan-Waterstreet-Ferreira

Defense:

Brun-Federow

Johnson-Rutkowski

Raguseo-MacMillan

Goalie:

Jacobson

Players to Watch

Lakers- Chris Waterstreet

The Bengals have some good size to their lineup, and Waterstreet plays his best when games are physical so he can add another element to the mix. He scored once last season against Buffalo State and also played very well on the road versus a gritty Plattsburgh team earlier this year. Waterstreet and the fourth line will want to give their team some energy, and that could result in a goal from that line or at least some good chances to help swing momentum.

Bengals- Mike DeLaVergne

This game will be on the shoulders of DeLaVergne yet again. He kept the Bengals in the game against SUNY Cortland last night and has beaten both SUNY Plattsburgh and SUNY Geneseo this season. He will be tested by the waves of offense the Lakers can bring if all four lines get going. Will he be able to single-highhandedly keep the Lakers off the scoreboard tonight?

By the Numbers

Record

OSW- 10-0-0/8-0-0 (No. 1/1) [1st in SUNYAC]

BUF- 8-3-1/4-2-1 (No. 10/11) [T-2nd in SUNYAC]

Goals per Game

OSW- 5.30 [1st in SUNYAC]

BUF- 3.67 [3rd in SUNYAC]

Goals Against per Game

OSW- 1.40 [1st in SUNYAC]

BUF- 1.67 [2nd in SUNYAC]

Power Play

OSW- 11-44 (25.0%) [4th in SUNYAC]

BUF- 15-63 (23.8%) [5th in SUNYAC]

Penalty Kill

OSW- 45-49 (91.8%) [1st in SUNYAC]

BUF- 51-61 (83.6%) [2nd in SUNYAC]

*Overall Statistics

Game Prediction

Buffalo State snuck back in the rankings this week, but after a loss to SUNY Cortland last night and facing a tough Oswego State team tonight, this program could be on the outside looking in yet again when the new rankings roll out. Buffalo State is an intriguing team when you look at some of their losses. However, DeLaVergne makes them a legit contender in any game.

The Lakers will face another highly motivated team tonight – maybe even more so than last night – but this group in the Oswego State dressing room just always seems to find a way to get it done.

The huge third-period comeback against SUNY Geneseo will never escape the minds of Laker fans, and extending the streak to 11 wins in a row, on the road no less, should be right beside that early-season memory.

This one will be close, and the power play will come through tonight at some point, giving the Lakers enough to hold on to. These teams match up very well and both play solid hockey at both ends of the ice. The Lakers are just a better offensive team with more weapons. Oswego State Lakers has four players withing the top 10 in scoring in the SUNYAC, compared to the Bengals’ sole representative in Anthony Passero. The amount of scoring threats Gosek’s team caries will be all the difference tonight.

Lakers win 2-1

Follow @PortCityPuck on Twitter for live updates during tonight’s game.